UNC Basketball: Tar Heels a dark horse Final Four contender?

Is the 19th-ranked UNC basketball program an “undervalued Final Four contender” this season?

The North Carolina Tar Heels enter the season as the nation’s 19th-ranked team in the Associated Press top 25. They’re ranked similarly according to pretty much every other preseason ranking we’ve seen, too, with 17th being the highest and low-to-mid-20s generally the lowest.

Some feel that the ranking is too high, what with the change at head coach and the uncertainty up and down the team’s roster. Will the Tar Heels’ returning players be better than they were a season ago? Will the newcomers adapt and mesh well with them? And will they finally be able to knock down long-range jump shots? They’re all good questions, and ones that will have to be answered before we can confidently project the Tar Heels’ ceiling for the 2021-22 season.

There are those, on the other hand, that feel like the ranking is too low, and believe that people are underestimating the program’s potential in the upcoming season. And that sect of fans is able to make a pretty convincing argument, too. After all, the Tar Heels welcome back junior big man Armando Bacot, who tested the NBA waters during the offseason but decided to return to campus for at least one more go-round. He’s a preseason first team All-ACC selection, and a dark horse contender for conference Player of the Year. He’s joined by a sensational group of sophomores that includes Caleb Love, Kerwin Walton, R.J. Davis and Anthony Harris. Add to it the terrific trio of transfers that Hubert Davis reeled in, and the Tar Heels have the makings of a team that could make a respectable run in March.

247Sports’ Robbie Weinstein is among the latter, and had the following to say about a UNC team that he feels is an undervalued Final Four contenders heading into the upcoming season:

"“Offense was the problem for North Carolina last season, and this pick represents a bet on new coach Hubert Davis’ ability to modernize the Tar Heels’ strategy on that end. UNC frequently played three non-shooters — Leaky Black, Armando Bacot and Garrison Brooks — together along with Caleb Love, who shot 26.6% from 3-point range last season.It is not hard to see how that could limit the offense. Brooks is gone, Love should improve as an outside shooter and Marquette transfer Dawson Garcia shot 35.6% from 3-point range last season. Oklahoma transfer Brady Manek is another stretch big man who could help. Thus, North Carolina has a better chance to play up to its considerable talent level this season and earn a No. 2 or No. 3 seed while pushing for the Final Four.”"

Weinstein highlights the Tar Heels’ addition of shooters in the offseason, and how it should help their formerly one-dimensional offense operate with more fluidity and better pace. I agree with him wholeheartedly, and feel like the Dawson Garcia and Brady Manek commitments, in particular, make the Tar Heels dramatically better in the short term.

With quality shooters on the perimeter, and versatile bigs that can step outside and give Bacot space to work in the low post, North Carolina could look a lot more like the fast, efficient offensive juggernaut that we’d grown so accustomed to seeing over the past couple of decades. We’ll find out soon, as they’ll hit the court in their lone exhibition game next Friday, followed by their first regular season game of the 2021-22 campaign four days later.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the UNC basketball program.