UNC Basketball: What’s next for Tar Heels heading into offseason?
By Trevor Marks
Roster Turnover
One of the unfortunate inevitabilities of the end of a season is the end of a year-long run at collegiate glory, which concurrently signals the end of the roster as we know it. Roster turnover is part of the collegiate sports, and UNC knows this well. The Tar Heels regularly have several key players — traditionally graduating upperclassmen — leaving the program en masse, so they’re no stranger to losing a big chunk of production heading into a new season.
Yet, it seems like the losses this time are larger than normal, with the incoming influx of talent being shrouded in uncertainty (more on that later). With the season now over, five (!) Tar Heels will be moving on, leaving their collegiate careers behind:
- G/F Cameron Johnson (graduation)
- F/C Luke Maye (graduation)
- G Kenny Williams (graduation)
- G Coby White (NBA Draft)
- F Nassir Little (NBA Draft)
The names are jarring by themselves, as this five-man group represents five of UNC’s best players, players who routinely played the largest share of minutes when Roy Williams turned to his shortened rotation for the postseason run.
But, when looking at the numbers, it’s even worse. When combining their contributions, UNC will be losing: 66.3 PPG, 28.2 rebounds, 12.9 assists and 7.6 three-pointers per game. That is a LOT of production that the Tar Heels will be looking to replace, a task that will be quite difficult for UNC to pull off.