UNC Basketball: Tar Heels still getting no respect in latest Bracketology

ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi isn’t expecting much out of the UNC basketball program next season, as Tar Heels are again tabbed a 6-seed in projected 2021 NCAA Tournament field

We’re just over a month removed from the untimely end to the 2019-20 college basketball season — and just about every other sport known to man — and another six months out from what we hope will be the start of 2020-21 campaign. Apparently ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi doesn’t feel very strongly about the Tar Heels’ chances next season, because not a single bracket he’s released over the course of the past month has featured a North Carolina team with better than a 5-seed. And on one occasion, he even had the Tar Heels earmarked for a 7-seed.

His latest iteration of the tournament field places North Carolina on the six-line with the likes of Michigan, Rutgers and Lousiville, and just one line ahead of UCLA, Purdue, Indiana and Stanford. Given their current positioning in his bracket, he’s obviously not expecting UNC to return to glory in 2020 after a tumultuous 19-loss campaign last season. Apparently his faith in the Tar Heels’ outstanding returning front court and terrific incoming freshman class isn’t enough to warrant a top-20 seed in the bracket.

That returning front court features a senior Garrison Brooks that should begin the 2020-21 season as a preseason All-American, and the heavy favorite for ACC Player of the Year. The 6-foot-9, 235-pound power forward from Lafayette, Alabama averaged 16.8 points on 53.5 percent shooting to go along with a team-high 8.5 rebounds per game. His growth from sophomore to junior season was remarkable, as he established himself as the Tar Heels’ No. 1 option on offense over the course of the season.

Brooks will be joined by rising sophomore center Armando Bacot. The freshman big man averaged 9.6 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in a season that certainly saw him endure his fair share of ups and downs. That’s expected of a somewhat raw, but talented rookie post player in one of the nation’s premier hoops conferences, though. If we see the kind of progression from year one to year two that we often have in the past with Roy Williams-coached big men, he could be in for a dynamic second season in Chapel Hill.

Williams also welcomes in his best recruiting class in more than a decade when a trio of 5-star players and a quartet of McDonald’s All-Americans join the fold in Day’Ron Sharpe, Walker Kessler, Caleb Love and R.J. Davis. He’s also got two of the best pure perimeter shooters in the class in Puff Johnson and Kerwin Walton. If the new guys can mesh well with the veterans early enough in the season, it could result in a deep run in the NCAA Tournament by the time March rolls around.

Gonzaga, Villanova, Virginia and Baylor got nods for the field’s No. 1 seeds, while Wisconsin, Duke, Kansas, and Michigan State sit on the two-line. Texas Tech, West Virginia, Creighton and Houston are 3-seeds in their respective regions, and Texas, Ohio State, Iowa and Florida State round out the tournament’s top 16 teams.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the UNC basketball program.