By R.L. Bynum
Roster continuity is a challenge in the transfer portal era, both for the programs and their fans, who are used to following players for multiple seasons. The jarring amount of transition in Carolina’s men’s basketball program is the most significant in 20 years.
It’s possible that no one who started the last 10 games of last season will be on the roster, and that only two scholarship players will return. That number goes up by one if Ven-Allen Lubin, who entered the transfer portal this week, returns, as he said is his intention. It’s also possible that Drake Powell could pull his name from the NBA draft by the June 15 deadline, but he sounded like he intends to stay in.
If Powell and Lubin aren’t back, they’d join three players who have no remaining eligibility (RJ Davis, Jae’Lyn Withers and Ty Claude) and four others who entered the transfer portal (Elliot Cadeau, transferring to Michigan; Jalen Washington, Vanderbilt; Ian Jackson, St. John’s; and Cade Tyson) lost from last season’s team.
While Duke has lost three players from last season’s Final Four team to the NBA (Cooper Flagg, Kon Kneuppel and Tyrese Proctor) so far, the Blue Devils are one of at least three programs (along with Tennessee and Boston University) that didn’t lose any players to the transfer portal.
The only Carolina scholarship returnees are one player who started 18 games last season (senior guard Seth Trimble) and another who only played 18 games last season (sophomore forward James Brown). Even if Lubin returns after starting 20 games last season, he is expected to come off the bench with the addition of 7–0 former Arizona redshirt junior Henri Veesaar.
This will be the first time since the 2005–06 season that UNC won’t return a player who started more than 20 games. That came after the program lost NCAA tournament MOP Sean May, Rashad McCants, Jawad Williams, Raymond Felton and Jackie Manuel, and reserve Marvin Williams off the 2005 national championship team.
Since then, there’s been steady continuity, from Tyler Hansbrough (2005–09), John Henson (2009–12), Marcus Paige (2012–16) and Joel Berry II (2014–18) — three of those playing four seasons — to Leaky Black (2018–23), Armando Bacot (2019–24) and RJ Davis (2020–25) each playing five.
The days of watching stars with NBA pedigrees such as Michael Jordan and James Worthy in Carolina blue for three seasons have been over for decades. Fans are lucky to see that level of player for two seasons. But now it’s going to be less common to see players who aren’t at that level for more than one or two seasons because of the ability to transfer to improve playing time and/or earnings.
Trimble, who will play his fourth consecutive season at UNC, will be the only player on next season’s roster who has played more than one season in the program.
At least four starters will be newcomers, and the rotation will include Veesaar, freshman five-star forward Caleb Wilson, junior Colorado State transfer point guard Kyan Evans, junior Alabama transfer forward Jarin Stevenson, sophomore West Virginia transfer guard Jonathan Powell and junior former Virginia Tech guard Jaydon Young.
The good news for that group is that the non-conference schedule won’t be as brutally challenging as last season — other than games against Kansas, Michigan State, Ohio State and an ACC/SEC Challenge opponent — giving the group time to build chemistry.
Roster assuming all players with eligibility other than Caleb Wilson, Henri Veesaar and the seven players who entered the transfer portal return, which would put UNC one under the 15-player limit. 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 |
| 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
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)
(11 of 14 games)
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. 12 — at Georgetown
Dec. 19 — vs. Kentucky in CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden, 2:30 p.m.
Dec. 21 — vs. The Citadel
November or December — vs. Butler
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
