Tar Heels’ 2020-21 starting lineup

After all the changes we’ve seen at Chapel Hill over the past few months, who will be the five starting lineup for the new UNC basketball program next season?

It’s been one hell of a roller coaster ride for the North Carolina basketball program for the past four months.

After a resounding loss to the Wisconsin Badgers in the first round of the 2021 NCAA tournament – the first first-round loss in Roy Williams’ 33-year career as a head coach – the Tar Heels unexpectedly bid farewell at their three-time national the main man who won the title. This led to the promotion of former UNC assistant coach Hubert Davis, who took on the head coach role just five days after Williams stepped down.

These events were preceded by the start of a mass exodus from the North Carolina Magistrates’ Court which saw freshman big man Day’Ron Sharpe declare for the NBA Draft, as well as the transfer. from the reserve center Walker Kessler. Starting forward Garrison Brooks entered the NCAA transfer portal shortly after, committing to the Mississippi State Bulldogs for his final season of college eligibility. Reserves Sterling Manley and Walker Miller have also made the decision to leave North Carolina in order to pursue other opportunities.

Davis worked tirelessly to help the Tar Heels fill in the gaps, quickly bringing in Virginia sophomore transfer Justin McKoy and four-year Oklahoma Sooners starter Brady Manek. But then came the signing of Marquette, a sophomore transfer from Dawson Garcia, a 6-foot-11 forward who had once been the target of Roy Williams but who ultimately picked the Golden Eagles after Kessler gave his signing. at the Tar Heels.

But the first-year UNC head coach hasn’t just been working on this year’s Tar Heels iteration; he also put together a terrific 2022 recruiting class. It started with the hiring of 3 star center Will Shaver, and was followed three weeks later by the hiring of Seth Trimble, a 4 star leader and brother cadet of former UNC star JP Tokoto. Davis did it again, however, when he secured an engagement from the first 5-star prospect in his young head coaching career, Jalen Washington of the West Side.

Now Davis has what appears to be one of the best teams in the country for the next college basketball season and the No. 1 recruiting class for the 2022 cycle. That’s quite the turnaround from where the things were at the start of April, when many fans in North Carolina were completely collapsing over the state of the program.

And even with things improving from where they were a few months ago, there are still questions regarding the program that fans would love to have answered. One of them is what the Tar Heels’ starting lineup will look like this season. We dive into that topic today, looking at which of last year’s starters will remain in the starting lineup this season, and which newcomers will be in the spotlight at Chapel Hill this fall.