CBB Insider: North Carolina's roster 'vastly different', 'a polar opposite' from last year

North Carolina had a backcourt-led team last year with four or five of their top contributors being guards. Now, through this offseason in Chapel Hill, the Tar Heels have seemingly flipped that with the bigs they’ll have this year in the frontcourt.

Jon Rothstein looked at the roster movement from the past two or three months for UNC on his show with CBS Sports on Monday. That started back with last season where North Carolina had it’s top-four scorers being guards with RJ Davis, Ian Jackson, Seth Trimble, and Elliott Cadeau, with Drake Powell also contributing to that, while their bigs had issues at times between Ven-Allen Lubin, Jae’Lyn Withers, Jalen Washington, Cade Tyson, and James Brown.

“When you look at North Carolina’s makeup this season, it feels like a polar opposite from last season,” said Rothstein. “Last year, the Tar Heels were a perimeter-heavy team – RJ Davis, Elliott Cadeau, Ian Jackson, Seth Trimble. The real knock on North Carolina last year was you did not have a consistent, low-post presence on the glass and also in the half court offensively. There was no Armando Bacot. There wasn’t anybody who could get the ball and finish down low.”

Now, this offseason, that trend has gone the other way with who all came to replace what all left. Davis, the school’s all-time leader in games played and second all-time leading scorer, was out of eligibility, Powell was a first-round pick in the NBA Draft, and five of the other eight players named above have transferred elsewhere. In turn, North Carolina is bringing in nine new players, four in their recruiting class and five from the portal, with the biggest names and most-likely to contribute being the additions at the four and five spots like Caleb Wilson, a Five-Star+ prospect and the No. 5 recruit in the incoming class, as well as Jarin Stevenson (Alabama) and Henri Veesaar (Arizona).

“Now it feels like you have the polar opposite. I look at North Carolina and I look at the strength of this team and I think it’s up front,” said Rothstein. “Jarin Stevenson transferred from Alabama. Caleb Wilson, a five-star freshman power forward. And also Henri Veesaar, a transfer from Arizona. There is a real, real element of depth up front when you look at North Carolina.”

It’s not that the Tar Heels won’t have any guard at all with Trimble still there and Kyan Evans, a Top-30 PG transfer per On3, coming in. It’s looking like their style of play, or at least the focus of next season’s team, though, will just be the opposite of what last season’s was being inside rather than on the perimeter.

“I think Seth Trimble is going to have a First Team All-ACC caliber season. But, you look at North Carolina and you look at the make up of its backcourt, and it doesn’t feel like vintage Carolina. Kyan Evans from Colorado State, who played very, very well for the Rams last year down the stretch, is going to be the veteran option at point guard. He is not going to push the ball and set the table like Ty Lawson. He is not going to push the ball and set the table like Ray Felton. I don’t see that out of Colorado State’s main point guard from last year but he has proven that he can score the ball and play winning basketball,” said Rothstein. “You look at the rest of the starting five? You know what I think about Trimble. He’s going to be a First Team All-ACC caliber player. Jarin Stevenson has left some things to be desired for the first few years of his college career. He could find new life in Chapel Hill. Caleb Wilson is somebody I’ve talked to many people throughout, you know, the recruiting circles and people that have seen him play recently? He looks the part of being a major, major impact guy at power forward. And you know Veesaar is somebody who, for all intents and purposes, can produce at the college level.”

North Carolina is going to have to find a way to compete in what’s shaping up to be a key year in season five for Hubert Davis. It’s just of interest, which is why Rothstein pointed it out, how the Tar Heels have shifted their roster this offseason in a 180.

“The strength for North Carolina is up front, not in the backcourt, in my opinion, and it’s going to be interesting to see just how good the Tar Heels can be in what feels like a revamped ACC…The ACC should be better. North Carolina is going to be picked somewhere in the top three or four,” said Rothstein. “For all intents and purposes, the chemical makeup of this Tar Heel team feels vastly different and a polar opposite from the team last season.”