UNC Basketball Will Only Go as Far as, Luke Maye?
By Grant Hughes
UNC Basketball will need a career season and a little more from Luke Maye
The departures of seniors Isaiah Hicks and Kennedy Meeks coupled with the loss of Tony Bradley to the NBA leaves the UNC Basketball team remarkably thin on the interior for this upcoming season.
In fact, the Tar Heels only return one player with post experience from this past season, Luke Maye.
To ease the loss of his star bigs, Roy Williams has brought in a triplet of frosh post players in Garrison Brooks, Brandon Huffman, and Sterling Manley. The three are promising in their own right, but none walk in with the polish Tony Bradley exhibited last season.
If any of these three make an impact this season, it certainly cannot be expected until a few months in.
Until one stands out, Luke Maye will be receiving a large majority of post touches.
A big workload is something new to the rising Junior, given that he averaged 5.5 points and 3.9 rebounds in a shade over 14 minutes last season.
However, Maye has already shown he can rise to any occasion in his young career.
During last season’s Sweet 16 and Elite 8 bouts, Maye put on a show for the Tar Heel faithful. In the two games, Maye put up averages of 16.5 points and 7.5 rebounds while shooting 63% from the field.
The games marked back to back career highs in points for the Huntersville native and concluded with an entrance into Carolina lore thanks to a game winning shot against Kentucky.
Expect Maye to ride that confidence into a big time starting role in Roy Williams’s post-friendly offense this upcoming season.
He will need to contribute when called upon, as well as leading and tutoring the incoming freshman.
If Maye is able to refine a few of his post moves and free-throw shooting to pair with his solid rebounding and 40% shot from deep, I do not see a reason to why he cannot average a near double-double this season.
In fact, last year Maye averaged 14 points and nearly 10 rebounds per 36 minutes last season. This season you can expect him to average close to those numbers but in around 25 minutes a game.
Coach Williams is an old school coach, but one that also adapts to the modern style of basketball. Luke Maye possesses the skill set of a modern-day stretch four, and Roy Williams will know how to use him.
Marvin Williams played a similar style of basketball and reached great heights in his one season at UNC. Though comparing the two is foolhardy, there isn’t much reason he cannot reach similar success in a starting role.
There are many speculations to how Roy Williams will set up his starting lineup this upcoming season.
Next: NEXT: Tar Heels Release 2017-18 Official Roster
However, almost everyone can agree that Luke Maye will be starting and playing a big role.
Whether it be at power forward along side a freshman, or at center in a small lineup; Luke Maye is key to UNC Basketball making another deep run in the NCAA Tournament.