UNC Basketball: Will Tar Heels have potential No. 1 team on 2021-22 schedule?

The 2021-22 college basketball season is still months away as we look to get back to a normal season with fans in the stands. For the North Carolina Tar Heels, next season will usher in a new era with Hubert Davis taking over for Roy Williams following the retirement of the legendary head coach back in April.

UNC’s roster is still taking shape here in May and despite losing some key talent, the Tar Heels are returning four starters from a year ago. Davis will have talent to work with as he starts to build the future of the program.

As we still continue the countdown until tipoff, Davis may have revealed a bit of scheduling news for the Tar Heels.

While on Jon Rothstein’s podcast, Davis didn’t really hold back on revealing info including that he says Armando Bacot will be back instead of staying in the NBA Draft. But he also revealed that UNC is set to take on UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic. Here is the quote via Inside Carolina:

"We’re playing UCLA in the Champions Classic in Las Vegas, we’re in a tournament at Mohegan Sun with Tennessee, Butler and Villanova. The ACC-Big Ten Challenge is always going to be against a team that has a chance to win a national championship. And then you throw in the ACC."

Now, nothing has officially been announced by the game itself but if Davis says it then he may know something we don’t. UNC was set to take on Ohio State last season in the CBS Sports Classic but it was switched late to Kentucky instead.

UCLA is entering next season fresh off a Final Four appearance in April, losing to Gonzaga 93-90 on a buzzer beater. The Bruins took the NCAA Tournament by storm, going from a First Four win over Michigan State all the way to that Final Four. They will also return most of their roster from that season as well.

This should be a tough test for UNC in their non-conference schedule.

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