John Henson is worried about the Tar Heels this season: 'North Carolina’s front court is an embarrassment'

North Carolina's start to the season was turbulent, to say the least. They started the season with a win against Elon but followed it up with a loss to No. 1 ranked Kansas. Their next three games were against much worse opponents, but their black sequence started when they met with Auburn.

It was a turbulent start for North Carolina basketball

The Tar Heels first lost to No. 4 Auburn with an 85-72 result, followed by two more consecutive losses. One was against Michigan State, and the next was against Alabama. After only eight games, their record was a pretty bad 4-4, much worse than their preseason expectations. ACC was only starting, but one of the best college programs was already in the problem.

Former North Carolina's big man, John Henson, was asked to comment on his school's struggles early in the season.

"North Carolina has struggled so far this season. They lost by three at Kansas, right? They lost to Auburn on a neutral court. They lost to Michigan State in overtime. Michigan State blew out Minnesota. Maybe Tom Izzo's figured it out. That's a top 30 team right now on the metrics. They lost to Alabama at home. Alabama was preseason top two, regardless of where you looked. I had them preseason top one," Henson said optimistically on the After Dark podcast.

"Right now, they're top 10 in the metrics. So it's not like they're sitting here losing to the Elons or the Americans or the Hawaii's of the world. They're getting beat by really good teams."

Tar Heels' front court falls short of UNC's legacy

Henson argues that North Carolina will surely make it to the NCAA Tournament in March. After all, the committee decides who will go through, and just a few are decided by their record. Henson claims that the Tar Heels' name wakes something in the people, and that it should be enough to make it to the postseason.

"The standard here shouldn't be to make the tournament. The standard should be to make deep runs in March. This team is not a team that's worthy of making a deep run in March," explains a former Tar Heel frontcourt player. "Their front court, for the legacy and tradition of North Carolina bigs, and we've got a former North Carolina star on this very show, for the legacy and tradition of the North Carolina Tar Heels, this front court's an embarrassment."

And this season might be an embarrassment for North Carolina. They don't have a star frontcourt player right now, and Henson is very disappointed about it. Their best players, who are expected to go high in the next draft, are Drake Powell and Ian Jackson, both shooting guards under 6'5".

Even though they don't look good right now, not everything is lost. It is still early in the season, and the ACC just started. North Carolina just won their first conference game but with a small margin. They improved to 5-4 record with a 68-65 win against unranked Georgia Tech. In the next couple of months the Tar Heels will have an easier schedule, with only one ranked team until 29th of January - a perfect chance to improve their season outlook.