Program #2

2.  North Carolina 817

Five national championships and three of those coming in the last 17 years.  The Tar Heels have won two national championships since 2005.  It seems like the Tar Heels are in the final four every year, save this one.  Like I said before once you get into the top six of the greatest programs of all-time you can make a case for each one of them to be number one.  The Heels scored more points than anybody on this list for recent success with 61 points.  The Heels are number two in all-time winning percentage and tied with Kansas for number two in all-time wins.  Even though Duke is in the national championship game the Heels are still the standard in the ACC.  When it comes to the greatest rivalry in college basketball North Carolina holds the edge in all-time wins, winning percentage, conference championships, tournament appearances, final fours, NBA draft picks, and national championships.  Like most of the schools in the top 10 list the Tar Heels have had more than one legendary coach.  Dean Smith stayed at North Carolina for 36 years and left the school as the NCAA's all-time winner.  He has since been passed by Bobby Knight.  Roy Williams took over after a good run by Smith's top assistant Bill Guthridge for three years and then former player Matt Doherty's three year run that just didn't work out.  Williams, an assistant under Smith, took over the Tar Heel program after missing the NCAA tournament two straight years.  Williams immediately started paying divedends!  He took North Carolina to the second round of the NCAA tournament in his first year and then the next year he won his first and the school's fourth championship.  It's been pretty smooth sailing since.  Although the Heels went to the NIT finals this season there is little doubt that the Tar Heels will be right back in the thick of the national title hunt for years to come.   To end this column without talking about some of the players who have been Tar Heels would be silly.  Michael Jordan, have you heard of him?  What about James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Phil Ford, and even the Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak.  That's just a few.  It could be argued that no other school has had more of an impact on the NBA than North Carolina.