# 2007–08 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team

The 2007–08 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represented the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the 2007–08 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Their head coach was Roy Williams. The team played its home games in the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

## Roster

* Note: During the December 27 game against Nevada, backup point guard Bobby Frasor was injured, requiring surgery and ending his season.

## Schedule and results

The Tar Heels began the season ranked atop both major polls, and stayed there for the first two months of the season despite closer-than-expected games against Davidson and Clemson. They suffered their first loss of the season against Maryland on January 19. Three games later, point guard Ty Lawson twisted his ankle and missed most of February. Despite this, the Tar Heels didn't miss a beat, going 8–1 the rest of the way. They regained the top spot in the polls in late February and held it for the rest of the season. They clinched their 26th ACC regular season title by avenging their earlier loss to Duke in the last game of the season.
In the ACC Tournament held in Charlotte, the top-seeded Tar Heels defeated Florida State, Virginia Tech and Clemson to win their 17th conference tournament title. In so doing, they went into the NCAA Tournament with a 32–2 record—the most wins going into the tourney in school history.
In the NCAA Tournament, the Tar Heels were seeded first in the East Regional, and were also the overall top seed in the tournament. They routed Mount St. Mary's and Arkansas while playing just 30 minutes from campus at the RBC Center in Raleigh. They were no less dominant in the regional phase in Charlotte, scoring convincing wins over Washington State and Louisville to make their 17th trip to the Final Four, but in their national semifinal game, they lost to Kansas, who went on to win the national championship. Remarkably, the Tar Heels made the Final Four while not having to leave the state of North Carolina for a little over a month (a total of 10 games), and while notching two losses at the Smith Center—an arena where they have traditionally been all but unbeatable. They also set a school record for wins in a season, with 36. With Memphis having its 38-win 2007–08 season vacated by the NCAA, the 2007–08 Tar Heels' 36 wins are now the second-most in Division I history.
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 3* 8:15 p.m. | No. 1 | Shaw | W 114–62 | | Dean Smith Center (19,343) Chapel Hill, NC |
| November 9* 7:30 p.m. | No. 1 | Lenoir-Rhyne | W 107–52 | | Dean Smith Center (18,357) Chapel Hill, NC |
| Regular Season ||||||
| November 14* 7:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 1 | at Davidson | W 72–68 | 1–0 | Charlotte Bobcats Arena (19,299) Charlotte, NC |
| Las Vegas Invitational ||||||
| November 18* 6:00 p.m., ESPNU | No. 1 | Iona Las Vegas Invitational | W 107–72 | 2–0 | Dean Smith Center (18,970) Chapel Hill, NC |
| November 20* 7:30 p.m. | No. 1 | South Carolina State Las Vegas Invitational | W 110–64 | 3–0 | Dean Smith Center (18,318) Chapel Hill, NC |
| November 23* 11:55 p.m., ESPNU | No. 1 | vs. Old Dominion Las Vegas Invitational | W 99–82 | 4–0 | Orleans Arena (5,500) Las Vegas, NV |
| November 24* 10:30 p.m., ESPN | No. 1 | vs. Brigham Young Las Vegas Invitational | W 73–63 | 5–0 | Orleans Arena (5,500) Las Vegas, NV |
| November 28* 9:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 1 | at Ohio State ACC–Big Ten Challenge | W 66–55 | 6–0 | Value City Arena (19,049) Columbus, OH |
| December 1* 2:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 1 | at Kentucky | W 86–77 | 7–0 | Rupp Arena (24,252) Lexington, KY |
| December 4* 7:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 1 | at Penn | W 106–71 | 8–0 | The Palestra (8,722) Philadelphia, PA |
| December 16* 8:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 1 | at Rutgers | W 93–71 | 9–0 | Louis Brown Athletic Center (8,312) Piscataway, NJ |
| December 19* 9:00 p.m., ESPNU | No. 1 | Nicholls State | W 88–78 | 10–0 | Dean Smith Center (17,706) Chapel Hill, NC |
| December 22* 1:00 p.m., FSN | No. 1 | UC Santa Barbara | W 105–70 | 11–0 | Dean Smith Center (20,520) Chapel Hill, NC |
| December 27* 7:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 1 | Nevada | W 106–70 | 12–0 | Dean Smith Center (21,750) Chapel Hill, NC |
| December 30* 7:30 p.m., FSN | No. 1 | Valparaiso | W 90–58 | 13–0 | Dean Smith Center (21,046) Chapel Hill, NC |
| January 2* 8:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 1 | Kent State | W 90–61 | 14–0 | Dean Smith Center (20,356) Chapel Hill, NC |
| January 6 7:30 p.m., FSN | No. 1 | at No. 19 Clemson | W 90–88 $^{OT}$ | 15–0 (1–0) | Littlejohn Coliseum (10,000) Clemson, SC |
| January 9* 7:00 p.m., ESPNU | No. 1 | UNC Asheville | W 93–81 | 16–0 (1–0) | Dean Smith Center (20,326) Chapel Hill, NC |
| January 12 12:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 1 | North Carolina State | W 93–62 | 17–0 (2–0) | Dean Smith Center (21,750) Chapel Hill, NC |
| January 16 9:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 1 | at Georgia Tech | W 83–82 | 18–0 (3–0) | Alexander Memorial Coliseum (9,191) Atlanta, GA |
| January 19 3:30 p.m., ABC | No. 1 | Maryland | L 80–82 | 18–1 (3–1) | Dean Smith Center (21,033) Chapel Hill, NC |
| January 23 9:00 p.m., Raycom | No. 5 | at Miami (FL) | W 98–82 | 19–1 (4–1) | BankUnited Center (7,000) Coral Gables, FL |
| January 31 7:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 4 | Boston College | W 91–69 | 20–1 (5–1) | Dean Smith Center (21,247) Chapel Hill, NC |
| February 3 2:00 p.m., FSN | No. 4 | at Florida State | W 84–73 $^{OT}$ | 21–1 (6–1) | Donald L. Tucker Center (11,066) Tallahassee, FL |
| February 6 9:00 p.m., Raycom/ESPN | No. 3 | No. 2 Duke | L 78–89 | 21–2 (6–2) | Dean Smith Center (21,750) Chapel Hill, NC |
| February 10 6:30 p.m., FSN | No. 3 | Clemson | W 103–93 $^{2OT}$ | 22–2 (7–2) | Dean Smith Center (20,767) Chapel Hill, NC |
| February 12 8:00 p.m., Raycom/ESPN2 | No. 5 | at Virginia | W 75–74 | 23–2 (8–2) | John Paul Jones Arena (13,765) Charlottesville, VA |
| February 16 1:00 p.m., CBS | No. 5 | Virginia Tech | W 92–53 | 24–2 (9–2) | Dean Smith Center (20,890) Chapel Hill, NC |
| February 20 7:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 3 | at North Carolina State | W 84–70 | 25–2 (10–2) | RBC Center (19,700) Raleigh, NC |
| February 24 6:30 p.m., FSN | No. 3 | Wake Forest | W 89–73 | 26–2 (11–2) | Dean Smith Center (21,004) Chapel Hill, NC |
| March 1 3:30 p.m., ABC | No. 3 | at Boston College | W 90–80 | 27–2 (12–2) | Conte Forum (8,606) Chestnut Hill, MA |
| March 4 8:00 p.m., Raycom | No. 1 | Florida State | W 90–77 | 28–2 (13–2) | Dean Smith Center (20,520) Chapel Hill, NC |
| March 8 9:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 1 | at No. 6 Duke ESPN College GameDay | W 76–68 | 29–2 (14–2) | Cameron Indoor Stadium (9,314) Durham, NC |
| ACC tournament ||||||
| March 14 12:00 p.m., Raycom/ESPN2 | (1) No. 1 | vs. (9) Florida State Quarterfinals | W 82–70 | 30–2 | Charlotte Bobcats Arena (20,035) Charlotte, NC |
| March 15 1:30 p.m, Raycom/ESPN | (1) No. 1 | vs. (4) Virginia Tech Semifinals | W 68–66 | 31–2 | Charlotte Bobcats Arena (20,035) Charlotte, NC |
| March 16 1:00 p.m., Raycom/ESPN | (1) No. 1 | vs. (3) Clemson Championship | W 86–81 | 32–2 | Charlotte Bobcats Arena (20,035) Charlotte, NC |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 21* 7:10 p.m., CBS | (1 E) No. 1 | vs. (16 E) Mount St. Mary's First Round | W 113–74 | 33–2 | RBC Center (19,477) Raleigh, NC |
| March 23* 5:20 p.m., CBS | (1 E) No. 1 | vs. (9 E) Arkansas Second Round | W 108–77 | 34–2 | RBC Center (19,477) Raleigh, NC |
| March 27* 7:27 p.m., CBS | (1 E) No. 1 | vs. (4 E) No. 21 Washington State Sweet Sixteen | W 68–47 | 35–2 | Charlotte Bobcats Arena (19,092) Charlotte, NC |
| March 29* 9:05 p.m., CBS | (1 E) No. 1 | vs. (3 E) No. 13 Louisville Elite Eight | W 83–73 | 36–2 | Charlotte Bobcats Arena (19,092) Charlotte, NC |
| April 5* 8:47 p.m., CBS | (1 E) No. 1 | vs. (1 MW) No. 4 Kansas Final Four | L 66–84 | 36–3 | Alamodome (43,718) San Antonio, TX |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll time zone=Eastern Time. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ||||||

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Year | Round | Pick | Player | NBA Club |
| 2009 | 1 | 13 | Tyler Hansbrough | Indiana Pacers |
| 2009 | 1 | 18 | Ty Lawson | Denver Nuggets |
| 2009 | 1 | 28 | Wayne Ellington | Minnesota Timberwolves |
| 2009 | 2 | 46 | Danny Green | Cleveland Cavaliers |