Roy Williams was also a member of the original redeem team.

Redemption has been the theme of this season’s NCAA basketball champions, getting back to the Final Four after barely losing the title game to Villanova last season. But 35 years ago, UNC had the first redeem team with some very familiar names on it.

The 1981 Tar Heels of Dean Smith finished second to Virginia and All-American Ralph Sampson in the ACC race, losing twice to the Cavaliers during the regular season, before going on a run to remember. Carolina won the ACC tournament in Landover, Maryland, and went on to sweep the West Regional, upsetting a favored Utah team on its home court in Salt Lake City. At the Final Four in Philadelphia, the Heels played Virginia for a third time and routed the Cavs behind Al Wood’s famous 39 points. They then faced Indiana for the national championship Monday night.

On the day President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley in Washington, D.C., Smith favored postponing the game. But when Reagan survived the assassination attempt, the NCAA decided to play. Williams, an assistant coach on that team, often refers to a referee he is still mad at from that night, Booker Turner, who called a third and fourth foul on UNC star James Worthy early in the second half, and the Hoosiers won behind Isiah Thomas’ 23 points.

Wood was the only senior starter and a freshman named Michael Jordan was coming in the next season. That 1981 squad had a breakfast without the coaches Tuesday morning before boarding the bus for the Philly airport. Worthy, Sam Perkins, Matt Doherty and Jimmy Black pledged to get back to the Final Four and win the game they all thought was taken away from them by Worthy’s foul trouble.

Much like the current Tar Heels, the 1982 team stayed together and worked hard in the off-season with a mission in mind. It tied Virginia for first place but beat Sampson and the Wahoos in the ACC tournament title game, went on to win the East Regional in Raleigh and cut down the nets in New Orleans, edging Georgetown on a famous shot by Jordan and behind MVP Worthy’s 28 points for Coach Smith’s first national championship — yes, the original UNC Redeem Team.

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