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North Carolina Basketball: North Carolina Tar Heels 2015-16 Season Preview

By James Fitzgerald

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North Carolina Tar Heels

2014-2015 Record: 26-12 (11-7, ACC)
Postseason: NCAA Tournament – Sweet 16 (Wisconsin 79-72)

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In a lot of ways the North Carolina Tar Heels made improvement in 2014-15 as compared to the previous season.

Though the Tar Heels were ousted in the Sweet 16 by an eventual Final Four participant in the Wisconsin Badgers, things are looking bright in Chapel Hill.

Roy Williams returns with an experienced roster that includes All-American point guard Marcus Paige, and one of the best frontcourts in the entire nation in forwards Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks.

The Tar Heels won their last championship in 2009 sporting a roster that was similar in experience, and fans feel that an NCAA Championship is long overdue for the UNC.

The Tar Heels are possibly going to go into the 2015-16 season as the No.1 ranked team in the land.

The questions for them is “will they live up to all the hype that is going to surround them?” and ” will the possible NCAA violations that could hit the school be a distraction or motivator?”.

 Newcomers

G – Luke Maye (#151 247Sports Composite)
C – Kenny Williams (#93 247Sports Composite)

Key Non-Conference Games

Dec. 1 vs Maryland – This game should settle who is the No.1 team in the nation  if there is any dispute between Maryland and North Carolina. The Maryland Terrapins will be returning a deep squad with experience also making this Big 10/ACC Challenge matchup a marquee game. This early challenge will say a lot about the Tar Heels in the early going and if North Carolina can get this home win, it can be a huge momentum builder for the team from that point forward.

Dec. 12 vs Texas – Roy Williams will be taking his Tar Heels on the road to face the Shaka Smart led Texas Longhorns. Road games are usually pretty tough, and with this being North Carolina’s second true road contest it could present some challenges.

It is going to be interesting to see how UNC handles a little Texas style “Havoc” when it is thrown at them. It  should be a pretty raucous crowd in Austin.

Key Players

Marcus Paige – Marcus Paige is a preseason First Team All-ACC point guard. Last season Paige was slightly down in his overall productivity averaging 14.1 points  and 4.5 assists as a junior. His point total was down from the 17.5 points he averaged as a sophomore and his shooting percentage went down to 41.3% as a junior as compared to 44.0% as a sophomore.

(Photo: Rich Barnes, USA TODAY Sports)

In 2015-16 those numbers are expected to return to or even exceed the numbers that he had when when he was a sophomore.

Marcus Paige is easily the most important perimeter player on the roster. If he does end up exceeding his sophomore form, the Tar Heels NCAA Championship Dreams just might be a reality.

Brice Johnson – Johnson is one-half of the Tar Heels “One-Two Punch” in the post. In 2014-15, Brice Johnson improved across the board statistically raising his averages to 12.9 points and 7.8 rebounds while duplicating his shooting percentage from 2013-14 at 56.6%.

What makes his shooting percentage number so impressive for 2014-15 is that his shot attempts increased up to 9.6 points per game compared to 7.8 attempts in his previous season.

North Carolina will need Johnson to become more of a shot blocking presence for the team in 2015-16, as well as cut down on the silly fouls that would have Johnson sitting on the bench earlier than he needed to be.

Maturity in Johnson’s game would give the Heels’ a big boost this upcoming season.

Kennedy Meeks – The other half of the Tar Heels post power is seen as the inside muscle. Meeks has slimmed down to 265 pounds and looks like he is ready to do some serious damage this upcoming season.

Meeks goes into his junior year as an improved player coming off of averaging 11.4 points, 7.3 rebounds and shooting 56.2% from the field.

The leaner, meaner Kennedy Meeks is going to be one of the most improved and effective players going into the 2015-16 college season.

People will be expecting more out of Kennedy Meeks this season because of his improvement. They will be expecting more minutes, more points, more rebounds, and more double-doubles. Meeks had nine double-doubles last season.

Season Outlook

All the hype about the North Carolina Tar Heels potentially being an NCAA Championship contender is legitimate.

UNC is going to come into the season with depth in the frontcourt with Kennedy Meeks, Brice Johnson, Isaiah Hicks, and Joel James, as well as plenty of perimeter depth with Marcus Paige, Joel Berry III, Nate Britt, Theo Pinson and Justin Johnson.

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    • The ability to go nine players deep is going to be a strength for the Tar Heels all season long.

    What is going to insure that the Tar Heels take the next big step that everyone is expecting them to take will be improved defensive play and continued ownership of the offensive and defensive glass in which North Carolina was second in offensive boards and third in defensive boards nationally.

    This team should have a bunker mentality which should shield them from the myriads of distractions the media could possibly throw at them concerning the pending NCAA hammer that will come down after the season is concluded.

    This team has all the motivation to live up to the preseason hype that has rightfully been placed on them.

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