UNC Basketball: What if these Tar Heels had stayed on campus?
2012-2013 North Carolina Tar Heels
2005, 2009, 2013, and 2017. How amazing would that have been?
Following a disappointing loss to Kansas in the Elite 8, a game in which the Heels did not have Kendall Marshall, a mass exodus hurt the Heels.
The Heels lost seniors Tyler Zeller and Justin Watts, as well as a whole group of early exits. Kendall Marshall, Harrison Barnes, and John Henson all departed for the NBA.
In 2013, the Heels would have rolled out those three, plus Marcus Paige, Brice Johnson, and James Michael McAdoo, who was a sophomore at the time. The 2013 season was also a breakout year for PJ Hairston.
Other reserves on the team would have been Reggie Bullock, Dexter Strickland, and Leslie McDonald.
This Tar Heel team, just off name recognition, would have been one of the best under Roy Williams. This team could have gone ten deep without having a real drop off in talent.
They easily would have been the favorites in the ACC.
The actual team received a nine seed in the NCAA tournament, and knocked off familiar foe Villanova.
For the second-straight year, they played Kansas, and Kansas beat them again. The eventual champions were the Louisville Cardinals.
Picking this Tar Heel team to beat the Cardinals would not have been a stretch. So imagining this team as the National Champions would not have been crazy.
Past prediction: Final Four at least, with national championship potential