The North Carolina Tar Heels are the No. 1 team in the nation to begin the 2022-23 college basketball season after the Associated Press released its preseason poll on Monday. It’s a record-breaking 10th time the Tar Heels have begun a season at No. 1 in the country, passing rival Duke for the honor.
With UNC returning four starters from a Final Four team a year ago, there are high expectations in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels are the favorites to cut down the nets for a lot of people and there is a lot of pressure on them.
It’s a stacked team that has the firepower to get it done, sort of like a team in the past. And with the Tar Heels being No. 1, Sports Illustrated and UNC re-created an iconic cover from 1981-82:
.@SInow marks preseason basketball rankings with knock-off of that iconic cover from 1981. The more things change with @UNC_Basketball …. pic.twitter.com/DyqVKKxuku
— Lee Pace (@LeePaceTweet) October 17, 2022
Incredible.
The 1981-82 cover is an iconic one for a team that was really damn good and would go on to win the national championship thanks to someone that wasn’t pictured on the cover — Michael Jordan. Dean Smith had his reasons, as he didn’t want a freshman to be in the spotlight right away, adding to the pressure.
I don’t know if the physical cover will hit newsstands or if this is just an online cover but either way, it’s awesome.
Let’s hope this 2022-23 team has a similar fate than the 81-82 team did…
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