UNC Basketball: Tar Heels’ projected 2021-22 starting lineup

After all of the change we’ve seen in Chapel Hill over the past few months, which five players will be in the starting lineup for the new-look UNC basketball program next season?

It’s been one heck of a roller coaster ride for the North Carolina basketball program over the past four months.

After a blowout loss to the Wisconsin Badgers in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament — the first opening-round loss of Roy Williams’ storied 33-year career as a head coach — the Tar Heels unexpectedly bid farewell to their three-time national title-winning lead man. That led to the promotion of former UNC assistant coach Hubert Davis, who assumed the role of head coach just five days after Williams called it quits.

Those events were proceeded by the beginning of a mass exodus on the part of the North Carolina front court that saw standout freshman big man Day’Ron Sharpe declare for the NBA Draft, as well as the transfer of rising reserve center Walker Kessler. Starting power forward Garrison Brooks entered the NCAA transfer portal soon after, committing to the Mississippi State Bulldogs for his final season of college eligibility. Reserves Sterling Manley and Walker Miller also made the decision to leave North Carolina in order to pursue other opportunities.

Davis worked tirelessly to help the Tar Heels fill in the gaps, quickly bringing in Virginia sophomore transfer Justin McKoy and four-year Oklahoma Sooners starter Brady Manek. But then came the commitment of Marquette sophomore transfer Dawson Garcia, a 6-foot-11-inch power forward that had once been the target of Roy Williams, but ultimately picked the Golden Eagles after Kessler gave his pledge to the Tar Heels.

But the first-year UNC head coach hasn’t just been working on this year’s iteration of the Tar Heels; he’s been putting together a terrific 2022 recruiting class as well. That began with the commitment of 3-star center Will Shaver, and was followed three weeks later by the commitment of Seth Trimble, a 4-star point guard and the younger brother of former UNC standout J.P. Tokoto. Davis did it again, though, when he got a commitment from the first 5-star prospect of his young head coaching career, West Side’s Jalen Washington.

Now, Davis has what appears to be one of the best teams in the nation for the upcoming college basketball season, and the No. 1-ranked recruiting class for the 2022 cycle. That’s quite the turnaround from where things were in the beginning of April when many North Carolina fans were having a complete meltdown about the state of the program.

And even with things looking up from where they were a few months ago, there are still questions surrounding the program that fans would love to have answers to. One of those is what the Tar Heels’ starting lineup is going to look like this season. We dive into that topic today, taking a look at which of last year’s starters will remain in the starting lineup this season, and which newcomers make their way into the spotlight in Chapel Hill this fall.