North Carolina has spent the offseason trying to turn the page, and the early signs point to a roster built to do more than just show up in 2026.
After back-to-back first-round exits in the NCAA tournament, the Tar Heels made a major move by hiring Michael Malone, and the 54-year-old has already reshaped the team into something that can compete next season. The rebuild has come fast, and it has come through the transfer portal.
The 2026-27 roster has just three returning players from last season: Jarin Stevenson, Jaydon Young, and Isaiah Denis. Everyone else is new, a reflection of how much turnover has hit college basketball and how difficult it has become to keep a group together from year to year.
North Carolina lost eight of its 10 leading scorers, but Malone and his staff moved quickly to refill the depth chart. The additions include Neoklis Avdalas, Terrence Brown, Matt Able, Sayon Keita, Alexandros Samodurov, Kevin Thomas, and Angelo Brizzi.
Former Tar Heels guard Danny Green also put a spotlight on what makes Chapel Hill different. While appearing on Byron Scott's "Fast Break" podcast, Green talked about his time at North Carolina and the way the school celebrates its players and coaches.
His comments land in a college basketball world that looks nothing like it did when he was there, but they still speak to the weight of the program and the way its fans embrace it. Even with the constant movement in the sport and the rise of one-year deals, North Carolina has a culture that keeps its name front and center.
With Malone in place and a roster full of new pieces, there’s a fresh buzz around the program. The Tar Heels have rebuilt quickly, and the expectation now is that this group can do more than survive the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament.
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UNC Freshman Faces A Familiar Problem With Huge Long Term Stakes
North Carolinas projected rotation next season already looks crowded with familiar names and a few newcomers who will be asked to fit quickly. Sayon Keita, Jarin Stevenson, Matt Able and Terrence Brown all sit in the mix as key contributors, and the early read is that the Tar Heels have enough pieces to build a real lineup rather than just a collection of options. For a program that always has to balance immediate expectations with long-term roster building, that kind of depth can be a strength if the roles sort themselves out cleanly.
Kevin Thomas is the kind of freshman who makes that sorting process interesting. He arrives with real talent and a chance to carve out minutes, but he is also walking into a backcourt where the early opportunities are likely to go to players with more experience. Under Michael Malone, the path forward will come down to development and whether Thomas can separate himself in the areas that tend to travel well for young guards, which is where the bigger question for UNC begins to take shape. [Read more 🡒]
UNC Still Commands Top 25 Respect After Massive Offseason Reset
UNCs offseason reset was as dramatic as any in the country, with Hubert Davis out and Michael Malone in as the Tar Heels try to rebuild a roster that lost multiple key pieces to the NBA Draft and the transfer portal. Even with that turnover, the program still has enough name value and incoming talent to stay in the national conversation, helped by additions such as Terrence Brown and Matt Able and a broader influx of new faces around the roster.
Gary Parrishs latest view of the Tar Heels reflects that balance, keeping them in the Top 25 mix despite all the change. The returning core is thinner than usual, but UNC still has enough proven production and enough fresh talent to make the next question less about whether the Heels belong in the rankings and more about how quickly Malone can turn that reworked group into a team that can actually live up to it. [Read more 🡒]
Former Tar Heel Andrew Platek Lands A Head Coaching Role
Andrew Plateks coaching path has taken another step forward, as the former UNC guard has been named the head coach of the Shenendehowa boys basketball program. He arrives after two seasons at Niskayuna High School and takes over a program that has long been guided by Paul Yattaw, while also bringing a local connection from his days playing high school basketball at Guilderland.
Now Platek gets a bigger stage to shape a team in his image, and the style he wants to build should sound familiar to Tar Heel fans. He has talked about wanting his teams to play fast, get into transition, shoot often and maximize possessions, a philosophy that traces back to Roy Williams and the up-tempo approach Platek knew at North Carolina. The question now is how quickly he can turn that vision into a program identity at Shenendehowa. [Read more 🡒]