The now infamous recreation of Sports Illustrated’s 1981 North Carolina cover in a preseason photo shoot had a problem: Returning players – RJ Davis, Caleb Love, Leaky Black and Armando Bacot – copied poses from the original photo of Jimmy Black, Matt Doherty, Sam Perkins and James Worthy, but current head coach Hubert Davis, a southpaw, stood like Dean Smith and pretended to work out a game with his right hand .
This issue turned out to be a harbinger for the Tar Heels’ season, and not in a good way.
Something was wrong with the picture, and it turns out something was wrong with UNC’s entire season, which came to an unceremonious end on Sunday as the Tar Heels wrapped up their fall from the 1 preseason in the NCAA’s “first four out”. Tournament.
“We have a lot of guys who are injured, they are sad and motivated,” Hubert Davis said on his Monday night radio show. “And obviously you don’t want to go through that, and you want to play an NCAA tournament, but I really believe that’s going to be the driver of the hunger and the thirst to be the best you can be. I know we it’s only March but I’m really excited to start next season with next year’s squad and it’s going to be a great season.
Next season’s roster could be drastically different from the group that ended this season, and the transition to next season has already begun, which is why Davis said the team declined to play in the national tournament on invitation.
“Every decision I make, whether it’s personal or team or whatever, is filtered based on what’s in the best interest of this program,” Davis said. “I felt what was in the best interest of this program was to start the process now in terms of team building and building this program and changing the directions that we all want it to go.”
Who is leaving Chapel Hill?
Forward Justin McKoy, who transferred to UNC after playing two years at Virginia, has one more year of eligibility and enters the transfer portal as a transfer graduate who can play immediately.
Freshman Tyler Nickel has also entered the transfer portal and will have three more seasons of eligibility. The 6ft 7in striker appeared in 25 games but averaged just 6.1 minutes per game. Nickel, a native of Harrisonburg, Va., graduated from high school as the all-time leading scorer in Virginia history. He shot just 6 of 27 from 3-point range for the Heels.
Black and Pete Nance will not be returning after exhausting their eligibility.
Black leaves UNC after setting a program record for most games played at 154. He played five years and is unlikely to be drafted, but he intrigued NBA scouts enough that he becomes a wanted free agent to sign for training camp.
Nance came to UNC as a grad transfer aiming to make his first NCAA tournament after four seasons at Northwestern. Nance had the misfortune to be the player who replaced Brady Manek in the lineup and his only season with the Heels did not end as he had imagined.
Veterans Decisions
What Armando Bacot decides will have a major impact on what the frontcourt will look like next season. The Heels’ all-time leading rebounder could return for a fifth season thanks to the NCAA’s COVID-19 waiver for the 2020-21 season.
Bacot’s decision could once again hinge on whether he wants to take advantage of NIL (name, image and likeness) opportunities. His skill set doesn’t fit the current mold of NBA greats because he doesn’t have perimeter play and he likely wouldn’t get drafted.
Carolina could eventually return her core of Bacot, Love and RJ Davis, though it wouldn’t be a surprise if Love decided he’d had enough.
No one has received more criticism for how the season has gone than Love, who took a higher shooting percentage than last season (28.4 vs. 26.2) even though his shooting percentages from 3 points fell to 29.9% from 36% last time. season.
The bench matters
McKoy and Nickel may not be the last to go elsewhere.
Hubert Davis spoke openly in the offseason about his desire to develop a bench. UNC finished 360th out of 363 Division I teams in bench minutes percentage according to Ken Pomeroy. Carolina reserves played 18.3% of the minutes remaining.
“Where you earn your minutes is in practice, and you stack plays in practice and that gives me the confidence to put you in the game,” Davis said. “And then stacking plays into plays and that keeps you in the game. It’s been consistent with me, if you play well in practice I’ll put you in the game and if I put you in a game and you play well, I’ll keep you in the game.
The highlight of Sophomore Dontrez Styles’ career as a rookie was scoring the first field goal in overtime against Baylor on a 3-pointer that helped UNC avoid an NCAA Tournament collapse in the second round. Instead of being able to capitalize on that moment in his sophomore year, he actually appeared in half as many games. He played in 30 as a freshman and only 15 this season. If the Kinston native decides to transfer, that’s probably why.
“I’m still trying to figure it out,” Styles told The Bryan Hanks Show in Kinston. “…I should have a decision by next week at the latest.”
Sophomore D’Marco Dunn saw his time increase to an average of 10.3 minutes per game and he averaged 2.7 points per game. But Dunn, like first-year guard Seth Trimble, saw his starting role in the rotation at the start of the season change from their victory at Louisville on Jan. 14 until the end of the season.
Hubert Davis tightened his rotation during the season where Puff Johnson was the only bench player to consistently log 10 or more minutes off the bench.
Trimble has appeared in every game this season and started twice when Nance was out with a back injury. Trimble played 10 minutes or more in 14 games before the Louisville game, but only once after. The combination of Dunn, Nickel, Styles, McKoy, Trimble and Jalen Washington had just 10 total games of double-digit minutes played after Jan. 14.
Davis said injuries were part of the reason the bench rotation was sometimes interrupted because certain players weren’t available for certain games.
“I felt like this year we were always trying to find a combination off the bench that works and sometimes I was wrong,” Davis said. “And most of the time, or sometimes I got it right and that’s something I continue to learn as a second-year head coach.”
Washington should expect a much larger role next season, assuming he stays. NBA scouts listed the 6-foot-10 freshman forward as the top prospect on the roster.
Washington was injured early in the season and missed the first nine games. He showed flashes of his filler potential when Bacot was injured seconds after their loss to Virginia. Washington’s 13 points and six rebounds in 27 minutes were all season highs.
He played 19 minutes in the following victory at Louisville. But those two games were the highlight — Washington played just 47 minutes combined in the remaining 15 games of the season.
Who joins the list?
Simeon Wilcher, a 6-foot-4 combo guard from Roselle, NJ, is ranked No. 29 overall for the Class of 2023 by 247 Sports Composite Rankings.
Zayden High, a 6-foot-9 forward from Spring Branch, Texas, is ranked No. 53. High was a late addition to the class. Carolina only started pursuing him after learning about GG Jackson, who was once committed to UNC and the No. 1 player in the class, reclassified in 2022 and opted out to play in South Carolina.
North Carolina could go hard in the transfer portal to add a veteran wing shooter, or it could seek a player to reclassify from its four 2024 recruiting commitments. The class is currently ranked No. 1 in the 247 Sports composite.
Whatever heels they choose, they just know that next season can’t end like the last.
“I’m excited to see how year three is going,” Davis said. “But I know it will be different from the first and the second.”