By R.L. Bynum
Neither North Carolina nor the ACC fares well in the preseason KenPom men’s college basketball ratings.
Ken Pomeroy’s ratings have the No. 25-ranked Tar Heels No. 33, with only three ACC teams ahead of them: No. 6-ranked Duke at No. 7, No. 11-ranked Louisville at No. 14 and Clemson at No. 32.
The KenPom ranks for the rest of the league are: No. 38 N.C. State, No. 43 SMU, No. 49 Wake Forest, No. 59 Virginia, No. 63 Pittsburgh, No. 68 Syracuse, No. 70 Georgia Tech, No. 71 Virginia Tech, No. 76 Miami, No. 77 Notre Dame, No. 87 California, No. 89 Stanford, No. 90 Boston College (which UNC won’t play) and No. 96 Florida State.
Given the strength of Carolina’s league schedule that KenPom suggests, it’s good for the Tar Heels that they will face No. 4 Kentucky (Dec. 2 on the road; ranked No. 9), No. 21 Kansas (Nov. 7 at home; ranked No. 19), No. 25 Michigan State (Nov. 27 in Fort Myers, Fla.; ranked No. 22) and No. 27 Ohio State (Dec. 20 at the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta) during nonconference play. UNC faces No. 18 BYU in a preseason exhibition game.
Carolina plays a scrimmage Saturday at Cherokee High School before heading to Salt Lake City on Oct. 24 for that BYU exhibition. After an Oct. 29 home exhibition game against Winston-Salem State, UNC opens the season with five home games, including the Kansas game. The others are Nov. 3 against Central Arkansas, Nov. 11 against Radford, Nov. 14 against N.C. Central and Nov. 18 against Navy.
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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 by Joshua Lawton
