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Previewing the North Carolina Tar Heels Season Opener

By Richard Adkins

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - MARCH 29: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels looks on against the Auburn Tigers during the 2019 NCAA Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional at Sprint Center on March 29, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - MARCH 29: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels looks on against the Auburn Tigers during the 2019 NCAA Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional at Sprint Center on March 29, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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The ninth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels open their season against Notre Dame tonight in the Dean Dome as they look to make a run for a seventh title.

This season will look very different for the Tar Heels with Coby White, Cameron Johnson, Nassir Little, Kenny Williams, and Luke Maye all in the NBA now, as well as Seventh Woods having transferred to South Carolina. Despite the new-look team, there are some returning players looking to build on their impressive play from last season. To name a few, they include Garrison Brooks, Brandon Robinson, Leaky Black, Brandon Huffman, and Andrew Platek, each of whom are expected to be key parts of the UNC offense this season. The saying “out with the old, in with the new” stands true as the Heels brought in some amazing talent, such as point guard Cole Anthony, center Armando Bacot, and graduate transfer Christian Keeling.

Carolina is loaded with potential this season, however, they will be without Robinson for the first few weeks of the season as he nurses a right ankle sprain.

The loss of Robinson certainly hurts Carolina, but fortunately for the Tar Heels, the depth is there for Roy Williams‘ squad. UNC is expected to roll out a seven-man rotation with Anthony, Keeling, Black, Brooks, and Bacot as the starters with Justin Pierce and Platek coming off the bench. Others should also log minutes, but the majority of the playing time is expected to be centered around the aforementioned seven players as Robinson continues to recover. All eyes will be on Anthony, who many expect to go number-one overall in the 2020 NBA draft. As for tonight, expect big men Brooks and Bacot to steal the show after dominating the paint against Winston-Salem State in last Friday’s exhibition.

This should be an entertaining opener and can be seen on the ACC Network tonight at 7 pm ET. The Tar Heels go into the matchup as 10.5-point favorites as they look to get off to a 1-0 start. I predict the Heels will have a slow start to the game, but eventually will find their groove and dominate the Irish in rebounds and turnovers. Look for UNC to cover the spread, with a final score of 81-70. An early-season ACC contest will be fun to watch as Carolina looks to put themselves in a position to cut the nets come April.

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