A Tournament of North Carolina's Tournament Wins (Sweet 16 - Jordan and McGuire Regions)

With North Carolina not invited to participate in the 2023 NCAA tournament, I read someone on Twitter roast Tar Heel fans (like me) that we are just going to sit and watch old tournament games to fill the void.

Hmm.  What a great idea.

Watching old tournament games sure is fun and it can make you remember the good times while the bad times forced you to have nothing to do.  So instead of just watching old North Carolina hoops games, how about we create out own tournament of Heels' NCAA tournament wins to see which one is the best.

So below are the 32 best games, and I divided them up into four regions -- Jordan, McGuire, Williams and Smith regions. We will battle over the next three weeks to see who comes out as the best game in Carolina tournament history. The seedings have the six tournament champions getting the No. 1 seeds and the top No. 2 seeds. From there, just the best games no matter where they happened in the tournament. 

Here is the entire tournament revealed. In a few days, we will have our first round winners and our Sweet 16. Here ya go: 

JORDAN REGION
1 - UNC/Georgetown (1982) vs 8 - UNC/Notre Dame (1985)
4 - UNC/Oklahoma (1990) vs 5 - UNC/Cincinnati (1993)
3 - UNC/Ohio State (1946) vs 6 - UNC/Villanova (1982)
2 - UNC/Michigan State (1957) vs 7 - UNC/Ohio (2012)

1-UNC/Georgetown (1982) vs 4-UNC/Oklahoma (1990)
2-UNC/Michigan State (1957) vs 3-UNC/Ohio State (1946)

1-UNC/Georgetown (1982) vs 2-UNC/Michigan State (1957)

MCGUIRE REGION
1 - UNC/Kansas (1957) vs 8 - UNC/Baylor (2022)
4 - UNC/Kentucky (1995) vs 5 - UNC/Oregon (2017)
3 - UNC/Kentucky (2017) vs 6 - UNC/Temple (1991)
2 - UNC/Duke (2022) vs 7 - UNC/Oklahoma (2009)

1-UNC/Kansas (1957) vs 4-UNC/Kentucky (1995)
2-UNC/Duke (2022) vs 3-UNC/Kentucky (2017)

1-UNC/Kansas (1957) vs 2-UNC/Duke (2022)

WILLIAMS REGION
1 - UNC/Illinois (2005) vs 8 - UNC/Purdue (1977)
4 - UNC/UNLV (1977) vs 5 - UNC/Stanford (2000)
3 - UNC/Davidson (1969) vs 6 - UNC/Notre Dame (1977)
2 - UNC/Gonzaga (2017) vs 7 - UNC/Loyola Marymount (1988)

1-UNC/Illinois (2005) vs 5-UNC/Stanford (2000)
2-UNC/Gonzaga (2017) vs 3-UNC/Davidson (1969)

SMITH REGION
1 - UNC/Michigan (1993) vs 8 - UNC/James Madison (1982)
4 - UNC/Virginia (1981) vs 5 - UNC/Tulsa (2000)
3 - UNC/Houston (1982) vs 6 - UNC/Villanova (2005)
2 - UNC/Michigan State (2009) vs 7 - UNC/Charlotte (1998)

1-UNC/Michigan (1993) vs 4-UNC/Virginia (1981)
2-UNC/Michigan State (2009) vs 3-UNC/Houston (1982)

On to the Jordan and McGuire regions of the Sweet 16.

Okay, so the UNC/Georgetown game takes down the UNC/Oklahoma upset. While that 1990 win over the Sooners was something to behold and berthed a Final Four run the following season, it doesn't hold a candle to the win over the Hoyas.

The same reasoning happens with UNC/Michigan State in 1957 and the 1946 win over Ohio State. Winning a triple overtime game in the Final Four never happens. Never.

Only to the McGuire Region where the first matchup follows our pattern. UNC/Kansas in 1957 finalized an undefeated championship season that was won in triple overtime. This one will be hard to beat, and UNC's heated win over Kentucky in 1995 can't be the one to do that.

That brings us to the toughest game on the slate -- UNC/Duke of 2022 against UNC/Kentucky in 2017. Luke Maye's shot was epic and one of the magical moments in the history of the Carolina program. But so was Caleb Love's dagger to end Mike Krzyzewski's career and beat Duke in the biggest game in the rivalry's history. UNC/Duke wins.