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

Leaky Black

Leaky Black is one of the Tar Heels’ most experienced players, having started 59 of his 61 games over the past two seasons, and logging better than 28 minutes per contest during that span. He’s averaged 5.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game in three seasons.

He may be the team’s most versatile player, both with his ability to affect the game on the offensive end of the court, and play solid defense on the other end. He has not, however, lived up to the expectations that many placed on him prior to his arrival in Chapel Hill. And his ability to affect the game, as previously mentioned, just doesn’t show up consistently from one game to the next.

He has struggled to shoot the ball with any kind of efficiency over the past three years, connecting on less than 42 percent of his two-point attempts and just 25.8 percent of those from three-point range. Not only that, but his free throw percentage has gone down with each subsequent season, too.

Black, for me, is the only member of the Tar Heels’ likely starting lineup that you could make a strong argument to replace with a number of other players on the roster. Although he has height and length superior to most of those players, you could justify going smaller by adding R.J. Davis or Anthony Harris to the starting lineup. I could also see going with a versatile asset such as newcomer Justin McKoy, a player who should be able to impact the game in a number of ways for the Tar Heels.

Alas, I don’t see that happening, and we’re far more likely to see Black, a senior and the most tenured player on the UNC roster, in the starting lineup for one more go round.