North Carolina Basketball: Are the Tar Heels quietly the best team in 2018-19?

Shoring up the point guard position

Of course, UNC does have to find a new point guard to replace Joel Berry, who was the face of the program for three seasons. Replacing his scoring and leadership is no small feat and both White and rising junior Seventh Woods, Berry’s backup for the last two years, are battling for the job.

Woods is a high-quality athlete but his overall game is still very raw and he hasn’t shown much development during his first two years in Chapel Hill. He has the edge in experience but White may have the edge in ability.

The nation’s No. 25 overall recruit, White – who I think will be one of the breakout freshmen of the season – is a combo guard with a knack for scoring the ball, averaging 21.6 points per game last summer on the Nike EYBL circuit. There are concerns about his playmaking ability since he isn’t a true point guard, but as long as he picks up the offense quickly, he won’t be relied on to create shots for everyone else.

During Berry’s three seasons in the starting lineup, he never averaged over 3.8 assists per game – including just 3.2 as a senior. Roy Williams’ offense is reliant on ball movement and rebounding, meaning that one player doesn’t (normally) carry the burden of creating the offense.

UNC proved they could still be an elite rebounding team last year, leading the country in rebounds per game and ranking third in rebounding margin, and they should only improve in that area with all of their big men returning. That will be an even bigger strength for them in 2018-19.

Next: Breakdown of each 2018 ACC recruiting class

So, if North Carolina can answer their only major question mark and find reliable point guard play from White or Woods, the Tar Heels have everything you could want in a college basketball team.

Experience? Check.
Shooting? Check.
Depth? Check.
Rebounding? Check.
A true star? They may have two in Maye and Little.

We won’t know the answer until early April, but right now, I wouldn’t bet against this UNC team being the best in the country.