Welcome to Carolina Classics Club!
Who am I? I’m Adrian Atkinson, a long-time Carolina fan who has charted (nearly) every Tar Heel game since the 2004-05 season. An econometrician and data scientist by trade, I am probably best known for my analytical work on UNC basketball (Inside Carolina, ACC Sports Journal, and the Tar Heel Tip-Off season preview publication).
What is the Carolina Classics Club? To paraphrase the great Joe Posnanski’s baseball theory, “basketball is never as good as it is when you're 10 years old.” Specifically, perhaps, when that pertains to college basketball and the mighty ACC. I turned 10 in 1987, and still consider the decade between 1986 and 1995 to be the conference’s glory days: the round-robin schedule, experienced talent lining every roster, and plenty of non-conference and NCAA Tournament dominance to hang your hat on. North Carolina and Dean Smith, of course, were at the forefront of that golden era of ACC hoops.
While I still love to watch the modern-day Tar Heels, part of me misses that old ACC and the way Carolina used to play. The Carolina Classics Club will relive those glorious games of old. Each week, I will recap a UNC game from the era between 1980 and 2019. In addition to dozens of video clips, there will be plenty of analytics, statistics, and X’s and O’s. I’ll also be focusing on the things that make Carolina basketball so special—the innovations, secondary break and signature sets, legendary players, and countless examples of “playing hard, playing smart, and playing together.”
Nostalgia can be dangerous; the good old days weren’t always so good. But when it comes to Tar Heel hoops, they usually were. Join me at the Carolina Classics Club to revel in those memories, view old games from a fresh perspective, or maybe even enjoy some classic action for the first time.
Why subscribe?
Each Tuesday, I’ll send out a fresh classic Carolina game right to subscribers’ inboxes. All subscribers will receive the “Game of the Week,” complete with dozens of video clips and in-depth analysis. Premium subscribers will also get access to the advanced box score, guaranteed to be the most comprehensive statistical summary that you’ve ever laid your eyes on.
Premium members will also receive access to my other analyses and essays, plus features like the “Dunker of the Month” and detailed video breakdowns of classic Carolina set plays. They will also be able to access the full catalog of “Game of the Week” pieces.
Everyone can:
Read free articles, including the “Game of the Week”
Participate in comment threads on free articles
Paid Subscribers ($6 / month, $60 / year) will also:
Receive the advanced box score for each game
Help support my work and the Carolina Charting Project
See paid subscriber-only content
Access full “Game of the Week” archive
Have access to my historical UNC charting data
Founding Members ($200 / year) can:
Have requests granted for an upcoming “Game of the Week”
Have access to a personal analyst to answer their Carolina basketball questions
I understand reservations about paying for content; there are an ever-growing number of subscription sites and options vying for a share of your entertainment budget. While there is plenty in the Carolina Classics Club for all subscribers to enjoy, I hope that you’ll find value in the depth and quality of my work and consider supporting it financially.
Join the Club
A couple decades ago, Thad Williamson (one of the best Carolina fans you’ll ever find) explored UNC hoops fandom in his book More Than a Game. It helped me to examine my love of basketball and the Tar Heels, and to truly understand what a diverse, knowledgable, and passionate fanbase UNC has. I hope to further explore my basketball (and especially Carolina) fandom through the content provided in this newsletter. More importantly, I hope to build a community of the best Tar Heel fans in the world—basketball lovers who are interested in sharing their journeys, reminiscing on how/where they watched these classic games, and reliving the teams and players that made them fall in love with Carolina hoops in the first place.
I hope you’ll come along for the ride.
