Keeping It Heel
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UNC Basketball: 5 reasons to be excited about Tar Heels in 2021

By Blake Cockrum

CHAPEL HILL, NC - FEBRUARY 08: "Ramses", mascot of the North Carolina Tar Heels, makes an entrance before a game against the Duke Blue Devils on February 08, 2018 at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. North Carolina won 82-78. (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NC - FEBRUARY 08: "Ramses", mascot of the North Carolina Tar Heels, makes an entrance before a game against the Duke Blue Devils on February 08, 2018 at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. North Carolina won 82-78. (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images) /
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UNC Basketball
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA – FEBRUARY 27: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels salutes the crowd after his 900th career win during a 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) /

Keeping It Heel has five reasons that fans should be excited about the UNC basketball program this season.

The start of the 2021-22 college basketball season is just over a week away, and hoops fans across the nation are teeming with excitement. That includes a North Carolina fan base that awaits the beginning of a brand new era in Chapel Hill, one that started on April 1 when now-former head coach Roy Williams unexpectedly retired from the post he’d held for the previous 18 seasons.

With that sudden change came the swift promotion of longtime Williams assistant Hubert Davis. The former UNC player and nine-year assistant coach of the Tar Heels now steps into one of the most prestigious and coveted roles in all of sports. He does so with a solid group of returning players that are led by junior center Armando Bacot, who came back to college after testing the NBA waters during the offseason. He’s back with a sensational group of sophomore guards that features returning starters Caleb Love and Kerwin Walton, as well as rising combo guard R.J. Davis.

The Tar Heels lost a handful of players following last season’s early exit from the NCAA Tournament. Day’Ron Sharpe was among those that left Chapel Hill, as he entered his name into the NBA Draft after just one season of college ball. Former five-star recruit Walker Kessler transferred to Auburn, and senior power forward Garrison Brooks left North Carolina for Mississippi State. And while those losses seemed painstakingly awful at the time, it helped the Tar Heels to usher in a trio of players that might actually leave them better off now and in the seasons to come.

So, to say that it was a busy offseason for the Tar Heels would be an understatement. So, too, would it be an understatement to say that North Carolina fans have a lot to look forward to this year. Sure, there is some uncertainty as it relates to the team’s newcomers, how much the returners have progressed over the previous six months and how the new-look coaching staff will gel together with the players in pursuit of a successful first season together following a terrific run with Roy Williams at the helm.

But one thing is for sure; it’s going to be exciting to watch it all unfold.

Up ahead are the five reasons that North Carolina fans should be most excited about the coming season, and why early expectations for the Tar Heels under their first-year head coach are more than warranted.

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