The UNC Basketball program will practice for the first time in preparation of the 2019-20 college basketball season on Thursday.
Rejoice! Basketball season is one more day closer.
On Thursday, the North Carolina Tar Heels men’s basketball team will begin preparation for the upcoming 2019-20 season, the first time they will hit the court since Summer workouts. The Tar Heels are coming off a disappointing end to last season, falling to Auburn in the Sweet 16.
As we go into this season, the Tar Heels have lost five of their top six scorers with freshmen Coby White and Nassir Little bolting for the NBA Draft as well as Luke Maye, Cameron Johnson and Kenny Williams graduating.
But as is the case usually for the Tar Heels, they have restocked.
UNC welcomes in a Top 10 recruiting class headlined by five-star guard Cole Anthony, center Armando Bacot, and guards Anthony Harris and Jeremiah Francis. They also have two graduate transfers in Christian Keeling and Justine Pierce.
While Thursday marks the first day of practice, Friday is the big event for the offseason. The team will host their annual “Late Night With Roy” event to unofficially tipoff the season. The event will be jam packed and will be big recruiting wise as UNC is set to host several top recruits for the 2020 class.
https://twitter.com/UNC_Basketball/status/1176564790635851776
As for the actual season, well UNC will begin things a little differently this year.
Instead of opening up vs a. non-conference opponent, the Tar Heels will begin things in the Atlantic Coast Conference due to scheduling changes. UNC will host Notre Dame on Nov. 6th in the Dean Dome to begin Roy Williams’ 17th season as head coach.
From there, the Tar Heels will go into their non-conference schedule before playing Virginia on the road in December. They will wrap up non-conference at the end of the month before playing the final 18 vs. the ACC before the tournament.
One big storyline to watch during practices will be the rotation and starters. There will certainly be one impact player that probably won’t be a starter but instead the sixth man and first off of the bench. As time goes on, we are certain to see things develop.
For more on the Tar Heels, please check back with Keeping It Heel.