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

By Cooper Watson

CHAPEL HILL, NC - JANUARY 11: Ramses, the mascot for the North Carolina Tar Heels, cheers before a game against the Clemson Tigers on January 11, 2020 at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Clemson won 76-79 in overtime. (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NC - JANUARY 11: Ramses, the mascot for the North Carolina Tar Heels, cheers before a game against the Clemson Tigers on January 11, 2020 at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Clemson won 76-79 in overtime. (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images) /
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Pete Nance #22 of the Northwestern Wildcats (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
Pete Nance #22 of the Northwestern Wildcats (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images) /

Predicting UNC’s starting lineup

College basketball is known for its spontaneity and unpredictability. That said, there are plenty of things that we know going into each season. UNC’s starting lineup is one of those things.

Caleb Love, R.J. Davis, Leaky Black, Brady Manek, and Armando Bacot played 1,836 possessions together last season, per EvanMiya.com, the most of any five-man lineup on a power conference team. At least four of those five were on the court at almost all times last season. Hubert Davis’ most-used lineup that didn’t feature at least four of those five players was Love, Davis, Kerwin Walton, Manek, and Dawson Garcia, which totaled just 107 combined possessions.

Love, Davis, Black, and Bacot all return. Manek, who is out of eligibility, went undrafted in the NBA Draft and is currently signed to play with the Perth Wildcats of the NBL — Australia and New Zealand’s top professional basketball league.

Manek averaged 18.6 points over the last 10 games of the season and led the team in 3-pointers made (98) and 3-point percentage (.406). The 3-point stats are especially important when it comes to Manek, who perfectly filled the role of a stretch four in Hubert Davis’ system.

So who fills that gap in the starting lineup?

The answer is surprisingly simple: Northwestern transfer Pete Nance.

Nance is a super-senior who averaged 14.6 points and 6.5 rebounds and shot 45.2% from deep last season on more than three attempts per game. All of that in just 27.2 minutes per game as Northwestern Head Coach Chris Collins never seemed to realize Nance’s potential. The good news for UNC fans is that Hubert Davis did not make the same mistake and was able to recruit Nance out of the transfer portal as the ideal replacement for Manek as a versatile stretch four.

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