How good are the Tar Heels? We really don’t know yet.

Carolina looks to be on its way to another ACC regular-season championship under Roy Williams, who’s won something like 16 in his first 28 years of head coaching. The Heels had a great home stand, knocking off 14th-ranked Virginia and No. 7 Louisville in two of the ugliest games of the season, yet both impressive Ws for UNC.

Holding the Cavaliers to 41 points, the fewest in ol’ Roy’s Chapel Hill tenure had as much to do with Virginia’s anemic offense as Carolina’s sticky defense. Against Louisville, the Tar Heels began the game like they were all far-sighted, missing close-in baskets that weren’t even close, and ended it with the rarity of more turnovers than assists.

While Louisville outshot the home team by seven percent and dominated the paint in the first half, which ended with an exchange between Rick Pitino and a soon-ejected Tar Heel fan, the Cardinals shot 5 of 20 from three-point range and 4 of 13 from the foul line. But, literally, at the end of the day, Duke and Louisville both lost and are two games behind the front-running boys in light blue.

I began the season by saying Carolina could never be as good as a team without Brice Johnson and Marcus Paige, and I am delighted to admit I was wrong. The Tar Heels have rounded into a team that might be in the top five next week and should land another No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. But I wish I could say they are great.

A lot will have to go right to reach another Final Four and win it this year. No more injuries, please. Joel Berry fully regaining his outside marksmanship. And officials from other leagues not seeing Isaiah Hicks and starting to blow their whistles. The good news is that Kennedy Meeks is having a fine senior season and now goes to get the ball instead of waiting for it to come to him. Tony Bradley is a future pro who will stay at least two years. Luke Maye continues to surprise, and Theo Pinson makes more good plays than bad.

A great team, I guess, handles Pitt and Virginia on the road and, most definitely, beats Duke at home. Then gets to play the ACC tournament for fun while putting on its Dancing shoes.