Tar Heel Blog · Aug 9, 2019
Tar Heel Firsts: UNC’s first NCAA Tournament
Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty ImagesThe NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament did not come into existence until 1939. The NIT had begun the year prior, and Ohio State coach Harold Olsen wanted the NCAA to get in on the action. The National Association of Basketball Coaches ran the first tournament before ceding control to the NCAA the following season.
In 1941, the third year of the tournament, the team that is now second all-time in tournament appearances, the North Carolina Tar Heels made their first ever trip to the “Big Dance.”