A very early projection at North Carolina’s starting lineup in 2022-23

We have our way too early UNC basketball projected starting lineup for the 2022-23 season fresh off a Final Four run.

Despite falling short in the national championship game, the UNC basketball program accomplished a lot in [autotag]Hubert Davis[/autotag]’ first season as head coach. The future is certainly bright for the program in Chapel Hill and this upcoming season will be one of the more anticipated in years.

Especially if this group of Tar Heels do decide to run it back.

While the title game loss was just a few days ago, it’s never too early to look ahead to next year. ESPN has the Tar Heels projected as a Top 5 team and that may very well be the case if they get back some key players. The big word there is ‘if’.

[autotag]Armando Bacot [/autotag]and [autotag]Caleb Love[/autotag] are very likely going to test the NBA Draft waters and both could leave after getting their evaluation. Brady Manek is gone after not having any eligibility left and Leaky Black has a decision as well with one year left.

Then there’s the transfer portal. UNC could lose a player or two to the portal and with a four-man class coming in, they don’t have a lot of space to add to their roster via the portal unless there are multiple exits.

But what will this starting lineup look like next year? We give our very early projection, which obviously could change a lot, here in April.

For this projection, we are working under the assumption that any player that DOES NOT receive a first-round grade for the NBA Draft returns. Obviously, this could change but for now, this is how we will operate.