Comparing Tar Heels' Men’s and Women’s Basketball Programs

Women's Head Coach Courtney Banghart returns Lanie Grant, who will be a sophomore, showing flashes of what she could potentially become with more practice and consistency. Then, there is a group of four freshmen, including Nyla Brooks, Taliyah Henderson, and Taissa Queiroz, whom Banghart spoke highly about during her appearance with the media on Tuesday, July 29. The Tar Heels also added international player Liza Astakhova late in the offseason, but Astakhova adds a lot of experience with her time playing in the Russian-PBL.

Banghart lost four key pieces from last season due to ineligibility, with Alyssa Utsby, Grace Townsend, Lexi Donarski, and Maria Gakdeng now off to the next chapters of their playing careers. In addition, UNC's head coach has a pair of transfers with Nyla Harris from Louisville, Elina Aarnisalo from UCLA.

While it's not a competition for two different programs to be competing it each other, it brings up the following question: Which team will be better when it's all said and done? Men's? Women's? Both make a pretty good case to one-up the other, but the truth of the matter is that it can go either way, given the strength of schedule each team has, the players, and many obstacles that could arise throughout the season.

The Better Team Can Go Either Way

These two programs have the pieces and tools needed to go the distance in March Madness. The argument of comparing the last few seasons between the two lands with the women's, given its ability to host and capture a high-seeding when the time comes for the NCAA to make its decisions. Whether it's Wilson for the men's or Brooks for the women's, Davis and Banghart have star power mixed with experience throughout each roster.

On the other hand, the men's team has had trouble even making the tournament, falling short of the cut (2023), a year after making it to the national championship (2022). Davis has had trouble finding consistency — if you were to create a graph representing the postseason results through his first four seasons, the line would go up and down, struggling to create a straight line. The women's graph would be much more consistent.

In the end, Tar Heel fans will have a lot to look forward to once November comes and the seasons officially begin. And while the football team with Bill Belichick as the head coach has not gone the way as expected — losing poorly to Big 12 opponents — basketball season sparks the fanbase, especially students of the university. As the next few weeks approach, the buzz will continue to grow and grow, but by that point, once games have begun, it will be the play of each squad that will either keep or lose the support of the Carolina faithful.

Until the end, the debates of who will be the better team move forward, but the good thing for UNC is that ability even have these kinds of conversations — alinging with the narrative of North Carolina being a basketball school — which shall hold true over the time — unless something drastic happens, of course.

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