The pressure exists annually at North Carolina, but it’s heightened even more ahead of a 2025-26 campaign. After hiring Will Wade and landing prized transfer Darrion Williams in the portal, rival NC State is raring to go. Louisville looks like big, bad Louisville again. Virginia is going to be much improved after hiring Ryan Odom. Duke is, well, Duke. Where’s UNC’s place in this ACC?
The runout this winter could set the stage for uncomfortable decisions next spring. The resources, tradition and expectations are here, but Hubert Davis-coached teams are notoriously unpredictable. When preseason predictors are out on the Tar Heels, they have superseded those doubters. When preseason predictors dub UNC as the preseason No. 1 team, it misses the NCAA Tournament.
After a four-year run of fickleness, this iteration of UNC basketball could be the most volatile of them all. North Carolina has flipped the roster on its head. Eight of the nine players who earned tick in last March’s first-round loss to Ole Miss are gone. UNC hit the portal, international waters and the high school ranks to basically build a team from scratch.
This is a reported $14 million roster, and everyone in the basketball world has heard that big number. But money doesn’t guarantee wins.
There’s only one question swirling around the North Carolina Men’s Basketball Program — What will it take for Hubert Davis to keep his job? Surrounded by an 11-million-dollar roster and a mandate to win, or else. What will the Tarheels do this season with that much pressure on the head of the operation? Joe Ovies joins Gary Parrish to give a boots-on-the-ground perspective of the situation going on in Chapel Hill.
Let’s dive into the weeds with the 2025-26 Tar Heels.
Projected starting lineup
1. Kyan Evans | 6-2 | 175 | Jr.
Evans was one of the most dangerous snipers in the Mountain West last season. The 6-2 guard shot over 44% from 3-point…
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