Leaky Black announced on social media Friday that he will use his extra season of eligibility to return to Carolina next season. Black has played four seasons for the Tar Heels and is taking advantage of his COVID year the NCAA is giving players who played during the 2020–21 pandemic season.

Brady Manek’s perimeter shooting, grit inside and leadership in helping North Carolina make an improbable run to the national championship game had many Tar Heels fans wondering if he was the best transfer in program history. You have to go back to the early 1970s to find a transfer who had more impact but you only have to look on last season’s roster team to find a member of his family.

After quite the flurry of Carolina men’s basketball activity on Wednesday, there are still more decisions to be made that will have an impact on Coach Hubert Davis’ ability to bring in players from the transfer portal. If Leaky Black decides to use his extra season of eligibility and everybody else returns, Carolina would be right at the 13-player scholarship limit and unable to bring in more players.

Given the way that rosters fluctuate, you figured that there would be departures on Carolina’s roster and possibly the first one will be Anthony Harris. He entered the transfer portal on Wednesday.

It’s been widely expected that Armando Bacot will return for his senior season and he confirmed that in a tweet on Wednesday morning: “Tar Heel forever.” With NIL (name, image and likeness) money out there to be earned, it always made sense for Bacot to come back since he likely will earn more money than he would with a two-way contract, a G League contract or to play in Europe.

Most people familiar with the situation have known for some time that Dawson Garcia wouldn’t be coming back to the North Carolina program, so the news Wednesday that he’s entered the transfer portal, first reported by Inside Carolina, came as no surprise. Garcia, who averaged 9.0 points and made 37.5% of his 3-point attempts for the Tar Heels, transferred from Marquette and was expected to be one of the key players.

My Chicago Cubs cap got me some national television time and eventually got praise from Brady Manek. This was one of the craziest aspects of my long March experience that put me on the road 14 of 27 days. It started innocently enough. The television lights are so bright in these arenas that they’re hard on the eyes. Instead of constantly putting my hand above my eyes, I wore my Cubs cap.

Will North Carolina have the talent to come back from a loss in the national championship game to challenge for the title the following season, as the Tar Heels did in 1982 and 2017? Roster turnover in the age of the transfer portal can be harrowing for fans and coaches. But with NIL deals changing the equation for some players, UNC should be in a position to be a national contender.

National college basketball observers like North Carolina’s chances next season if the way-to-early preseason rankings are any indication, with some saying that the Tar Heels have the talent to return to the Final Four. The consensus is that the Tar Heels should be around No. 5. Of the 11 rankings listed below, the Tar Heels were No. 2 in two of them, No. 3 in one, No. 4 in one and in No. 5 in four. Only two lists, from 247Sports and bustingbrackets.com, have UNC outside of the top 10 at No. 12.