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Are the basketball Tar Heels over-scheduled this season?
The 2023-24 non-conference slate was released this week, and in years past it would have been something to get very excited about. But for this upcoming, crucial season, it looks like a bear.
It has similarities and challenges compared to 2022, when Carolina opened No. 1 in the AP preseason poll. In the 11 non-conference games, the Tar Heels went 8-3, beginning 5-0 before suffering four straight losses that dropped them out of the poll completely. They bounced back to win their last 3 non-ACC games, including Ws over Big Ten bullies Ohio State and Michigan.
The upcoming schedule looks about as daunting after three straight “sure wins” at home against Radford, Lehigh and UC-Riverside. Then comes a brutal stretch with three games at the Battle for Atlantis, then a home date against Tennessee and neutral site clashes with defending NCAA champion UConn in New York, Kentucky in Atlanta and Oklahoma in Charlotte.
It looks just as formidable as a year ago, when Carolina faced a tough draw at the PK80 tourney in Oregon, beating Portland State by eight points before losing winnable games against Iowa State and Alabama, followed by defeats at Indiana and Virginia Tech, the latter without injured Armando Bacot. We recall that, before the calendar turned to 2023, Davis’ second UNC team was already on the NCAA bubble from which it eventually slipped off.
The ‘23-24 Tar Heels are likely to be favored in only 5 or 6 of their non-conference 11; the first three, the Atlantis opener against Northern Iowa and the last non-league game against Charleston Southern at home.
The toss-ups, right now, look like either Villanova or Texas Tech in the second round at Atlantis and maybe Arkansas in the third round. Then comes tenacious Tennessee and coach Rick Barnes in the Smith Center, still-loaded UConn at Madison Square Garden, Kentucky at the CBS Sports Classic and Oklahoma in the Jumpman.
If you think the Sooners are a breather because they finished 15-17 and 5-13 in the Big 12 last season, keep in mind they beat Florida, West Virginia, Alabama (by 14), Kansas State, Texas Tech, Iowa State and TCU. And they have several transfers coming in.
So does Carolina, with five, plus freshman point guard Elliott Cadeau. But, unlike last year’s four returning starters and mostly underclassmen on the bench, this is almost a new roster after Bacot and R.J. Davis. Whether freshmen and sophomores or all upperclassmen, they still have to mesh.
Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward
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