A Tournament of North Carolina's Tournament Wins (Sweet 16 - Williams and Smith 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)

1-UNC/Illinois (2005) vs 2-UNC/Gonzaga (2017)

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)

1-UNC/Michigan (1993) vs 2-UNC/Michigan State (2009)

On to the Williams and Smith regions of the Sweet 16.

Of the eight games remaining on this side of the bracket, there are four national championships. To make it easy, the 1993, 2005, 2009 and 2017 championships win out. The 2005, 2009 and 1993 titles easily outlast their counterparts in their matchups. The 2017 barely skates by. That Redemption Game was a brutal slugfest that the Heels, down with under two minutes left, found a way to win with big hustle plays (three by Kennedy Meeks). That UNC/Davidson game in 1969 featured Charlie Scott's 32 points and buzzer beater to win the game. But, man, the 2017 game hustles to squeak by.

Next up is our Elite 8.