By R.L. Bynum
Carolina will enter Coach Hubert Davis’ third season as head coach with a more realistic ranking but high expectations that the Tar Heels can rebound from last season’s frustrations with their massively restructured roster.
UNC is No. 19 in the AP preseason Top 25 poll released on Monday, one of three ACC teams to make the list, along with No. 2 Duke and No. 13 Miami. Kansas is the preseason No. 1 team.
UNC has seven games (and potentially nine) against teams in the poll: Duke (twice), No. 6 reigning NCAA champion UConn, No. 9 Tennessee, Miami (twice) and No. 16 Kentucky. At the Battle 4 Atlantis, the Tar Heels could meet No. 14 Arkansas and No. 22 Villanova.
UNC is No. 21 in the Coaches Poll.
After a magical run to the 2022 national championship game, the Tar Heels were ranked No. 1 in last season’s preseason AP poll. UNC (20–13, 11–9 ACC last season) fell out of the poll on Dec. 5, was only ranked once after that (voted No. 25 on Dec. 26) and missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2010.
Most on this season’s roster didn’t experience last season’s struggles, with guards RJ Davis and Seth Trimble, along with big men Armando Bacot and Jalen Washington, the only returning players from last season.
Carolina declined a chance to play in the NIT and dove head-on into an active offseason with seven players transferring out (Caleb Love to Arizona, D’Marco Dunn and Puff Johnson to Penn State, Dontrez Styles to Georgetown, Tyler Nickel to Virginia Tech, Justin McKoy to Hawaii and Will Shaver to UAB), five players transferring in (Cormac Ryan from Notre Dame, Paxton Wojcik from Brown, Harrison Ingram from Stanford, James Okonkwo from West Virginia and Jae’Lyn Withers from Louisville) and welcoming two freshmen (Elliot Cadeau and Zayden High).
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UNC is ranked in the preseason AP poll for the 54th time. Since 1961, this is only the 11th time that the Tar Heels have been ranked below No. 10 in the preseason poll, but the second time in four years after coming in at No. 16 in 2020–21 and No. 19 in 2021–22.
Luke DeCock of The News & Observer, who was one of 11 voters who had Duke No. 1, was one of two voters who had UNC the highest at No. 11, along with Kevin McNamara of WPRO in Providence, R.I.
The other two North Carolina-based voters this season are J.B. Ricks of Spectrum News and Kate Rogerson of WTVD. Ricks voted the Tar Heels No. 15 and Rogerson, also a voter in the football poll, has UNC No. 20.
Six voters had UNC No. 14. Three voters left Carolina off their ballots: Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, Darnell Dickson of the Daily Herald in Provo, Utah, and Shane Mettlen of the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Va.
In the preseason KenPom ratings, Carolina is No. 17. The rankings for the other ACC teams: No. 9 Duke, No. 33 Virginia, No. 45 Miami, No. 51 Clemson, No. 61 N.C. State, No. 62 Pittsburgh, No. 65 Virginia Tech, No. 73 Wake Forest, No. 88 Florida State, No. 105 Syracuse, No. 109 Louisville, No. 118 Georgia Tech, No. 128 Boston College and No. 165 Notre Dame.
In Bart Torvik’s preseason projections, UNC is No. 13. Rankings for other ACC teams: No. 7 Duke, No. 37 Clemson, No. 48 Miami, No. 55 Virginia Tech, No. 65 Virginia, No. 67 Wake Forest, No. 79 Georgia Tech, No. 86 N.C. State, No. 87 Pittsburgh, No. 100 Boston College, No. 111 Florida State, No. 117 Syracuse, No. 158 Louisville and No. 201 Notre Dame.
AP Top 25 preseason poll
| Rank | Team (1st-place votes) | Poll points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kansas (46) | 1,548 |
| 2 | Duke (11) | 1,466 |
| 3 | Purdue (3) | 1,436 |
| 4 | Michigan State (1) | 1,346 |
| 5 | Marquette | 1,283 |
| 6 | Connecticut (2) | 1,243 |
| 7 | Houston | 1,117 |
| 8 | Creighton | 1,099 |
| 9 | Tennessee | 1,032 |
| 10 | Florida Atlantic | 1,011 |
| 11 | Gonzaga | 830 |
| 12 | Arizona | 776 |
| 13 | Miami | 750 |
| 14 | Arkansas | 685 |
| 15 | Texas A&M | 597 |
| 16 | Kentucky | 530 |
| 17 | San Diego State | 529 |
| 18 | Texas | 493 |
| 19 | North Carolina | 474 |
| 20 | Baylor | 431 |
| 21 | Southern Cal | 427 |
| 22 | Villanova | 395 |
| 23 | Saint Mary’s | 335 |
| 24 | Alabama | 163 |
| 25 | Illinois | 104 |
Others receiving votes: Wisconsin 53, Colorado 49, UCLA 47, St. John’s 47, Maryland 34, Virginia 27, Auburn 27, TCU 24, Mississippi St. 20, Kansas St 13, Xavier 8, Memphis 7, Missouri 6, Boise St. 4, Indiana 3, Florida 2, Coll of Charleston 2, New Mexico 1, Drake 1. Point values in parentheses indicate the number of first-place votes.
| Date | Month/day | Scores | Opponent/event (current ranks) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. BYU in SLC | Exhib. |
| 29 | Wednesday | W, 95–53 | vs. Winston-Salem St. | Exhib. |
| November | ||||
| 3 | Monday | W, 94–54 | vs. Central Arkansas | 1–0 |
| 7 | Friday | W, 87–74 | vs. No. 17 Kansas | 2–0 |
| 11 | Tuesday | W, 89–74 | vs. Radford | 3–0 |
| 14 | Friday | W, 97–53 | vs. N.C. Central | 4–0 |
| 18 | Tuesday | W, 73–61 | vs. Navy | 5–0 |
| Fort Myers Tip-Off | ||||
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 85–70 | vs. St. Bonaventure | 6–0 |
| 27 | Thursday | L, 74–58 | vs. No. 11 Michigan State | 6–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | |||
| 2 | Tuesday | W, 67–64 | at Kentucky | 7–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 81–61 | vs. Georgetown | 8–1 |
| 13 | Saturday | W, 80–62 | vs. USC Upstate | 9–1 |
| 16 | Tuesday | W, 77–58 | vs. ETSU | 10–1 |
| CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
| 20 | Saturday | W, 71–70 | vs. Ohio State | 11–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 22 | Monday | W, 99–51 | vs. East Carolina | 12–1 |
| 30 | Tuesday | W, 79–66 | vs. Florida State | 13–1, 1–0 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 3 | Saturday | L, 97–83 | at SMU | 13–2, 1–1 |
| 10 | Saturday | W, 87–84 | vs. Wake Forest | 14–2, 2–1 |
| 14 | Wednesday | L, 95–90 | at Stanford | 14–3, 2–2 |
| 17 | Saturday | L, 84–78 | at California | 14–4, 2–3 |
| 21 | Wednesday | W, 91–69 | vs. Notre Dame | 15–4, 3–3 |
| 24 | Saturday | W, 85–80 | at No. 9 Virginia | 16–4, 4–3 |
| 31 | Saturday | W, 91–75 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 5–3 |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | W, 87–77 | vs. Syracuse | 18–4, 6–3 |
| 7 | Saturday | W, 71–68 | vs. No. 1 Duke | 19–4, 7–3 |
| 10 | Tuesday | L, 75–66 | at No. 25 Miami | 19–5, 7–4 |
| 14 | Saturday | W, 79–65 | vs. Pittsburgh | 20–5, 8–4 |
| 17 | Tuesday | L, 82–58 | at N.C. State | 20–6, 8–5 |
| 21 | Saturday | W, 77–64 | at Syracuse | 21–6, 9–5 |
| 23 | Monday | W, 77–74 | vs. Louisville | 22–6, 10–5 |
| 28 | Saturday | W, 89–82 | vs. Virginia Tech | 23–6, 11–5 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | W, 67–63 | vs. Clemson | 24–6, 12–5 |
| 7 | Saturday | L, 76–61 | at No. 1 Duke | 24–7, 12–6 |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte | |
| 12 | Thursday | L, 80–79 | Quarterfinals: vs. Clemson | 24–8 |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| 19 | Thursday | L, 82–78, OT | First round: vs. VCU in Greenville, S.C. | 24–9 |
The class for next season is listed.
| No./ Stars | Class | Player | Pos. | Hgt | Wgt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 star | Freshman | Maximo Adams | SF | 6–7 | 205 |
| 3 star | Freshman | Malloy Smith | CG | 6–5 | 190 |
| 5 star | Freshman | Sayon Keita | C | 7–0 | 215 |
| 4 star | Freshman | Kevin Thomas | W | 6–7 | 190 |
| Freshman | Alexandros Samodurov | C | 6–11 | 212 | |
| RS freshman | Cade Bennerman — W | C | 7–0 | 205 | |
| Sophomore | Neoklis Avdalas — X | G | 6–9 | 215 | |
| Sophomore | Isaiah Denis | G | 6–4 | 180 | |
| Sophomore | Matt Able — Y | G | 6–5 | 196 | |
| 1 | Senior | Terrence Brown — Z | G | 6–3 | 174 |
| 4 | Senior | Jaydon Young | G | 6–4 | 200 |
| 15 | Senior | Jarin Stevenson | 4 | 6–10 | 215 |
| Graduate | Angelo Brizzi — ZZ | 2 | 6–3 | 193 | |
| Walk-ons | |||||
| 25 | Junior | John Holbrook | 4 | 6–8 | 230 |
| 32 | Senior | Evan Smith | 2 | 6–1 | 195 |
W — Northwestern transfer. X — Virginia Tech transfer; Y — N.C. State transfer; Z — Utah transfer; ZZ — Buffalo transfer
Michael Malone’s coaching staff: Chuck Martin, Bryan Tibaldi, Sean May and Pat Sullivan; Deon Thompson will be a graduate assistant, and Brandon Robinson will reportedly have a support staff position.
Players who left for the transfer portal
| Player | Class next season | Pos. | Hgt | Wgt | Next school |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luka Bogavac | Senior | W | 6–6 | 215 | Oklahoma State |
| James Brown | Senior | C | 6–10 | 240 | Howard |
| Derek Dixon | Sophomore | G | 6–5 | 200 | Arizona |
| Kyan Evans | Senior | G | 6–2 | 175 | Minnesota |
| Zayden High | Junior | C | 6–10 | 230 | South Florida |
| Jonathan Powell | Junior | G | 6–6 | 190 | Pittsburgh |
| Ivan Matlekovic | Junior | C | 7–0 | 255 |
Schedule so far
(Other than the ACC/SEC Challenge, games without links revealed from reporting by Alex Rosinski or Rocco Miller)
(13 of 14 games)
Oct. 18 — exhibition game vs. Indiana at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis
Nov. 2 — vs. Western Carolina
Nov. 6 — vs. Wofford
Nov. 10 — vs. Wyoming
Nov. 13 — vs. Georgia
Nov. 20 — vs. Marshall
Nov. 27 — vs. West Virginia at the Dick Vitale Invitational at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center
Dec. 1 — vs. Arkansas in ACC/SEC Challenge
Dec. 6 — vs. Butler
Dec. 12 — at Georgetown
Dec. 15 (tentative date) — vs. N.C. State in a non-conference game in Greensboro
Dec. 19 — vs. Kentucky in CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden, 2:30 p.m.
Dec. 21 — vs. The Citadel
Jan. 30 — vs. Illinois in Nashville, Tenn.
ACC games
Home and away: Duke, Louisville
Home only: California, Georgia Tech, Miami, N.C. State, SMU, Stanford, Virginia
Away only: Boston College, Florida State, Notre Dame, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Photo via @UNC_Basketball
