Keeping It Heel
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UNC Basketball: Projecting Tar Heels’ starting lineup for next season

By Blake Cockrum

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 24: (L-R) Kerwin Walton #24, R.J. Davis #4, Day'Ron Sharpe #11, Leaky Black #1 and Garrison Brooks #15 of the North Carolina Tar Heels during their game against the Marquette Golden Eagles at the Dean Smith Center on February 24, 2021 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Marquette won 83-70. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 24: (L-R) Kerwin Walton #24, R.J. Davis #4, Day'Ron Sharpe #11, Leaky Black #1 and Garrison Brooks #15 of the North Carolina Tar Heels during their game against the Marquette Golden Eagles at the Dean Smith Center on February 24, 2021 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Marquette won 83-70. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA – FEBRUARY 27: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels huddles with his team during their game against the Florida State Seminoles at the Dean Smith Center on February 27, 2021 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. North Carolina won 78-70. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

Which five players will be in the starting lineup for the UNC basketball program next season?

The North Carolina Tar Heels have experienced their most tumultuous and trying offseason in recent history; and it’s only the first week of May.

Freshman center Day’Ron Sharpe declared for the NBA Draft on March 24, the first in a series of dominoes to fall that would see the Tar Heels go from the nation’s biggest team to one of its smallest. They lost former 5-star recruit and 7-footer Walker Kessler to transfer shortly after, which may have ultimately been the straw that broke the camel’s back in Roy Williams’ decision to retire on April 1. Oft-injured reserve big man Sterling Manley announced his plans to transfer during that same time span, as did seldom used backup center Walker Miller. And that was all within two weeks of their embarrassing season-ending loss to the Wisconsin Badgers in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 64.

Just a few days after former UNC assistant Hubert Davis was elevated to the Tar Heels’ head coaching position, senior power forward Garrison Brooks announced his decision to use his additional year of college eligibility at Mississippi State. So, within a span of less than three weeks, North Carolina’s front court with six players of 6-feet-10-inches tall or taller, was down to just one.

Thankfully, that lone remaining big man, rising junior Armando Bacot, is said to be returning to Chapel Hill in the fall of 2021. That news, along with commitments from former Virginia forward Justin McKoy and Oklahoma senior transfer Brady Manek, gave the Tar Heels some hope as they move closer to the start of next season.

There are obviously still a handful of questions surrounding the program as it stands, such as how Davis will run the team in his first season as head coach, or what he will do with his rotation. But perhaps the most talked about offseason topic among UNC fans is which five players will emerge as starters for the Tar Heels when the season begins in early November.

We take a look at that, here.

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