North Carolina’s marvelous and improbable run to the national championship game in 2022 was followed up by utter disappointment during the 2022-23 campaign.

Time and time again, UNC has been reminded that it was the first preseason #1 team to miss the NCAA Tournament. Coach Hubert Davis’ response to that disappointment was quite admirable, though.

In his third year as head coach, Davis was tasked with replacing the largest exodus of transfers in Carolina basketball history. Seven Tar Heels entered the portal, including enigmatic guard Caleb Love, who went on to win the 2024 Pac-12 Player of the Year honor at Arizona.

Love’s decision was the perfect example of how many of UNC’s transfers made mutually beneficial decisions for themselves and the Tar Heels. The players needed a change in scenery, and Carolina needed a change in personnel.

Ultimately, a near-complete roster revamp was just what the doctor ordered.

With just four returnees (RJ Davis, Armando Bacot, Seth Trimble and Jalen Washington), Hubert Davis fleshed out the rotation with some impressive transfers, namely all-purpose forward Harrison Ingram and fiery guard Cormac Ryan, as well as a high-impact freshman in point guard Elliot Cadeau.

The new personalities blended in a melting pot of basketball excellence last season, in what became a strong bounce-back year for the Tar Heels. UNC captured sole possession of the ACC regular-season title, played in the ACC title game, and earned a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

A disappointing loss to Alabama in the Sweet 16 cut both the Tar Heels’ season and Bacot’s highly decorated UNC career short. Ingram (an early NBA entry) and Ryan (out of eligibility) have worn the Carolina uniform for the last time, too. Both players had massive impacts on both ends of the floor; they brought not only scoring and defense, but also a winning mindset for the Heels.

“They restored my faith that you could get a group of guys together that genuinely enjoy wanting to be a team and be together,” Hubert Davis said, “and it was a blessing and a joy to be around them.”

Replacing three of the team’s four best players won’t be easy, but Davis isn’t starting from scratch.

First and foremost, he has the reigning ACC Player of the Year back.

RJ Davis, a skilled guard entering his fifth season in Chapel Hill, entered this season among the favorites to win the 2025 National Player of the Year honor. Davis may even have a shot at breaking Tyler Hansbrough’s all-time ACC scoring record (Hansbrough 2,872; Davis 2,088); Davis would need 785 points to reach that peak, just one more point than he scored last season.

Cadeau, an impressive freshman floor general in 2023-24, is back to run the offense alongside Davis once again. Although the backcourt duo is short in stature, the players’ impact will be a tone-setter for the Tar Heels, especially offensively. UNC will need Cadeau to make a jump this season, particularly by improving his outside shot (he made just 19 percent of his threes as a rookie).

After an initial transfer scare from Trimble, the defensive-minded guard decided to withdraw his name from the portal and return for his junior year in Chapel Hill. Trimble’s return was seen as a valuable retention at the time, but now that decision is looking like a crucial one for UNC’s success this season.

To start the year, Trimble showed vast improvement on the offensive end. He already had made a big jump from his freshman to sophomore year by lifting his perimeter shot from 17 percent to 42 percent, but now Trimble appears to be far more than just a 3-and-D guy.

The junior guard put the college basketball world on notice with an unexpected explosion of offense against Memphis in an exhibition in October. He tallied 33 points in a game that seemed to spark life into Trimble’s offensive game.

“To step into a role of being a much bigger leader than I was last year and just to play a more complete game this year,” Trimble said, when asked how he envisioned himself this season. “To play my game — that’s one thing that me and Coach Davis discuss all the time is just to do me and play free.”

Trimble averaged 15 points over the first four games of the season, breaking his previous career-high in scoring against Elon with 15 points, then breaking that record the very next game with 19 at #1 Kansas.

After a somewhat disappointing opening-night win over Elon in which UNC struggled for large stretches, the Tar Heels responded with a gritty effort at Kansas in which the Heels erased a 20-point first-half deficit. Despite taking the lead at one point late in the second, UNC still came up short in Lawrence. However, the Tar Heels’ backcourt was dynamic and impressive in the three-point loss.

Joining the returning trio of guards in the backcourt is top-10 freshman Ian Jackson. The young wing is garnering NBA attention and has a knack for filling up buckets. Jackson is one of two McDonald’s All-Americans at UNC from of the Class of 2024. The other is 6-foot-6 Drake Powell, who is expected to provide reliable two-way depth on the wing this season. The final freshman piece for the Heels is big man James Brown, a top-100 prospect.

Given their promising backcourt, the 2024-25 Tar Heels’ biggest questions surround the team’s frontcourt play.

Bacot is tough to replace, and the Carolina coaching staff hit the recruiting trail hard this spring, looking for a viable starting center in the portal. Time after time, though, the Tar Heels whiffed.

Eventually, the Heels landed on Vanderbilt forward Ven-Allen Lubin, a dependable, although somewhat undersized, option at the five. Lubin, who began his college career in the ACC (Notre Dame), averaged 12 points per game for Vandy last season while showing good rebounding and shot-blocking abilities.

To begin the season, though, Davis opted to start two returning forwards: junior Jalen Washington (a smooth-shooting big man) and sixth-year senior Jae’Lyn Withers (a versatile defender). Despite the experience of the returning frontcourt, there are reasons to doubt whether either can be a dependable two-way option as a prominent big man on a contending team.

In the offseason, it seemed as if Belmont transfer Cade Tyson (brother of former Clemson All-ACC standout Hunter Tyson) might check a lot of the boxes to help replace Ryan and Ingram, including with some minutes at forward. After all, Tyson averaged more than 16 points per game last season at Belmont, one of the top programs in the Missouri Valley Conference (a top-10 league in 2023-24), while shooting nearly 47 percent from beyond the arc.

However, to start his tenure at UNC, Tyson left something to be desired. After scoring two points in 16 minutes against Elon, Tyson registered just one minute of action at Kansas before bouncing back with 11 points against American and nine at Hawaii.

Only time will tell if Hubert Davis hit the transfer portal jackpot once again, but it’s hard to bet against a team returning a first-team All-American and a wide variety of other very talented pieces.

2024-25 North Carolina Tar Heels
(3-1, 0-0 ACC; through Nov. 24)

STARTERS (stats = final 2023-24 numbers)

G RJ Davis*, Gr., (6-0/180) — 2024 ACC POY; 1st-team All-American
35 mpg, 21 ppg, 4 rpg, 43% FG, 87% FT, 40% threes, 129/55 ATO, 8 blocks, 45 steals

G Elliot Cadeau*, So., (6-1/180) — 2024 ACC All-Freshman
24 mpg, 7 ppg, 2 rpg, 42% FG, 65% FT, 19% threes, 150/67 ATO, 4 blocks, 29 steals

G Seth Trimble, Jr., (6-3/195) — valuable sixth man for 2023-24 squad
17 mpg, 5 ppg, 2 rpg, 47% FG, 67% FT, 42% threes, 32/22 ATO, 7 blocks, 13 steals

F Jae’Lyn Withers, Gr., (6-9/215) — sixth-year senior in second season at UNC
12 mpg, 4 ppg, 4 rpg, 54% FG, 78% FT, 20% threes, 21/25 ATO, 18 blocks, 16 steals

C Jalen Washington, Jr., (6-10/230) — played in all 37 games in 2023-24
8 mpg, 4 ppg, 3 rpg, 70% FG, 64% FT, 53% threes, 7/14 ATO, 21 blocks, 3 steals

KEY RESERVES (stats = final 2023-24 numbers)

F Drake Powell, Fr., (6-6/225) — Top 25 in Class of 2024
Pittsboro, N.C.; Northwood HS; McDonald’s All-American

G Ian Jackson, Fr., (6-5/185) — Top 10 in Class of 2024
Bronx, N.Y.; Our Savior Lutheran HS; McDonald’s All-American

F Ven-Allen Lubin, Jr., (6-8/226) — Vanderbilt transfer (starter)
28 mpg, 12 ppg, 6 rpg, 50% FG, 73% FT, 33% threes, 12/31 ATO, 26 blocks, 15 steals

F Cade Tyson, Gr., (6-6/225) — Belmont transfer (second-team All-MVC)
32 mpg, 16 ppg, 6 rpg, 49% FG, 86% FT, 47% threes, 49/44 ATO, 18 block, 27 steals

C James Brown, Fr., (6-9/210) — Top 100 in Class of 2024
Aurora, Ill.; Link Academy in Branson, Mo.

Departures from 2023-24: C Armando Bacot* (Ss./G League), BF Harrison Ingram* (Jr./early NBA entry/San Antonio Spurs), C James Okonkwo (Jr./transfer/Akron), WG Cormac Ryan* (Ss./G League), WG Paxson Wójcik (Ss./Poland)

*—2023-24 starter (started at least 50% of UNC’s games last season)

North Carolina Tar Heels
10-Year Snapshot
Season — Overall, League (Place), Postseason

2023-24: 29-8, 17-3 (1st), NCAA Sweet 16 (Hubert Davis)
2022-23: 20-13, 11-9 ACC (7th), no postseason (Hubert Davis)
2021-22: 29-10, 15-5 ACC (2nd), NCAA Runner-up (Hubert Davis)
2020-21: 18-11, 10-6 ACC (5th), NCAA Round of 64 (Roy Williams)
2019-20: 14-19, 6-14 ACC (13th), no postseason (Roy Williams)
2018-19: 29-7, 16-2 ACC (t-1st), NCAA Sweet 16 (Roy Williams)
2017-18: 26-11, 11-7 ACC (3rd), NCAA Round of 32 (Roy Williams)
2016-17: 33-7, 14-4 ACC (1st), NCAA CHAMPIONS (Roy Williams)
2015-16: 33-7, 14-4 ACC* (1st), NCAA Runner-up (Roy Williams)
2014-15: 26-12, 11-7 ACC (5th), NCAA Sweet 16 (Roy Williams)

*—conference champion

NOTE: In the coming weeks and months, please visit the North Carolina Sports Network’s 2024-25 profiles and 10-year snapshots for all 19 Division One men’s basketball programs in North Carolina and all 18 Atlantic Coast Conference programs. The items below will become “live links” as new articles are posted.

Appalachian State Mountaineers, Sun Belt Conference

Boston College Eagles, Atlantic Coast Conference

California Bears, Atlantic Coast Conference

Campbell Camels, Coastal Athletic Association

Charlotte 49ers, American Athletic Conference

Clemson Tigers, Atlantic Coast Conference

Davidson Wildcats, Atlantic-10 Conference

Duke Blue Devils, Atlantic Coast Conference

East Carolina Pirates, American Athletic Conference

Elon Phoenix, Coastal Athletic Association

Florida State Seminoles, Atlantic Coast Conference

Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs, Big South Conference

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Atlantic Coast Conference

High Point Panthers, Big South Conference

Louisville Cardinals, Atlantic Coast Conference

Miami Hurricanes, Atlantic Coast Conference

North Carolina A&T Aggies, Coastal Athletic Association

North Carolina Central Eagles, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference

North Carolina State Wolfpack, Atlantic Coast Conference

Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Atlantic Coast Conference

Pittsburgh Panthers, Atlantic Coast Conference

Queens Royals, Atlantic Sun Conference

SMU Mustangs, Atlantic Coast Conference

Stanford Cardinal, Atlantic Coast Conference

Syracuse Orange, Atlantic Coast Conference

UNC Asheville Bulldogs, Big South Conference

UNC Greensboro Spartans, Southern Conference

UNC Wilmington Seahawks, Coastal Athletic Association

Virginia Cavaliers, Atlantic Coast Conference

Virginia Tech Hokies, Atlantic Coast Conference

Wake Forest, Atlantic Coast Conference

Western Carolina Catamounts, Southern Conference