It’s redemption time at North Carolina. After becoming the first preseason No. 1 team to ever miss the NCAA Tournament, the Tar Heels have something to prove in coach Hubert Davis’ third season. UNC stunned college basketball by reaching the national title game as a No. 8 seed in 2022, but now it must prove that run wasn’t a fluke.
One of the keys to the program’s late success in 2022 was the knockdown 3-point shooting of power forward Brady Manek, an Oklahoma transfer. Last season, UNC attempted to plug in Northwestern transfer Pete Nance to Manek’s vacated slot, but the results weren’t great. Caleb Love, a hero of the 2022 team’s run, also struggled with efficiency, shooting just 29.9% from 3-point range on 7.4 attempts per game.
Love and Nance have moved on, as has longtime defensive stalwart Leaky Black. Their departures leave senior guard RJ Davis and fifth-year senior Armando Bacot os the only returning starters. They make for an excellent foundation as leaders who have been through the transition to Davis from Roy Williams and the ensuing roller-coaster of the past two seasons.
Joining them are a handful of transfers, including Jae’Lyn Withers from Louisville and Harrison Ingram from Stanford. Both earned all-conference accolades for their performances as freshmen earlier in their careers but have struggled to build on that success. Those two give Davis options for how to handle the power forward position next to Bacot, who has dealt with a rotating cast of starting companions in the front court during his career.
As offseason player movement cycle finally ends, it’s time to start breaking down the rosters of the sport’s top programs. For this installment, we’re taking a look at the Tar Heels and trying to decipher what their lineup could look like when the season begins.
North Carolina was arguably the most disappointing team in college basketball HISTORY last season. It was…
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