By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — Seth Trimble couldn’t help but grin as he started to talk about the newcomers who have made this preseason feel so different.

There are a lot of them, including a completely reshaped frontcourt with two 7-foot centers and two 6–10 forwards, along with a Montenegrin wing who’s still adjusting to American slang.

Even with 10 newcomers, the senior guard said that the group has come together quickly in a short period of time.

“Maybe the first couple weeks it was like, all right, these guys are still strangers,” he said Wednesday at a Smith Center press conference.

“We bonded, we jelled quickly, and it carried onto the court, too,” he said. “We hung out off the court all the time — we still do — and just the way we came together on the court in such a quick amount of time was super impressive.”

Trimble has good reason to be smiling.

Last season, the 6–3 guard often found himself battling against power forwards, giving up four or five inches and plenty of pounds to keep Carolina’s defense afloat.

With 7–0 Arizona transfer Henri Veesaar, 6–10 freshman Caleb Wilson and 6–10 Alabama transfer Jarin Stevenson, that burden has lifted.

“It’s a blessing,” he said, shaking his head at the memory. “I still tell them how thankful I am for them, because now I don’t have to guard guys who are 6–10 and 240. And the thing about them, too — they’re not just big. Henri is an incredible shooter, Jarin is lights out, and Caleb is so dynamic. Our frontcourt has a chance to do something really special this year.”

A late addition on the wing is Luka Bogavac, who, Trimble said, speaks English well but doesn’t understand a lot of American slang yet.

“Luka is the funniest person I’ve ever been around, and he doesn’t even mean to be funny,” Trimble said with a smile. “Just the way he says things, his timing, everything about it. He’s hilarious.”

More importantly, Bogavac, assuming the NCAA clears him to play, will add to the kind of depth that has given Trimble space to focus on what he can bring to the team: relentless perimeter defense, a confident ballhandler, and a player Coach Hubert Davis can trust in big moments.

It has also freed him to spend more time on leadership, something he said became a priority midway through last season and has only grown since.

“It’s been a huge part of my job,” he said. “Coach Davis does an amazing job of reminding us, but I try to be an extension of him. Just to have pride when you’re wearing this jersey, to represent it when you’re out on Franklin Street or back home. I try to speak that to my teammates as much as I can, and I feel like I’ve done a good job. Guys definitely understand what it means to play here.”

If Trimble sounds grounded, it’s partly because of what he went through last season. He bruised the thumb on his shooting hand early in the season, then suffered a concussion in practice on Dec. 28, a blow that knocked him out of rhythm and kept him searching for consistency even after his return.

“I didn’t get my game back after that concussion,” Trimble admitted. “I had good games, I had bad games, but the biggest thing was just the inconsistency after my concussion. I was fighting, fighting, fighting, and I honestly think that was part of the problem — I was trying so hard to get it back and not just let it flow.”

Trimble went from making 38.5% of his 3-point attempts before the concussion to only 18.2% afterward.

“When you get a concussion, everything is thrown off — your rhythm, your feel, the way you process things on the court,” Trimble said. “But I’ve had months since it happened, so things are good now.”

Those months have given him a reset and a renewed sense of purpose. He’s been working on playing with the ball in his hands more, reading defenses out of the pick-and-roll and shooting off the dribble, among other improvements.

His aim this season is simple: to be “that guy.”

“My role is just being the guy my teammates can rely on, the guy when Coach Davis needs something, go get it — whether it’s a defensive stop, a rebound, a game-time bucket, whatever it is,” he said. “We’ve built such a good relationship over the last four years. He can rely on me, and I can rely on him.”

Trimble’s growth hasn’t been limited to the court. This summer, he became a franchise owner of the Ben & Jerry’s on West Franklin Street, a step into entrepreneurship that he said fulfills a long-held dream.

“It’s super cool,” Trimble said. “It’s more than a blessing to be able to call myself a franchise owner. I just try my best to set my own path, be my own person, and set an example for athletes to come as the NIL life keeps expanding. I’ve always wanted to be more than a basketball player, and my parents set a great path for me. We were all super excited about the opportunity and jumped on it.”

He even has a secret plan in the works of coming up with a flavor for Roy Williams because he said that the legendary coach has “earned it.”

Staying four years in an era with active transfer-portal windows, which he briefly entered in 2024, means something to him.

“This university means everything to me,” he said. “Forget basketball. The young man I became here, the lessons I’ve learned, the connections I’ve built? You can’t get that anywhere else. I’m super thankful for it. When I’m praying at night, I speak about how thankful I am for this university. It’s a blessing.”

Trimble has been through the grind — guarding out of position, battling through injuries, trying to find himself again after a concussion. Now, with a new roster around him and his senior season in front of him, he’s choosing to savor it.

Like the scoops of ice cream served at his shop, his final year at Carolina is layered — leadership on top, gratitude at the core and plenty of ambition mixed in. If it all comes together the way he hopes, Trimble’s last taste of Carolina basketball as a player just might be the sweetest.

No.	Class	Player	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt
8	Freshman	Caleb Wilson (5 star)	4	6–10	215
5	Freshman	Isaiah Denis (4 star)	CG	6–4	180
3	Freshman	Derek Dixon (4 star)	CG	6–5	200
40	Sophomore	Ivan Matlekovic	5	7–0	255
11	Sophomore	Jonathan Powell	G	6–6	190
2	Sophomore	James Brown	5	6–10	240
1	Sophomore	Zayden High	4	6–10	230
44	Junior	Luca Bogavac (BO-guh-VAHTS)	W	6–6	215
4	Junior	Jaydon Young	2	6–4	200
13	RS junior	Henri Veesaar (VEH-sar)	5	7–0	225
0	Junior	Kyan Evans	1	6–2	175
15	Junior	Jarin Stevenson	4	6–10	215
7	Senior	Seth Trimble	2	6–3	200
		Walk-ons
25	Sophomore	John Holbrook	4	6–8	230
32	Junior	Evan Smith	2	6–1	195
6	RS senior	Elijah Davis	2	6–3	205

Former UNC players who transferred

Player	Class next season	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt	Next school
Elliot Cadeau	Junior	PG	6–1	180	Michigan
Jalen Washington	Senior	C	6–10	235	Vanderbilt
Ian Jackson	Sophomore	G	6–4	190	St. John’s
Cade Tyson	Senior	F	6–7	200	Minnesota
Ven-Allen Lubin	Senior	C	6–8	230	N.C. State

Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 10 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. 9 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	3 p.m.	vs. Ohio State	CBS
			—————————
22	Monday	8 p.m.	vs. East Carolina	ACCN
30	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Florida State	ESPN2
	January
3	Saturday	2:15	at SMU	The CW
10	Saturday	6 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
14	Wednesday	9 p.m.	at Stanford	ACCN
17	Saturday	4 p.m.	at California	ACCN
21	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. Notre Dame	ESPN2
24	Saturday	2 or 2:30	at No. 23 Virginia	ESPN or ESPNU
31	Saturday	2 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
	February
2	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	ESPN
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 3 Duke	ESPN
10	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at Miami	ESPN or ESPN2
14	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Pittsburgh	ESPN
17	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN or ESPN2
21	Saturday	1 p.m.	at Syracuse	ABC
23	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 11 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 3 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte