3 Questions on UNC Men’s Basketball

The North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team will is moving into the fifth season led by Hubert Davis, previously spending nine seasons as an assistant to three-champion (2005, 2009, 2017) Roy Williams.

Davis' holds an overall record of 101-45, his best season being the 2023-2024 which headlined RJ Davis, Armando Bacot, Cormac Ryan, Harrison Ingram, Elliot Cadeau, and Seth Trimble.

His worse season so far? The 2022-2023 campaign, the year following his national championship run, that led to a stunner against Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks — collapsing a 15-point lead. The returning of core of Bacot, Davis, Caleb Love, and Leaky Black were unable to repeat the same outcome, and the addition of Pete Nance did not pan out as expected.

But on Monday, November 3, the Tar Heels begin another chapter in the Coach Davis era, and it boasts a whole new lineup with plenty of names for fans to learn about.

While the season still has time to arrive, here are three questions to think about as we look ahead:

What kind of offensive system will UNC play?

I talked about this a little bit in my piece on Jonathan Powell, but this roster is built to play in a "4-out 1-in" or "five-out" offensive system. The amount of shooters this team has can not be emphasized enough, from the frontcourt to the backcourt. And based off the 2021-2022 season when Oklahoma transfer Brady Manek was effective around the three-point line, I see this team playing in a similar way.

Coach Davis has preached about how much he wants his team to place with spacing ever since he was hired — more of an NBA-esk kind of system, considering his experience in the NBA.

Besides Powell, Kyan Evans can shoot the basketball, freshman phenom Caleb Wilson, Arizona transfer Henri Veesaar, even Luka Bogavac (which wel'll talk about momentarily) is a shooter, too.

These two systems seem the most optimal style of using the personnel onboard, but let's watch what Coach Davis decides on when the season commences.

What are the odds we see Hubert Davis use Caleb Wilson at the center position?

Yes, this might be a stretch of an idea, but Wilson at the center position would create a heck of a small-ball lineup that can get up and down the court in a hurry. However, on the defensive side, all five guys in a Carolina blue jersey would need to crash the glass, unless it's easy for the opposing center to secure the rebound.

Here's an example of one small-ball lineup with shooters and Wilson as the anchor:

Kyan Evans
Luka Bogavac
Jonathan Powell
Seth Trimble
Caleb Wilson

Again, this idea seems out of this world, but it never hurts to think about possibilities.

Maybe this idea happens ... or it does not.

How will Luka Bogavac be used?

Personally, I see Bogavac used in a lot of off-ball situations, with Evans handling the point guard duties — the international prospect has great shot making skills that would thrive off down-screens and staggers.

Bogavac is the kind of guy you would set up a play for during timeouts to get the team rolling in the right direction. And I predict this will happen a good amount throughout the season.

This is all for now, and it will be fascinating to see how these thoughts pan out.

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