Season Preview: #3 North Carolina

Games against 2012 NCAA Tournament teams: 12

Games against ACC top 4: 6

Games against ACC bottom 4: 5

Best non-conference game: 11/27 at Indiana


Projected Starting Five:

F - Desmond Hubert (Sophomore)

F - James Michael McAdoo (Sophomore)

G - Reggie Bullock (Junior)

G - Dexter Strickland (Senior)

G - Marcus Paige (Freshman)


This is a reloading year in Chapel Hill, after losing so many talented players to the NBA Draft.  It was a surprise that they didn't win it all last year, but a lot of that had to do with injuries that came up late in the season.  Tyler Zeller, Harrison Barnes, John Henson and Kendall Marshall are all gone.  All extremely talented players.  It's hard to lose that much talent and not expect a dip the next year.

But I don't think that dip will be too far.  If you look at their lineup this year, it's still more talented than the majority of teams in the league.  James Michael McAdoo is poised to be a star, a first team all-ACC player, and someone who can really fill up the stat sheet.  Reggie Bullock came up big in games later in the year, and can be the second best player on the team.  They do get a boost as Dexter Strickland and Leslie McDonald are back from injury.  I think the potential weak point is down low.  Desmond Hubert was not great last year, and does not have a lot of size.  They could struggle against teams that have a lot of strong frontcourt players.

The schedule is very tough, as it usually is with North Carolina.  They play five games in a row away from Chapel Hill early in the year, including the Maui Invitational and a road game against preseason #1 Indiana.  They also have a road game at Texas and host a UNLV team that beat them last year.  Then, in the conference, they play two games each against Duke, NC State and Miami.

Despite all the losses and the tough schedule, I still think North Carolina can compete for a league title this year.  They have the talent - it's just a matter of getting all their inexperienced players to play together.  They will lose some games, but don't be surprised if at the end of the day they have a 12-6 or 13-5 conference record and a #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.