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The talented new Hoop Heels do have an apparent weakness.
Hubert Davis wanted more size everywhere, and he got it. But most of that height is new or inexperienced and, at first glance, doesn’t look rugged enough. These days, you gotta have some dudes.
Carolina was small in the backcourt with R.J. Davis and Elliot Cadeau, who if they couldn’t get open on the perimeter could get to the basket on a drive, pass or pullup.
So the new Tar Heels to join Seth Trimble are taller and supposedly good shooters. They will need that because of averaged outside marksmanship last season.
And can the new bigs help fix that?
The projected starters are a senior 7-foot transfer from Arizona and a 6-9 freshman with off the charts talent; but can the duo control or hold their own equally in the paint and on the glass.
Henri Veesaar can shoot from outside and complete a feed and finish with a monstrous dunk. At the Blue-White Game Saturday, he did not win many rebounding battles for loose balls. If he has trouble with the Tar Heel second-teamers, opposite ACC bigs will be harder.
Caleb Wilson is a talent to behold. Long arms with a much quicker twitch than Veesaar. Fans may learn to love watching him warm up for his dunkathon from the layup line. But he too will face some power forwards who are bigger and stronger, if not tougher.
The almost all-new backcourt will have to help both big guys.
While taller than R.J. and Elliott, they must learn to drive the lane almost as well as their UNC predecessors.
The perimeter looks to be Trimble, potential point guard Kyan Evans and foreign shooting star Luka Bogavac. If they can move the ball and their feet and get open for looks from the arc, they can help move the team from good to great. Evans and Bogavac bring good stats from Colorado State and European pro ball, respectively.
But at this next level, they will have to produce far more than the advertised Cade Tyson, the one-season transfer who didn’t come close to shooting like he had at Belmont.
There is potentially a lot more depth. In the front court, 6-10 James Brown is back and 6-10 Zayden High returns from a university suspension after looking very good early in his freshman year. The expected help is Jarin Stevenson, the 6-10 forward Alabama transfer from Pittsboro who can shoot it from outside but is also not a real back to the basket offensive threat down low.
The best perimeter reserves are 6-5 Derek Dixon, a true freshman, and 6-6 Jonathan Powell, a starter for most of his one season at West Virginia, where he averaged 8.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game and was the Mountaineers second best 3-point shooter.
Another unknown: how will the revenue share money the scholarship players are now making affect their performance and their pressure?
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
