Photo by Todd Melet

Is Carolina ready to begin ACC play? Honestly, I can’t tell.

The 10-3 Tar Heels open conference action with two road games, Saturday at Pitt and Tuesday night at 18th-ranked N.C. State. Somehow, I feel less confident than in past years, even though they have an even better mix this season of grizzled upperclassmen and talented freshmen.

Is Roy Williams’ 16th UNC team better than his 15th? In some ways, it has more firepower with, for example, five players in double figures in the win over Harvard Wednesday night. But Carolina misses its so-called non-scorer Theo Pinson, the best passer and one of the best defenders and rebounders on last year’s team.

This club hasn’t shot the ball that well so far and has not developed a fluid offense, often taking poor shots from its freelance motion game. Despite having the same front court, the Heels aren’t dominating the backboards like they have in recent years. With freshman Coby White running the point and without Theo and Joel Berry, the head of their defense has yet to develop any consistency.

Make no mistake about it, with six teams among the top 18 ranked in the nation, the ACC is even stronger than it was a year ago, when Carolina finished in a four-way tie for third place behind Virginia and Duke. Under new coach Jeff Capel, who knows how to prepare for Carolina, Pitt is far from its 0-18 doormat of last season, and State is better than the team that won 21 games in 2018.

It’s not unusual for his teams to drive Ol’ Roy crazy, and this one is right up there with the best – or worst – of them. He yanks players out for taking bad shots or playing bad defense. But he liked the way it came back in the second half to attack the basket and draw fouls and force turnovers from a .500 Harvard team.

Sans Berry and Pinson, the out-front leadership isn’t as good, and the lazy passes are sometimes dumbfounding. Williams may be settling into a rotation that gives Nassir Little more minutes and does not leave anemic scoring combinations on the court. So far, the Tar Heels don’t look better than a .500 team in a loaded league, but now they get a chance to raise their game. They may have to – to avoid an 0-2 ACC start.

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