North Carolina basketball is on a path no elite program would willingly follow. However, going it alone is not unprecedented for the Tar Heels, at least on the court, where they were distinguished by frequent deployment of a “Four Corners” offense prior to the 1987 advent of the college shot clock. That alignment aptly mirrors the school’s response to its self-inflicted predicament, which set it on that off-court path in the first place.
Adapted by Dean Smith from similar schemes used previously by John McLendon at N.C. Central and Babe McCarthy at Mississippi State, Four Corners was a scheme to spread the court, highlighting adept ballhandling and making it difficult for opponents to double-team or help defensively.