Next week, college basketball starts to count, and North Carolina is set to begin sorting itself out for real.
The Tar Heels open the regular season on November 2 at home against Western Carolina after a preseason that went from promising to shaky in a hurry. UNC opened by beating Top-25 USC, 88-70, then followed with a 76-58 loss at Indiana before needing overtime to get past Charlotte on Tuesday, 89-82.
That uneven stretch has given Michael Malone plenty to work through in his first season as head coach, and CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander slotted North Carolina at No. 32 in his Top 100 and 1 preseason rankings.
"Blue blood hires a coach with no experience running a college program, but who spent decades in the NBA and won a world championship with one of the best players in history," Norlander writes. "Yeah, I'm putting UNC in the top five category for Most Interesting Teams of 2026-27.
Michael Malone was provided a budget just north of $20 million and didn't get a roster that was ranked in the preseason, but that doesn't mean this has to be an experimental trial season for Malone. Carolina has the firepower to prove it will wind up approximately where I've slotted it: a top-four team in the ACC right away under Malone.
This is a good roster that could be a No. 6-seed-level which, ironically, is where Carolina was in March before Hubert Davis' team blew a 19-point lead to VCU in the first round and put UNC in this position."
Early on, the makeup of this team looks guard-driven. Utah transfer Terrence Brown is a central piece, senior Chapel Hill native Jarin Stevenson has looked like one of the better versions of himself, and Neo Avdalas gives North Carolina the kind of flexibility this roster needs. Maximo Adams is expected to be the top freshman on Malone’s first team, though the frontcourt still looks thin even with three 7-footers on hand.
UNC won’t leave Chapel Hill until November 27, when it heads to West Virginia for the Dick Vitale Invitational in Charlotte to face West Virginia.
The larger question now is straightforward: can North Carolina turn this roster into an ACC contender and a team that reaches the NCAA Tournament?
In Other News...
Bill Belichick's Real Power At UNC May Be Coming Into Focus
North Carolinas front office reshuffling has turned into one of the more revealing storylines around the Tar Heels football program. The school suspended Michael Lombardi from his general manager role on July 27 amid an HR investigation, and he formally resigned in early September, leaving the program to sort through a job that has become increasingly important as college football keeps borrowing more from the pro model.
The search for a replacement is already underway, with former Michigan GM Sean Magee helping consult on the process. What makes the next hire especially interesting is the possibility that the role could be built to report to both athletic director Steve Newmark and head coach Bill Belichick, a structure that would say a lot about how much influence Belichick is expected to wield in Chapel Hill and how UNC wants its football operation to function moving forward. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Downs Just Put UNC Fans On Trade Watch
The NFL trade market has started to swirl around a familiar name for North Carolina fans, with former Tar Heels wide receiver Josh Downs now asking the Colts for a move. Downs is in the final year of his rookie contract, and his name has already been floating in trade talk as Indianapolis continues to reshape its roster with a string of notable departures, including Quenton Nelson and DeForest Buckner. For UNC supporters, it is another reminder of how quickly the NFL side of the pipeline can turn into a waiting game.
Downs has long been one of the more recognizable Carolina receivers to follow at the next level, and his situation now sits in the same conversation as teammate Jonathan Taylor. The Tar Heels, meanwhile, have their own receiver story unfolding back in Chapel Hill with Jordan Shipp and the broader push to keep that position producing at a high level. For a fan base that tracks both the college and pro arcs closely, this is the kind of roster-watch wrinkle that can change the mood around a Friday night or Sunday afternoon in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
UNC Misses On Five-Star As This Recruitment Slipped Away Fast
North Carolina had a real shot in the mix for five-star prospect Asa Montgomery, but the rising 2027 guard is headed to Duke instead, narrowing one of the more closely watched recruiting battles on the board. Montgomery picked the Blue Devils over a group that included UNC, UConn, Georgia Tech and LSU, a reminder of how quickly elite recruiting can turn when a player starts separating himself from the pack.
For the Tar Heels, the miss adds another layer to a rivalry that tends to show up in the recruiting lanes long before it ever reaches the court. Dukes class keeps building around top-end talent, while UNC now has to keep pressing ahead with other targets and make up ground elsewhere in a cycle where every high-end decision matters. [Read more 🡒]