North Carolina Basketball: 2017-18 preview of the defending champs

Key Reserves

Seventh Woods

Woods will start the season as the Starting Point Guard with the absence of Joel Berry.  He will team with Jalek Felton to fill the void until Berry returns.

Joel Berry will have to come off the floor at some point during the game. When he does, the Heels have a very capable backup in Woods. Woods was a highly-ranked recruit coming out of high school and North Carolina will be in good hands once Joel Berry graduates this year. Woods played in all 40 games last year, and while he didn’t get many minutes, the fact that Woods played in all 40 games shows that he has developed the trust of the coaching staff. Woods should see an uptick in minutes this year, and with that, the rest of his game should develop accordingly.

Brandon Robinson

Robinson saw time last year for Roy Williams at the wing. Robinson, much like Seventh Woods, also did not see many minutes but played in almost every game. Robinson has a solid game that should transition well to playing more minutes during this upcoming season.

Jalek Felton

Felton will get on the floor early and often with the absence of Joel Berry.  He will team up with Seventh Woods to fill the void until Berry returns.

Felton is the prize of this recruiting cycle for Roy Williams. In a normal year, Felton would be a starter and play a ton of minutes. However, since Joel Berry and Theo Pinson are still on the team, Felton will most likely see a cut in his minutes. Felton will be the exception and should play a lot of minutes off the bench as the season goes on. Felton should force his way into this lineup at some point in the year thanks to his tremendous talent. He may press for starting time and should play a lot more minutes if North Carolina is trying to play a matchup game or go small.

Shea Rush

Rush was able to get into 22 games last including a few tournament games. Rush should get a few minutes again this year, especially in the early season. Rush may end up in a numbers crunch by the end of the year, though. North Carolina has a lot of depth and a lot of talented freshmen on their roster. Rush will have to show something to coach Williams that makes him stand out.

Sterling Manley

An Ohio product, Manley chose North Carolina over Nebraska, Ohio State, West Virginia, and Xavier. Manley is a skilled big man who is still rounding into shape after tearing his ACL two years ago. North Carolina has to play true freshmen every year out of necessity as they have been losing lots of players to the NBA Draft over the last few seasons. Manley will fill a role as a big man and clog the paint for about 10-15 minutes per game.