Last season was, undoubtedly, the most disappointing in UNC men’s basketball history.
The Tar Heels entered the 2022-2023 campaign fresh off a National Championship appearance, where they saw a 15-point halftime lead disappear against Bill Self’s Kansas Jayhawks. UNC was the Preseason Number One team – they returned starters Armando Bacot, Leaky Black, R.J. Davis and Caleb Love.
Carolina ended up on the wrong side of history last year, becoming the first Preseason Number One team to not make the NCAA tournament.
Oh, and this offseason? Seven players transferred out, including Love. Luckily, the Heels nabbed Elliot Cadeau to replace Love.
UNC floated around the bubble late in the season, but a disappointing loss to archrival Duke and early exit in the ACC Tournament to another rival, Virginia, all but ended the Heels’ title dream.
Will this year be any better?
Earlier this week, On3 Sports’ Grant Grubbs interviewed Davis about what areas UNC needs to improve in for any chance at getting title number eight.
The first area Davis highlighted was outside shooting.
“Last year, we weren’t a very good outside shooting team,” Davis told Grubbs. “There are 15 teams in the ACC. We were 15th in 3-point shooting percentage,” Davis said. “The team that we have now, I think we’re a better shooting team.”
Davis also touched on Carolina’s struggles to move the ball. Instead of dishing the ball around the perimeter and looking for a shot, Love tried to play hero ball too much and, most of the time, took poor shots.
“I didn’t think last year we were very good in terms of ball movement and sharing the basketball,” Davis told Grubbs. “Out of 15 teams in the ACC, we were 14th in team assists, so I feel like we have multiple playmakers now that can make plays for themselves and their teammates. I really like the mix and the combinations of this team. I know it’s really early, but there’s a lot of versatility. And that’s something that I’m really excited about.”
What UNC lost in its seven transfers, it gained in Cadeau, Louisville transfer Jae’Lyn Withers and Stanford transfer Harrison Ingram, Notre Dame transfer Cormac Ryan and Brown transfer Paxson Wojcik. Class of 2023 recruits Simeon Wilcher and Zayden High round out the seven new Heels.
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