By R.L. Bynum

When Carolina makes the national championship game, it used to be a good bet that a few key players from that team would be around two seasons later.

That may have been the conventional wisdom in the past, but in an era when players can transfer and not sit out a year, you can’t assume much from year to year.

For the second time in program history — and first time since the Tar Heels won the 1957 national championship — only two scholarship players remain on the UNC roster two years after making the NCAA final.

Senior guard RJ Davis may have been the only one on the roster from the team that lost 72–69 to Kansas in 2022 if not for pandemic eligibility rules that allowed center Armando Bacot to return for a fifth season.

That happens when seven players transfer.

In addition to Davis and Bacot, who both started against Kansas, three walk-ons from that team — Creighton Lebo, Rob Landry and Duwe Farris — are expected to be back.

That’s dramatically different from two seasons after Carolina beat Gonzaga 71–65 for the 2017 national championship, when five players from that team were on the 2018–19 season roster. None of the five started the title game: Luke Maye, Kenny Williams, Seventh Woods, Brandon Robinson and Shea Rush. Only Maye (10 minutes) and Woods (three minutes) played in the title game.

Here’s where there is a positive contrast. Next season will be the third time in program history that at least two players who started a national championship game will start two seasons later.

Two seasons after Carolina beat Georgetown 63–62 for the 1982 NCAA title in New Orleans, starters Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins and Matt Doherty were starters for a 28–3 team that lost in the Sweet 16 in 1984. Two seasons after UNC lost in its first NCAA championship game appearance in 1946 (43–40 to Oklahoma A&M), starters Bob Paxton and John “Hook” Dillon still were on the roster.

Gehrmann Holland and Danny Lotz were on UNC’s 1957 and 1958–59 rosters, but only Lotz played in the 54–53 triple-overtime victory over Kansas (with no points and two rebounds). Holland played 12 games in 1956–57, missed the following season, and then played eight games in the 1958–59 season. Lotz played 24 games for the championship team and 25 games two years later.

Two seasons after the other 10 championship-game appearances, at least three players were still on the roster.

The most came after Carolina lost 67–59 to Marquette in the 1977 NCAA championship game in Atlanta. Eight players were still on the roster for the 1978–79 season: Mike O’Koren, Dudley Bradley, Dave Colescott, Rich Yonakor, Jeff Wolf, Ged Doughton, Randy Wiel and John Vigil.

Only O’Koren and Yonaker started against Marquette. Bradley played five minutes, Wolf played three minutes, Wiel didn’t play and the other three only played one minute.

Those were the days when rosters were huge, though. There were 16 scholarship players on the 1976–77 team and 14 on the 1978–79 team.

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Two years after making NCAA final

UNC lost 43–40 to Oklahoma A&M (now State) in the 1946 NCAA championship game.
1947–48 (4 from ’46 team still on the roster; went 19–8, didn’t make NCAA field)
Y — Bob Paxton
Y — John “Hook” Dillon
Taylor Thorne
Roger Scholbe
UNC beat Kansas 54–53 in triple overtime in the 1957 national championship.
1958–59 (2 from ’57 team; went 20–5, lost in NCAA first round)
Gehrmann Holland
Danny Lotz
Carolina lost 78–55 to UCLA in the 1968 NCAA championship game.
1969–70 (3 from ’68 team; went 18–9, lost in the first round of NIT)
Y — Charlie Scott
Eddie Fogler
Jim Delaney
Carolina lost 67–59 to Marquette in the 1977 NCAA championship game.
1978–79 (8 from ’77 team; went 23–6, lost in NCAA second round)
Y — Mike O’Koren
Y — Rich Yonakor
Dave Colescott
Dudley Bradley
Ged Doughton
Randy Wiel
Jeff Wolf
John Vigil
UNC lost 63–50 to Indiana in the 1981 NCAA championship game.
1982–83 (4 from ’81 team; went 28–8, lost in NCAA Elite Eight)
Y — Sam Perkins
Jim Braddock
Cecil Exum
Timo Makkonen
UNC beat Georgetown 63–62 in the 1982 NCAA championship game.
1983–84 (5 from ’82 team; went 28–3, lost in NCAA Sweet 16)
Y — Michael Jordan
Y — Sam Perkins
Y — Matt Doherty
Buzz Peterson
Timo Makkonen
UNC beat Michigan 77–71 in the 1993 NCAA championship game.
1994–95 (4 from ’93 team; went 28–6, made NCAA Final Four)
Pat Sullivan
Pearce Landry
Dante Calabria
Ed Geth
UNC beat Illinois 75–70 in the 2005 NCAA championship game.
2006–07 (3 left from ’05 team; went 31–7, lost in NCAA Elite Eight)
Reyshawn Terry
Quentin Thomas
Wes Miller
UNC beat Michigan State 89–72 in the 2009 NCAA championship game.
2010–11 (3 left from ’09 team; went 29–8, lost in NCAA Elite Eight)
Larry Drew II
Justin Watts
Tyler Zeller
UNC lost 77–74 to Villanova in the 2016 NCAA championship game.
2017–18 (4 left from ’06 team; went 26–11, lost in NCAA second round)
Y — Joel Berry II
Theo Pinson
Kenny Williams
Luke Maye
UNC beat Gonzaga 71–65 in the 2017 NCAA championship game.
2018–19 (5 left from ’17 team; went 29–7, lost in NCAA Sweet 16)
Shea Rush
Brandon Robinson
Seventh Woods
Kenny Williams
Luke Maye
UNC lost to Kansas 72–69 in the 2022 NCAA championship game
2023–24 (2 scholarship players left from ’22 team)
Y — RJ Davis
Y — Armando Bacot
X — Rob Landry
X — Creighton Lebo
X — Duwe Farris
———
X — Walk-ons
Y — Started championship game two years earlier.

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No.	Class	Player	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt
8	Freshman	Caleb Wilson (5 star)	4	6–10	215
5	Freshman	Isaiah Denis (4 star)	CG	6–4	180
3	Freshman	Derek Dixon (4 star)	CG	6–5	200
40	Sophomore	Ivan Matlekovic	5	7–0	255
11	Sophomore	Jonathan Powell	G	6–6	190
2	Sophomore	James Brown	5	6–10	240
1	Sophomore	Zayden High	4	6–10	230
44	Junior	Luca Bogavac (BO-guh-VAHTS)	W	6–6	215
4	Junior	Jaydon Young	2	6–4	200
13	RS junior	Henri Veesaar (VEH-sar)	5	7–0	225
0	Junior	Kyan Evans	1	6–2	175
15	Junior	Jarin Stevenson	4	6–10	215
7	Senior	Seth Trimble	2	6–3	200
		Walk-ons
25	Sophomore	John Holbrook	4	6–8	230
32	Junior	Evan Smith	2	6–1	195
6	RS senior	Elijah Davis	2	6–3	205

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Former UNC players who transferred

Player	Class next season	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt	Next school
Elliot Cadeau	Junior	PG	6–1	180	Michigan
Jalen Washington	Senior	C	6–10	235	Vanderbilt
Ian Jackson	Sophomore	G	6–4	190	St. John’s
Cade Tyson	Senior	F	6–7	200	Minnesota
Ven-Allen Lubin	Senior	C	6–8	230	N.C. State

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Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 16 BYU in SLC	Exhib.
29	Wednesday	W, 95–53	vs. Winston-Salem St.	Exhib.
	November
3	Monday	W, 94–54	vs. Central Arkansas	1–0
7	Friday	W, 87–74	vs. No. 11 Kansas	2–0
11	Tuesday	W, 89–74	vs. Radford	3–0
14	Friday	W, 97–53	vs. N.C. Central	4–0
18	Tuesday	W, 73–61	vs. Navy	5–0
			Fort Myers Tip-Off
25	Tuesday	W, 85–70	vs. St. Bonaventure	6–0
27	Thursday	L, 74–58	vs. No. 10 Michigan State	6–1
	December		ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
2	Tuesday	W, 67–64	at Kentucky	7–1
			—————————
7	Sunday	W, 81–61	vs. Georgetown	8–1
13	Saturday	W, 80–62	vs. USC Upstate	9–1
16	Tuesday	W, 77–58	vs. ETSU	10–1
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
20	Saturday	W, 71–70	vs. Ohio State	11–1
			—————————
22	Monday	W, 99–51	vs. East Carolina	12–1
30	Tuesday	W, 79–66	vs. Florida State	13–1, 1–0 ACC
	January
3	Saturday	L, 97–83	at SMU	13–2, 1–1
10	Saturday	W, 87–84	vs. Wake Forest	14–2, 2–1
14	Wednesday	L, 95–90	at Stanford	14–3, 2–2
17	Saturday	L, 84–78	at California	14–4, 2–3
21	Wednesday	W, 91–69	vs. Notre Dame	15–4, 3–3
24	Saturday	W, 85–80	at No. 18 Virginia	16–4, 4–3
31	Saturday	W, 91–75	at Georgia Tech	17–4, 5–3
	February
2	Monday	W, 87–77	vs. Syracuse	18–4, 6–3
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 4 Duke	ESPN
10	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at Miami	ESPN or ESPN2
14	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Pittsburgh	ESPN
17	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN or ESPN2
21	Saturday	1 p.m.	at Syracuse	ABC
23	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 24 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 20 Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 4 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte

Photo via @UNC_Basketball