Carolina Basketball is entering a strange new stretch, and the skepticism hanging over Michael Malone feels tied, at least in part, to what happened with Bill Belichick.
UNC’s football gamble with Belichick came with plenty of buzz and plenty of questions, and the 2025 season answered those doubts in a way that left the concerns looking justified. There is still a chance things could turn around this season, but that confidence is clearly not universal.
Now the basketball program is trying something different with Malone, the former Denver Nuggets coach who delivered the franchise its first NBA championship before being hired to replace Hubert Davis. On paper, it was a strong move.
The biggest college coaching names were getting major money to stay put, Dusty May ended up back in the NBA, and Billy Donovan settled in as lead assistant for the San Antonio Spurs. That doesn’t mean Malone was automatically the best option, but it does mean UNC did not simply settle for the easiest path.
Unlike the football search, there were real candidates out there, and the Tar Heels chose the coach who arrives with a championship résumé.
And Malone brings a lot to like. He has the edge, the development mindset, and the win-at-all-costs drive that a program like UNC expects.
He also built what might be one of the more intriguing rosters the Tar Heels have assembled in the NIL and transfer portal era. Matt Able, Terrence Brown, and Neoklis Avdalas are all solid portal additions, Maximo Adams is one of the better freshmen coming in, and Alexandros Samodurov along with Sayon Keita both have a chance to become impact pieces.
Still, the national outlook has been lukewarm.
Part of that is easy to understand. There are a handful of teams that have been consistently strong over the last two or three years, and that kind of track record matters.
Florida, that team in Durham, Michigan, Tennessee, Illinois, UConn, and Arkansas are among the programs that keep showing up because they have coaches who have already proven they can recruit and work the portal at a high level. ESPN’s way-too-early Top 25 reflects that reality.
Malone has only been on the job for a moment, and his college résumé simply doesn’t exist yet in the same way.
But there may be more going on than just résumé fatigue.
The lingering shadow of Belichick, combined with the uncertainty still surrounding the Hubert Davis era, may be coloring how people see Malone before he’s even coached a game. There’s no real reason to question whether he can coach, and his Year 1 roster-building was clearly stronger than Belichick’s. Even so, the outside temperature around UNC doesn’t match the optimism that should come with hiring a proven winner.
A Final Four run would still be a surprise, but the ceiling is there. And if that sounds like a stretch, it still feels more realistic than the football team finishing above .500 this year. That’s why the hesitation around Malone stands out so much.
In Other News...
UNC Suddenly Has A Seth Trimble Twist Fans Need To Watch
The latest NCAA legal wrinkle has quickly turned into a real roster issue for college teams, and Seth Trimble is one of the names now caught in the middle. The Tenth Circuits decision to grant the NCAAs stay in Wisne v. NCAA temporarily pauses a nationwide injunction that had been allowing Class of 2022 athletes to pursue a federal fifth season of eligibility, changing the landscape for players who had expected one more year to be available.
For North Carolina fans, the timing matters because Trimble had already committed to Louisville, only to find himself not eligible to play for his new school under the current ruling. Unless a separate state lawsuit with its own injunction applies, athletes who used up four years of eligibility in the spring of 2026 are now in a tougher spot, and the uncertainty around Trimble is the kind of offseason twist that can reshape depth charts fast. [Read more 🡒]
UNC Suddenly Has A Kicker Problem Before Its Opener
With North Carolinas opener closing in, the Tar Heels suddenly have a special teams question that was not supposed to be part of the preseason conversation. Kicker Rece Verhoff is currently ineligible to play after the Tenth Circuit court granted the NCAAs stay request, reversing the temporary relief that had allowed players from the 2022 class to pursue a fifth year of eligibility.
Bill Belichick has already acknowledged the uncertainty around Verhoffs status and said the staff needs a contingency plan in place. For a team trying to settle its roster before kickoff, the timing is awkward enough on its own, and the broader eligibility fight now hangs over a spot that is easy to overlook until it becomes a problem. [Read more 🡒]
Belichick Suddenly Has One Late Roster Option As UNC Faces Kicking Blow
A federal judges temporary restraining order has created a late-opening for some players cut from NFL rosters to enter the college transfer portal, and North Carolina is at least checking to see whether that path could help. Bill Belichick said the program is exploring the option, though he also pointed out there are still procedural hurdles to clear and academic issues to sort through before anything becomes real.
The timing matters because UNC could use another answer on the roster, but the latest court wrinkle may be just as important on the other side of the equation. A recent ruling tied to place-kicker Reese Verhoffs eligibility was stayed, which likely keeps him from coming back for a fifth college season and leaves the Tar Heels waiting to see how much help, if any, this unusual legal opening can actually provide. [Read more 🡒]