UNC Seeking Return to Normalcy as College Basketball Season Begins

 

At long last, college basketball has finally arrived with No. 16 UNC set to host College of Charleston at the Smith Center on Wednesday.

After a down year last season, the young Tar Heels will be looking to return the program to its familiar winning ways.

Armed with one of the nation’s top recruiting classes, UNC received a much-needed boost of talent over the offseason.

Despite losing point guard Cole Anthony to the NBA Draft, the Tar Heels welcome four McDonald’s All-Americans to the fold for this year. Caleb Love and R.J. Davis will look to replace Anthony’s production in the backcourt, while forwards Day’Ron Sharpe and Walker Kessler will join Preseason ACC Player of the Year Garrison Brooks and Armando Bacot in forming one of the most talented frontcourt rotations in the country.

Guard Kerwin Walton and wing Puff Johnson—the brother of former Tar Heel standout Cameron Johnson—are four-star recruits who should also see plenty of opportunities this year for head coach Roy Williams. 

“We have six freshmen that will play a lot, and I wouldn’t be surprised if sometimes we have five freshmen on the court together,” Williams told reporters during the ACC’s virtual media day. “We open up Wednesday with College of Charleston and I’d like to have about another month of practice because we’re nowhere near ready to play, but the calendar doesn’t stop.” 

UNC went 14-19 last season on the way to the first losing season in 17 years since Williams took over as head coach. The Hall-of-Famer even went so far as to say during the season that it was the least gifted team he had ever coached.

Talent shouldn’t be a problem this year, but the lack of experience is something that could definitely plague the Tar Heels—especially early in the season.

It takes time to adjust to the college game and get used to the pace Williams wants his team to play at. This will also be the third straight year UNC is starting a freshman at point guard, which means growing pains will likely just be part of the process. 

“Well, it takes a while, there’s no question, because I do like to push it,” Williams said, about learning his system. “And every kid says they want to run and then realize how hard it is and it’s not as much fun anymore, particularly in practice doing it every day. This year, perhaps, it might be even more unusual because my guess is we’ll have a freshman at the point guard and when he goes out there’ll be another freshman at the point guard.” 

One thing that will help the young guards this season is that Williams finally has enough depth in the frontcourt to return to his preferred inside-out style of play.

While the general direction of the sport continues to move toward three-point shooting, increased spacing and smaller lineups, the Tar Heels are doing the opposite—hoping to dominate the backboards and capitalize on easy baskets at the rim.

Williams acknowledges that his big men will have to work on defending smaller players on the perimeter, but feels the advantages UNC gains outweigh the negatives. 

“What it means is yeah, we’ve got to be able to get on the court and guard those guys, but they have to guard us as well,” Williams said. “I think the game’s changed a great deal, but I like being stubborn and I like to play with two post guys if I can. I like to go inside. I like to get fouled.” 

After a long, strange offseason, the time has finally come for the Tar Heels to put last year behind them and show that this is a whole new team. 

“We’re anxious to see how we’re doing,” Williams said. “We had a season last year that definitely left a bad taste in our mouths.” 

 

Photo via Todd Melet

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