UNC basketball: Who goes, who stays will shape next season
In the old days, as in, just 15 years ago, North Carolina’s loss to George Mason in the 2006 NCAA Tournament wasn’t so much disappointing as it was encouraging. A core group of freshmen Tar Heels led by Tyler Hansbrough would be returning to school and the possibilities of building off their success led to optimism of what the future would hold.
But see, that’s why they are the old days. After the Heels’ 85-62 loss to Wisconsin Friday in the first round of the tournament, the hope is that enough of their roster comes back to build off their foundation during a COVID-19 ransacked season.
“Kids nowadays have decisions to make, whether to leave early, go to the NBA,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “We’ll have to wait and see how those situations pan out. But it is something that the foundation here is something that could be really, really special.”
If everyone returned, it could be. But there are plenty of forces lining up that could lead to roster attrition and take the Heels from potential title contender almost back to rebuilding mode.
This offseason will be as unique as this season played in a pandemic — and not just for UNC. It is believed the NCAA governing body will approve a transfer waiver that would allow players a one-time pass to be eligible immediately. Coaches anticipate the transfer portal is going to overflow with players leaving, and Chapel Hill isn’t likely to be exempt from that change.
It will also be different because seniors have the option of playing another year. Seniors Garrison Brooks and Andrew Platek could return thanks to the NCAA waiver for all sports allowing another year of eligibility due to the pandemic changing so much of the season.
After the loss, Brooks said he’d only thought about his decision “a little bit.”
“Just in case it’s going somewhere else or staying here or turning pro,” Brooks said. “It’s just something to think about and I’ll think about it to myself and just come to a decision.”
Decision time
Arguably the biggest decision will be that of freshman forward Day’Ron Sharpe. The 6-foot-11 native of Greenville, N.C., averaged 9.5 points and was second on the team with 7.6 rebounds. Despite playing 100 fewer minutes than sophomore Armando Bacot, Sharpe was just eight rebounds shy of leading the team.
NBA scouts view Sharpe as a high-motor player with a proclivity to rebound. He’s being projected as a potential first round pick. The Athletic has him going No. 19 overall in its latest mock draft.
It does not have freshman Caleb Love being picked. But that’s still not a guarantee that Love will return to UNC. The 6-foot-4 guard from St. Louis was arguably the most-heralded recruit in the class. His season didn’t quite measure up to expectations.
He was the second leading scorer on the team at 10.5 points per game and led the team with 3.5 assists. But he also shot just 31.6 percent from the field including just 26.6 percent from 3-point range. His 3.1 turnover average could be partly blamed on primarily playing point guard for the first time.
Unlike in years past, when assumptions could be made on who leaves and who stays, there isn’t a sure way to gauge that now, especially for many of the Heels reserves who came off the bench.
Aging quickly
Most of Carolina’s consistency issues had to do with relying on so many young players. Add in the weight of the protocols they had to follow just to be able to play, and Williams called it a trying year. He lamented having the same issues with turnovers and shot selection all season.
“I started the season when I was 70 years old, I feel like I’m 103 right now,” he said.
Carolina ranked 333rd nationally in the experience category according to Kenpom.com. The Badgers? They were 21st and had six seniors in their rotation. While it’s unlikely the Heels will ever field a team that old, they’ll be better off if they simply have the bulk of their freshmen become sophomores.
There are parallels between this season and that core of freshmen who played Hansbrough’s freshman year. Williams has the same feel for this team as he did at the end of the 2005-06 season, when he started three freshmen at the beginning of year and by the end believed they were going to be really good.
“And they were, they won the national championship as a senior, and as a junior went to the Final Four,” Williams said. “Times are different now and there will be a lot of different pulls to them or pulls at them, stresses and pressures that they and their families feel. So we’ll just have to wait and see.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2021 at 8:18 AM.