UNC Basketball: No pressure for Tar Heels’ Sharpe, Kessler?

Will the UNC basketball program benefit from not having to start either of their highly touted 5-star freshman bigs?

The North Carolina Tar Heels will begin the 2020-21 college basketball season with one of the best freshman classes in the nation. Ranked second behind only the Kentucky Wildcats, North Carolina welcomes in a trio of 5-star players and six recruits that rank among the 247Sports Top-100.

Led by a pair of highly touted post players in Day’Ron Sharpe and Walker Kessler, the Tar Heels are bringing in one-half of what could be the biggest and most talented front court in the country. The other half, senior power forward Garrison Brooks and rising sophomore center Armando Bacot, will almost undoubtedly get the nod to start, given their experience and level of production a season ago. Not only that, but they’ll also give the younger Sharpe and Kessler the ability to come in and learn the college game at a more comfortable pace, and without all the pressure of being rookie starters in the nation’s best basketball conference.

Rivals’ Dan McDonald said as much in a recent roundtable discussion with the site’s top recruiting analysts, noting that the Tar Heels will benefit from having such a deep front court.

"“I’d go with North Carolina’s incoming post players, Day’Ron Sharpe and Walker Kessler,” McDonald said of 2020 5-star recruits under the least amount of pressure. “With Garrison Brooks and Armando Bacot back, there is no rush for those two to be stars in Chapel Hill. If either or both of them need a year to get their feet wet with the college game, the Tar Heels will be just fine.”"

Brooks was the team’s second-leading scorer last season, averaging 16.8 points per game to go along with a team-high 8.5 rebounds and two assists. He shot better than 53 percent on the season, logging nearly 35 minutes per game in 32 appearances. Combine that with Bacot’s 9.6 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, and the Tar Heels have what will likely be the Atlantic Coast Conference’s top duo of bigs.

Despite the overall success of Bacot in his freshman campaign, though, he had his share of bumps and bruises throughout the season. He struggled with consistency more than anything else, while shouldering the load of being a starter from day one. That’s where having both Brooks and Bacot in the starting lineup will help the Tar Heels and their talented young bigs. Sharpe and Kessler will be able to come in off the UNC bench and play loose, energetic basketball as ancillary pieces, similar to a freshman Garrison Brooks, or Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks before him.

Ultimately, the Tar Heels should have the kind of front court that allows them to wear down their opponents, and win a lot of matchups in the post. They’re also set up to have an outstanding group of big men for at least the next couple of seasons.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the Tar Heels’ 2020 freshman class, and everything UNC basketball.