UNC Basketball: 2022-23 season preview and outlook for the Tar Heels

What are the expectations for UNC for the 2022-23 college basketball season?

For UNC Basketball fans, Hubert Davis’ first season as the head coach in Chapel Hill probably felt like watching an M. Night Shyamalan movie with all its twists and turns.

There were plenty of moments throughout the regular season where things seemed to be heading in the wrong direction, culminating in a home loss to an 11-21 Pittsburgh team on February 16 that left many UNC fans mentally prepared to miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010.

Then came the first major twist, kick-started by a win over Duke in Mike Krzyzewski’s final game in Cameron Indoor Stadium, a result that would have made the entire season worth it for many UNC fans. Hubert Davis and the team had other plans in mind.

The Heels made the NCAA Tournament as a No. 8 seed and proceeded to run Marquette off the court with a 32-point win in the round of 64. After that, UNC knocked off the defending champions and No. 1 seed Baylor followed by Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight wins over UCLA and last year’s Cinderella in St. Peter’s.

Then came the final twist — the one worth more than the price of attendance. For the first time in the history of the NCAA Tournament, North Carolina and Duke would play each other and the stakes were predictably enormous. Duke was looking to send Coach K out with a sixth national championship and revenge for its earlier loss to North Carolina, while UNC had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to crush Duke’s championship hopes and send Coach K into retirement.

Krzyzewski’s final game in Cameron Indoor Stadium was a loss to North Carolina. His final game as the head coach of Duke was a Final Four loss to North Carolina. For UNC fans, that alone made last season arguably its most satisfying in program history not including its seven national championship seasons — and maybe even including its national championship seasons.

North Carolina returns four starters from last year’s team, headlined by the likely preseason ACC Player of the Year in Armando Bacot. The Tar Heels will be picked to win the ACC this season and could very well be the nation’s preseason No. 1 team when the AP Top 25 is released later this month.

So to answer my earlier question — “what are the expectations for UNC for the 2022-23 season?”

To win the national championship.

These expectations aren’t new to a program like North Carolina. In fact, they’re pretty standard for a Blue Blood. This year’s team feels especially equipped to make another deep March run, though, with its combination of guard play, star power, and experience that few, if any teams in the country can match.