Last season was one to forget if you are a North Carolina Basketball fan. After being ranked number one in the preseason college basketball rankings, with a core of Caleb Love, Armando Bacot, R.J. Davis and Leaky Black coming off of a championship appearance the year before, UNC was omitted from the NCAA Tournament after finishing the season 20-13 and 11-9 in conference play.
Once again, it was a disaster. However, this year seems to be different. In Hubert Davis’ third year coaching the Tar Heels, he currently has them at a 12-3 record, with a 4-0 record in the ACC. That currently has them ranked seventh in the most recent top-25 Poll. With a few familiar faces, a mix of transfers and freshmen, and another year of experience from Davis, the 2023-24 North Carolina basketball team is a legitimate contender for the NCAA Championship.
Returning UNC Stars Are At the Top of Their Games
One of the main reasons why North Carolina has been able to rebound from their poor season has been the guys that stuck around. While Armando Bacot is the big ticket for Tar Heels fans, it has been R.J. Davis who has looked like not only the best player in the ACC, but also one of the best players in all of college basketball. Davis (along with Bacot) is the alpha leader on the team. The offense runs through him and possessions that result in negative results oftentimes are because Davis is not as involved as he should be. The six-foot guard from White Plains, NY is currently leading the ACC in scoring, at 20.2 points per game, while shooting 43.4% from the field and 39.6% from the three-point line.
Now, I know what you are saying, “how sustainable is a six-foot guard scoring 20 points per game throughout the season?” Well, Davis’ ability to create his own shot and shoot off of the dribble with a hand in his face has been on display all year long. In UNC basketball’s six games against ranked opponents, Davis has scored 30, 27, 26, 27, 23 and 14 points. To say that he has come up big in the biggest games this season is an understatement.
What is probably helping Davis reach superstardom in college basketball this season is that Bacot stuck around for his fifth season. In his fifth season, Bacot is rewriting not only the UNC record books, but the ACC record books as a whole. As it stands, Bacot is currently fifth all-time in UNC history in points and 38th in ACC History. He is the leading rebounder in North Carolina history and is catching Ralph Sampson and Tim Duncan for ACC double-doubles. That is due in part to the terrific season that he is having this season.
Bacot is currently averaging 13.9 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. With teams constantly double-teaming Bacot, he has been able to put together one of the best seasons in college basketball as a big man. What has really positively affected his game is his free throw shooting. The big man is shooting 78.5% from the charity stripe this season, which is up from his previous four-year average of 66%. Over the past few seasons, teams have found success fouling him and relying on missed free throws to take advantage of the game. That is no longer the case. With Bacot’s dominance inside and his improved free throw shooting, partnered with Davis’ lights-out outside game, the two seniors form the best inside-outside duo in college basketball this season.
Newcomers Have Proven They Can Play in Chapel Hill
North Carolina basketball, along with many other programs in the country, has been a huge benefactor by way of the transfer portal. When talking about transfers having a major impact on the team, two names immediately come to mind for the Tar Heels – Stanford transfer Harrison Ingram and Notre Dame transfer Cormac Ryan. Both players have been instrumental to UNC’s 30th-ranked scoring offense in the country this season. Ingram is averaging 12.8 points on 42.6% shooting from the three-point line, while Ryan is contributing another 11 a game. Opposing teams need to respect Ingram’s wing shooting, something that North Carolina has been missing (other than Brady Manek) since Justin Jackson was at Chapel Hill.
While Manek did more than three-point shooting, look what his shooting did for the Heels a couple of years back. It stretched the defense, which allowed for the guards to penetrate the paint and took some pressure off of Bacot. Given the big names on this team, Ingram will probably continue to be a third option, which should play right into his hands as he averaged 10.5 in back-to-back seasons at Stanford. It certainly seems like he has found a home here in Carolina.
As for Ryan, North Carolina fans should know his name as he terrorized the Tar Heels in his days at Notre Dame. While with the Fighting Irish, Ryan was asked to be one of their playmakers and top scorers. Now on this UNC basketball team, he is, at most times, the fourth (and sometimes fifth) option. To have a double-digit scoring (at Notre Dame) senior as your fourth option should be invaluable to a team looking to make a run. Ryan’s length also allows him to cause disruptions on the defensive side of the ball, as well as switch onto the opposing team’s biggest players.
To round out the core, another high-impact newcomer is freshman Elliot Cadeau. Cadeau, out of West Orange, NJ, is your prototypical pass-first guard. After reclassifying in high school, Tar Heel fans get the Cadeau experience a year early. While Marcus Paige, Joel Berry, Cole Anthony and Caleb Love were all superstars in the Carolina system, Cadeau may be the best “true point guard” since Kendall Marshall.
While I said that the offense runs through Davis, Cadeau is the one who has to hold it all together – think of a Christian McCaffery/Brock Purdy situation with the San Francisco 49ers. While his free throw and three-point shooting need to improve (59.5%, 25%) his handle of the basketball and decision-making are that of a senior point guard. Cadeau rarely turns the ball over (1.4 per game) and is always looking to find Davis coming off of a screen or finding Bacot in the post. Usually, it is a little worrisome having a freshman lead your possessions, but again Cadeau plays much more like a season vet than a rookie.
How Far Can North Carolina Basketball Go?
With their current seven ranking, North Carolina is one of the best teams in college basketball. Before they even entered conference play, the Tar Heels played one of the hardest schedules in college basketball. In non-conference, they beat Arkansas, Oklahoma and hung 100 points on Tennessee in a win. They have lost to Villanova, Kentucky and UConn. That is already more Quad-1 wins than they had all of the previous season. They have already proved that they can play with the big boys in the sport and hold their own.
While I am a huge fan of Caleb Love and think that he got a lot of undeserved hate among the Tar Heel faithful, this team seems like it flows much better without him. Whether it was problems between him and Hubert Davis, or just bad play, not having Love taking game-overs has allowed guys like R.J. Davis to flourish to the top of their game.
With that being said, North Carolina has as good of a chance as they have ever had to come away with an ACC title. Duke, Virginia, Florida State and Miami are having down seasons, relative to what we have seen over the past couple of years, leaving a void at the top of the conference. North Carolina has already beaten Clemson this year, so it looks like it is the Tar Heels’ conference to lose. On top of that, I think the team has as good of a chance as any to win the National Championship. KenPom has the Tar Heels ranked 10th with the 11th-ranked offense and 17th-ranked defense. I expect those rankings to rise as UNC is eyeing down Syracuse this week. This team is going to need R.J. Davis to be the guy, but with players like Bacot, Ryan, Ingram and Cadeau around him, I can’t imagine that Davis can’t lead the team.
