Covering Carolina athletics beyond men’s basketball and football, with dedicated reporting on women’s basketball and baseball, in addition to covering other sports that rarely draw media attention
Derek Dixon announced on Monday that he will continue his college career at Arizona in a post on Instagram. During his only season at UNC as a freshman, Dixon started 16 of 33 games, averaging 6.5 points, 2.7 assists and 2.3 rebounds per game. He announced on April 6 that he was entering the transfer portal.
Terrence Brown, Utah’s leading scorer and one of the transfer portal’s most sought-after guards, visited UNC on Monday as the Tar Heels continue to sort out a reshaped roster under Coach Michael Malone.
Jarin Stevenson is returning for his senior season at Carolina to play for Coach Michael Malone, announcing his decision in a Monday afternoon Instagram post, declaring, “I’m back.”
Former Virginia Tech star Neoklis Avdalas has become Coach Michael Malone’s first transfer-portal commitment, according to multiple reports.
Avdalas arrived at Virginia Tech from Kalamata, Greece, as the second-highest-rated recruit in program history with an international résumé and the belief that his size-plus-creation package could translate quickly in the ACC. After an up-and-down season in Blacksburg, he announced on March 27 that he would enter the transfer portal, and
Cormac Ryan finished his season with a flourish as Coby White heads to the Play-In Tournament for the fourth consecutive season, and Cameron Johnson and Harrison Barnes prepare for the playoffs.
After spending freshman season at West Virginia, former UNC guard Jonathan Powell is transferring to Pittsburgh, the Mountaineers’ arch rival. Powell made the announcement in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday evening. It was Pitt’s second commitment of the day after former BYU forward Dominique Diomande committed to the Panthers.
Former Notre Dame combo guard Jalen Haralson has drawn plenty of interest since announcing on April 2 that he would enter the transfer portal. CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reported Saturday that Haralson has cut his list to North Carolina, Tennessee and Ohio State in a race for one of the most productive freshmen to hit the portal this cycle.
Jaydon Young will return for his senior season at North Carolina. On Monday, Young posted on Instagram an On3 report that he intended to enter the transfer portal, but On3’s Joe Tipton reported on Friday night that he withdraw his name and will return. That reduces the number of Tar Heels in the transfer portal to six.
One of North Carolina’s first transfer-portal swings under Coach Michael Malone has taken aim at a shot-blocker with SEC production and an already familiar face in Carolina blue. Multiple reports have indicated that UNC has been in contact with Alabama sophomore center Aiden Sherrell, a 6–11 big man who emerged as one of the league’s most disruptive interior defenders while averaging 11.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game.
Michael Malone was on track to become a Secret Service agent when a low-paying, entry-level college job set him on the path to coaching stardom. That’s one of the interesting stories from a 2020 NBA.com interview with his late father, Brendan Malone, an accomplished coach who was instrumental in developing the “Jordan rules” during his days on the Detroit Pistons coaching staff.
If a Carolina player wanted to “Be Like Mike,” Tar Heels coach Michael Malone would undoubtedly be delighted if they played like Michael Jordan. Just don’t call him Mike.
Nikola Jokić’s rise to stardom began with what seemed like a bold coaching move at the time by Michael Malone. Jokić was a second-round pick and was playing behind first-round pick Jusuf Nurkić when the Denver Nuggets’ coach went against conventional NBA logic in a decision that reshaped the franchise and Jokić’s career.
Michael Malone got overwhelming support from the coach who succeeded him with the Denver Nuggets and the star that helped him win an NBA title. Nuggets head coach David Adelman, who succeeded Malone late in the 2024–25 season, said he was happy to hear the news that Malone was becoming North Carolina’s coach.
Michael Malone’s first North Carolina staff move is a familiar one for anyone who has tracked John Calipari’s recruiting machine over the past two decades. Arkansas assistant Chuck Martin, the Razorbacks’ recruiting coordinator and one of Calipari’s long-trusted lieutenants, is expected to join Malone in Chapel Hill as UNC’s associate head coach, according to multiple reports on Wednesday.
With North Carolina introducing Michael Malone as its head basketball coach, the parallels to football coach Bill Belichick are obvious: both arrived in Chapel Hill as professional champions with zero college head-coaching experience. While the comparison is tempting, it’s ultimately inaccurate. With Malone now in place and having “won” his introductory press conference, it’s increasingly clear that, despite surface-level similarities, these two hires are fundamentally different. Here are five reasons why:
