NCAA Basketball: Way-too-early top-25 power rankings for 2021-22 season

All of the attention right now for the Tar Heels is on the head coaching change, with Hall of Famer Roy Williams retiring and being replaced by assistant Hubert Davis. How this impacts the program long-term remains to be seen but at least Coach Davis will have a decent roster to work with.

The biggest news is that Caleb Love will be back for his sophomore season. The former five-star point guard had his ups and downs but did show promise of being an All-ACC player. And the Tar Heels automatically benefit from not having another freshman at the lead guard role. Two other key freshmen are set to return in Kerwin Walton and RJ Davis, along with rising senior Leaky Black.

The bigger question is how the frontcourt will look for 2021-22. This past season, they had arguably the best depth but have already lost Day’Ron Sharpe to the NBA Draft and Walker Kessler to the transfer portal. Garrison Brooks is a senior who could leave too while leading scorer and rebounder Armando Bacot is testing the waters. To have success at the Tar Heel standards, they’ll need two of them to come back.

Among the incoming freshmen are top-60 shooting guard D’Marco Dunn and top-50 forward  Dontrez Styles. They also still have plenty of room for transfers if they can land one but may still be shaken from the portal failures from a couple of years ago. The projected strength of this team is based on Love’s likely rise and a difference in style but Tar Heel fans should be optimistic for the future.