North Carolina’s Five Most Important Players For 2014-15

The tip-off to another college basketball season beckons, and once again North Carolina finds itself among the usual suspects looking to procure a national championship come early April.

Most preseason rankings have the Tar Heels hovering inside the top 10, so the standard lofty expectations will permeate throughout Chapel Hill as they seemingly do every season. But the journey toward the pot of gold at the end of the NCAA Tournament rainbow can take the form of a complex jigsaw puzzle.

Mar 23, 2014; San Antonio, TX, USA; The North Carolina Tar Heels bench cheers in the second half of a men

As North Carolina winds its way through the travails of another season, including a daunting ACC slate featuring newcomer and national title contender Louisville, the pieces will find their appropriate place if the Tar Heels want to be one of the ones punching their ticket for a Final Four invite.

Some pieces may take up a nice corner position, while others will be larger ones that will have to find their appropriate slot to help the puzzle take its final shape.

If UNC hopes to wear a sixth NCAA Tourney crown this season, here are its five most indispensable pieces that will have to snap in snugly to complete the roundball masterpiece.