Keeping It Heel
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UNC Basketball: Tar Heels’ projected 2022-23 starting lineup

By Blake Cockrum

CHAPEL HILL, NC - FEBRUARY 16: Caleb Love #2, Brady Manek #45, R.J. Davis #4, Armando Bacot #5, and Leaky Black #1 of the North Carolina Tar Heels line up and talk during a game against the Pittsburgh Panthers on February 16, 2022 at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Pittsburgh won 76-67. (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NC - FEBRUARY 16: Caleb Love #2, Brady Manek #45, R.J. Davis #4, Armando Bacot #5, and Leaky Black #1 of the North Carolina Tar Heels line up and talk during a game against the Pittsburgh Panthers on February 16, 2022 at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Pittsburgh won 76-67. (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images) /
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UNC Basketball
Mar 19, 2022; Fort Worth, TX, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels forward Armando Bacot (5) celebrates defeating the Baylor Bears during the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament at Dickies Arena. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-USA TODAY Sports /

Keeping It Heel projects the UNC basketball program’s 2022-23 starting lineup now that four of the team’s top five players have announced their return for next season.

The North Carolina Tar Heels made one of the most improbable and unexpected postseason runs last season that we’ve seen in a long time.

Merely a “bubble team” with just a couple of weeks remaining in the regular season, the Tar Heels beat the Duke Blue Devils in Mike Krzyzewski’s final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium to solidify a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Even then, the Tar Heels only made it to the 8/9 line in the East Region for what most assumed would be a surefire first-weekend exit from the Big Dance. But they obliterated ninth-seeded Marquette in the first round and then extinguished any hopes of back-to-back national titles for defending champion Baylor in the Round of 32.

North Carolina followed up an impressive pair of opening-round wins with victories over UCLA and Saint Peter’s in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, respectively. Then the Tar Heels beat Duke for the second time in less than a month in the Final Four matchup heard ’round the world.

Despite falling just short of a national championship in Hubert Davis’ first season as head coach of the storied program, the Tar Heels won 29 games and proved to have one of the most potent starting lineups in all of college basketball.

After three weeks of anticipation and suspense, North Carolina fans now know that four of the five starters from their team’s 21st Final Four run will be back in Chapel Hill this fall. With that in mind, we now take a look at the Tar Heels’ projected starting lineup for the 2022-23 season.

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