UNC basketball program sits atop Jon Rothstein’s early ACC rankings

The college basketball season is still a few months away but the North Carolina Tar Heels appeared to have finalized their roster with the addition of a Georgia Tech transfer this week .

With North Carolina’s roster finalized, Hubert Davis and his squad are looking to repeat as Atlantic Coast Conference regular season champions.

But it won’t be easy. The ACC is expected to be better, headlined by UNC rival Duke landing a top recruiting class including Cooper Flagg. North Carolina does return the ACC Player of the Year RJ Davis and has one of the best backcourts in the country.

As we get set for the season, Jon Rothstein has his offseason breakdown for the conference including early power rankings. In the power rankings, he has the Tar Heels in the top spot beating out No. 2 Duke, No. 3 Wake Forest and No. 4 Clemson.

Projected Starting 5:
G Elliot Cadeau
G RJ Davis
G Ian Jackson
F Jae’Lyn Withers
C Ven Lubin
Projected Bench: Zayden High, Drake Powell, James Brown, Seth Trimble, Cade Tyson, Jalen Washington
Key Newcomers: Ian Jackson, Drake Powell, James Brown, Cade Tyson (Belmont), Ven Lubin (Vanderbilt)
Key Losses: Armando Bacot, Cormac Ryan, Paxson Wojcik, Harrison Ingram

It’s also interesting to see that Rothstein has Withers and Lubin as the starters in the post over Jalen Washington. That will be something to monitor as practices begin for the upcoming season in the coming weeks.

This UNC roster is good and they are motivated by a Sweet 16 exit last year in the NCAA Tournament. Let’s see if they can get it done and take the next step this season.

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