Tar Heels named top team after Nance transfer
The UNC basketball program added the final piece of their roster last week when forward Pete Nance announced he was transferring to Chapel Hill for his final year of eligibility.
UNC is returning four of their five starters from a year ago on a team that made it to the title game as well as returning players like Puff Johnson, Dontrez Styles, D'Marco Dunn, and Justin McKoy. Plus, are adding Nance as well as a 2022 recruiting class that was Top 20 in the cycle.
With that, one publication believes that the Tar Heels will be the team to beat early on going into next season. Sports Illustrated updated their way too early rankings for the season and UNC jumped up seven spots from April’s rankings from No. 8 to No. 1. Here is what they had to say about UNC going into next season:
The late addition of Northwestern transfer Pete Nance pushes the Tar Heels into the No. 1 spot with rosters mostly set. The 6’10” forward is a perfect fit to replace Brady Manek at the power forward spot for Hubert Davis: While not the elite shooter Manek is, Nance is a capable outside threat and is more versatile defensively, a better passer and a more gifted post scorer than Manek was for the 2021–22 Heels. He also gives Davis a chance to rest star center Armando Bacot at times, a necessity after Bacot averaged over 35 minutes per game in the season’s final 13 games. The pairing of Bacot and Nance is the nation’s best frontcourt, and the backcourt duo of RJ Davis and Caleb Love includes a pair of potential All-Americans if each plays up to its potential. Add in a fifth-year senior defensive whiz in Leaky Black, and no team has a better starting group than these Heels.
For UNC fans, this is really nothing new. The Tar Heels have been put atop multiple rankings for next year early on and rightfully so.
Returning four of five starters and now adding an impact transfer like Nance is huge for Hubert Davis and his staff. Now let’s see if they can capitalize on it and make another deep run.
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