North Carolina is getting treated like a team that should already have all the answers, and that’s a strange way to look at a roster that just added Michael Malone.
The Tar Heels moved on from Hubert Davis and brought in an NBA champion head coach, yet the conversation around their portal haul has been surprisingly harsh. That’s especially true given the belief that UNC has done enough to belong in the top 25 before next season even tips off.
The skepticism showed up in The Athletic’s transfer portal grading, where CJ Moore pointed to both the upside and the risk in Chapel Hill.
“Michael Malone is graded on the toughest scale here because he has one of the best jobs in the country. The expectation is UNC should always be a Top 25 team, and I didn’t rank the Heels in my latest rankings. I do like the upside swings in Neoklis Avdalas and Matt Able in the transfer portal, and it was important to hold on to incoming recruit Maximo Adams, who I thought was one of the best scorers in his class.
“The frontcourt is worrisome. Sayon Keita is another fun upside swing, but he averaged 8.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game for FC Barcelona’s under-22 team.
Is he ready to be a starter for a blue blood? The stabilizer would have been Henri Veesaar, who stayed in the NBA Draft and went 52nd.
He would have been one of the highest-paid bigs in the country, and not getting him to stay or landing a proven replacement could be what really holds the Heels back,” CJ Moore wrote.
That frontcourt concern is the heart of the criticism, and it’s fair to say the big-man situation is the piece drawing the most doubt. But the backcourt looks much more settled. Matt Able, Terrence Brown, and the rest of the guards should give UNC enough there to feel solid.
In fact, with Able, Brown, and Neoklis Avdalas in the mix, there’s a strong case that this is a top-15 team, not just a top-25 one.
In Other News...
UNCs Portal Rebuild Already Has A Few Regret Candidates
North Carolinas portal haul has given the Tar Heels a fresh look on paper, but the real test comes in how quickly those additions can settle into a roster that still feels very much in flux. Defensive end Melkart Abou-Jaoude, quarterback Billy Edwards Jr., linebacker Derek McDonald and defender Jaylen Harvey all arrive with reasons for optimism, yet this is also a group that asks the staff to project a lot while replacing key pieces and reworking a linebacker room that has already taken hits.
Edwards brings the most obvious intrigue because of his experience, but there is still a lot to sort through after a stop-and-start stretch that included injury trouble and uneven production before he got to Chapel Hill. McDonald has the kind of frame and background that can make him fit at SAM, while Harveys evaluation comes with its own questions about whether his listed size and tools will translate. For a team trying to rebuild through the portal, the upside is clear enough, but so is the list of reasons these could become the names fans revisit later if the fit never quite clicks. [Read more 🡒]
National Take On Michael Malones First UNC Offseason Will Frustrate Tar Heels
Michael Malones first offseason in Chapel Hill is already drawing a national read, and the early verdict from The Athletic lands somewhere between cautious optimism and real skepticism. CJ Moore pointed to the Tar Heels new-look roster as one with some intriguing pieces, highlighting transfers Neoklis Avdalas and Matt Able along with recruit Maximo Adams, but he also made clear that the frontcourt remains the area most likely to shape how far this group can go.
For UNC, that is the part that will linger into the season because the concern is not just talent, but whether the roster has enough proven size and depth to match the standard the program expects. Moores evaluation leaves the Tar Heels with a familiar kind of pressure: enough promise to keep hope alive, but enough uncertainty to make the next roster move or development stretch feel especially important. [Read more 🡒]