UNC Basketball: How Tony Bradley’s decision affects UNC
The Cons
Inexperienced and young front court
Obviously, the overall youth of the team would not have been fixed by the return of Tony Bradley. However, the experienced part would be.
With Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks graduating, Bradley would’ve represented 53 percent of the returning front court minutes for the team. He also would’ve played well with Luke Maye and created a formidable duo in the low post.
Now all that’s left is Maye and three freshmen. The best of those freshmen is either Garrison Brooks or Brandon Huffman, but both are just four-star recruits and neither were ESPN top 100 players.
Just to put that into perspective, one of the rawest big men Williams has ever started was Joel James. James was a four-star recruit but also ranked in the ESPN top 100. James was also rated 13 points higher than either Huffman or Brooks.
Do you remember Joel James as a freshman?
It’s okay if you don’t. He only played 281 total minutes and scored just 69 total points. And that was one of his better years. As more talented big men came along, he became more and more of a role player.
Again, he was considered superior to Brooks and Huffman, and one of them will start and probably play significant minutes for the Tar Heels.
Return to National Title game became a whole lot harder to achieve
This one is kind of a result of the last one. Obviously, with less talent, it’s likely to be less successful overall.
Last season, UNC became the first team since Butler in 2011 to go to back-to-back title games. They also became the first team since Kentucky in 1998 to follow-up a title game loss with a title game win.
If Tony Bradley had returned this season, the Tar Heels would’ve attempted to be the first team since those same Wildcats to go to three consecutive National Championship games and just the fifth team ever to do it.
With Bradley gone, that just got a lot harder. Not only will there be some growing pains on the inside, but other programs didn’t suffer the same losses as UNC and in a lot of ways got better.
Arizona just jumped to most people’s preseason No. 1 with the return of Rawle Alkins. Kansas and Michigan State also had some good fortune with the return of Devonte’ Graham and Miles Bridges, respectively.
Duke and Kentucky both endured mass turnover, but welcome in reinforcements that should help them maintain top-25 rankings throughout the season.
Tony Bradley’s return might not have made UNC the favorite, but they would’ve been in a much better position than they are now.
Of course, if you aren’t a glass-is-half-empty kind of person, you are probably more interested in the positives of Bradley’s decision.