UNC’s Best Outcome for Basketball Season Feels Unfair From ESPN

Looking at North Carolina’s basketball schedule and roster entering next season, there’s a lot to like about what the Tar Heels can do on both sides of the floor. 

The biggest question will be centered around what North Carolina looks like when games get tough. I really like what head coach Michael Malone has put together, even though many others don’t think so. 

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Regardless, Malone, and his team has a really good chance to be one of the better teams in the country, but ESPN is siding with some other thoughts, suggesting that North Carolina’s ceiling would be making the Sweet 16 and winning just 28 games.

“CEILINGTotal wins: 28ACC finish: ThirdPostseason finish: Sweet 16

“FLOORTotal wins: 22ACC finish: SeventhPostseason finish: First round of the NCAA tournament

“Malone’s first offseason probably resembles the turbulent free agent summers he endured at the NBA level, easing the adjustment period to his first head coaching stint in college basketball in 25 years (he was an assistant at Manhattan from 1999 to 2001). He has a roster that’s built to score, a boon for a coach who guided the Nuggets to 113.5 points per clip in the playoffs during the season he won the title. 

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“Utah transfer Terrence Brown (19.9 PPG), Virginia Tech transfer Neoklis Avdalas (12.1 PPG), returnee Jarin Stevenson (11 points, five rebounds in NCAA tournament loss to VCU) and four-star freshman Maximo Adams are all capable of delivering the offensive output Malone will crave in his first season,” Myron Medcalf wrote.

Not that winning 28 games would be a bad thing, but it feels like North Carolina can be a 30-plus-win team and possibly even win a National Title depending on how guys like Terrence Brown and Neoklis Avdalas look. 

I think it’s really important to look at what Avdalas and Brown did last season, as Brown was one of the best scorers in the country and did so in a Big 12 Conference that, to me, is better than the ACC. Avdalas and Matt Able were also two of the better…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/uncs-best-outcome-basketball-season-013249514.html

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Publish date : 2026-09-11 01:32:00

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