Keeping It Heel
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UNC Basketball: Five bold predictions for 2021-22 season

By Zack Pearson

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 11: Rameses, the North Carolina Tar Heels mascot, cheers during their game against the Syracuse Orange in the second round of the 2020 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum on March 11, 2020 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 11: Rameses, the North Carolina Tar Heels mascot, cheers during their game against the Syracuse Orange in the second round of the 2020 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum on March 11, 2020 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
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INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – MARCH 30: Head coach Juwan Howard of the Michigan Wolverines reacts during the second half against the UCLA Bruins in the Elite Eight round game of the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 30, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – MARCH 30: Head coach Juwan Howard of the Michigan Wolverines reacts during the second half against the UCLA Bruins in the Elite Eight round game of the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 30, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

UNC finishes with one non-conference loss

While Davis and UNC’s first three games should be a little on the easy side, they face one of the toughest non-conference schedules in all of college basketball. And it starts right away at the 2021 Hall of Fame Tipoff during Thanksgiving week.

UNC is slated to face these preseason ranked opponents in non-conference play:

  • No. 7 Purdue
  • Either No. 4 Villanova or No. 18 Tennessee
  • No. 6 Michigan
  • No. 2 UCLA

Ouch.

Now, these rankings will certainly change between now and let’s say when they meet Michigan or UCLA barring any early, early upsets to Purdue, Nova or Tennessee. But this is a VERY tough non-conference schedule.

For my bold prediction here, I’m going with UNC losing only one of these games. And I think that game is going to be Michigan. The Tar Heels have had some trouble in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge over the years especially playing ranked teams like Michigan or Iowa which they’ve done a few times over the past 10 years. The one thing they may have going for them though is that they don’t have a TRUE road game in this bunch against ranked teams.

Michigan is at home while Purdue, Nova/Tennessee are at a neutral site as is UCLA being part of the CBS Sports Classic.

UNC will play at Charleston right before their matchup against Purdue as a true road game but they still should be big favorites in that one.

If the Tar Heels can get through this gauntlet with one loss, they will be riding with a lot of confidence going into conference play.

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