North Carolina Tar Heels junior varsity basketball


The junior varsity basketball team at the University of North Carolina is a two-year program that gives non scholarship students the opportunity to continue their basketball careers at the collegiate level. Tryouts for the J.V. team occur every year prior to the beginning of basketball season in October. Players are only allowed to play on the J.V. team for two years and then they are given a chance to try out for the North Carolina Tar Heels Men's Basketball Team as a walk-on. With a valid physical any student that attends the University can try out for the J.V. team. The junior varsity team is coached by assistant varsity coaches who are given the opportunity to gain head coaching experience while still fulfilling their assistant duties on the varsity levels. Hubert Davis, an assistant for the varsity team, is the head coach of the J.V. team.

History of the J.V. program

The J.V. team originated as a freshmen team when scholarship freshmen were not allowed to play their first year as a student per NCAA rules. Following the 1972 NCAA rule change that made freshmen eligible for varsity action, the University of North Carolina kept their junior varsity team in place while most other schools across the nation disbanded their freshmen teams.

Competition

The junior varsity team plays all of their games in the Dean Smith Center three hours before the varsity games take place. The schedule consists of between 14 and 18 regular season games. The J.V. team plays against area Division II and Division III teams as well as junior colleges, prep schools, and Community Colleges. No other Men's Basketball programs in the Atlantic Coast Conference field a JV team. The game is played per NCAA rules. The biggest rivals for the J.V. team are Hargrave Military Academy and Fork Union Military Academy. There is no NCAA Tournament or National Invitational Tournament for the J.V. Team. They only play regular season games.

Notable coaches and alumni

, head coach of the men's varsity basketball team at the University of North Carolina, coached the J.V. team for eight years when he was serving as an assistant for Dean Smith. Jerod Haase, the current head coach for the Stanford Cardinal men's basketball team, coached the J.V. team at UNC for three years while serving as an assistant for Williams. Phil Ford, the second leading scorer in North Carolina history, also served as a coach for the junior varsity team. The current head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels baseball team, Mike Fox, played for the J.V. team in 1975 and 1976. The current special assistant for the Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team, Doug Wojcik, also served a stint as the J.V. Coach. Three of the walk-ons for the 2008–2009 National Championship team, J. B. Tanner, Jack Wooten, and Patrick Moody, were all graduates of the J.V. program.