Men’s College Basketball 2021-2022 Season Preview: UNC Tar Heels

The college basketball season is just over two weeks away — time is just flying by. To get you ready for the season, I’m previewing the season in men’s college basketball, team by team. In these previews I will highlight key departures, additions, returners and overall DFS viability for each team. These previews will be heavily focused on DFS and fantasy in general, so keep that in mind when I’m talking about the relevancy of a player or team rotations.

We kick things off with the ACC, a conference that severely underperformed in the pandemic-impacted season last year. While the conference will inevitably have a handful of DFS staples for us to use each slate, it still seems like the ACC lost more talent than it was able to gain. With the transfer rules changing after March Madness ended it ultimately led to what was essentially free agency in CBB. There were coaching changes as well which I will talk about throughout this breakdown because new philosophies will mean new strategies for our DFS builds. 

In this one, North Carolina.

(Check out our full college basketball season preview!)

North Carolina Tar Heels 2021-2022 Season Preview

2020-2021 record: 18-11 (10-6 ACC), sixth in ACC
Postseason: Lost in NCAA Tournament first round

Key Departures | UNC Tar Heels

• Walker Kessler (transferred to Auburn)
• Garrison Brooks (transferred to Miss State)
• Day’Ron Sharpe (NBA draftee)
• Andrew Platek (transferred to Siena)

Key Additions | UNC Tar Heels

• Dawson Garcia (transferred from Marquette)
• Brady Manek (transferred from Oklahoma)
• Justin McKoy (transferred from Virginia)
• D’Marco Dunn (top 70 recruit)
• Dontrez Styles (top 70 recruit)

Returners | UNC Tar Heels

• Caleb Love (10.5 PPG/2.6 RPG/3.6 APG)
• Armando Bacot (12.3 PPG/7.8 RPG/0.9 BPG)
• Leaky Black (5.6 PPG/4.9 RPG/1.2 SPG)
• RJ Davis (8.4 PPG/2.3 RPG/1.9 APG)
• Kerwin Walton (8.2 PPG/1.7 RPG/1.8 APG)
• Anthony Harris (3.2 PPG/1 RPG/1.3 APG)
• Puff Johnson (1.1 PPG/0.5 RPG/0.1 APG)

UNC Tar Heels Outlook for 2021-2022

Legendary Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams retired at the end of last season, and the school brought in former player Hubert Davis to replace him. Williams was a fantastic coach who won games, but remember: These breakdowns are for DFS, and Williams’ frontcourt rotations were brutal for DFS purposes the last few years, and it made rostering Armando Bacot, Garrison Brooks, Day’Ron Sharpe or Walker Kessler in your main lineup a nightmare. Following beat writer takes and training camp reports, it sounds like Davis is going to do away with Williams’ penchant for forcing two bigs onto the block, which really hurt spacing and overall production. This means we will get Bacot operating down low with plenty of room to operate and no fear of the lane being clogged by a fellow big. Bacot has been dripping with upside since he got to Chapel Hill and will finally get his chance to realize that potential. We got a preview of what Bacot could do without veteran Brooks around back on March 10 of last season in a game against Notre Dame. Brooks was ruled out for that contest, and Bacot proceeded to put up 20 points, 13 boards, 1 assist, 2 blocks and 1 steal in 24 minutes. It’s important to note that Sharpe and Kessler both nuked during that game as well, but Bacot was the primary big for large stretches and he dominated usage to the tune of 28% when on the floor. The days of Bacot being priced around $6k are likely long gone, and I suspect we see him become $8k or higher within the first couple weeks of the season without that salary ever dipping again.

The personnel around Bacot is perfect for him as well, because the other bigs on this squad can flat-out shoot the ball, which should prevent opponents from doubling him. Brady Manek is a career 37% shooter from long range and should flourish in this revamped Hubert Davis system. During the Tar Heels’ recent scrimmage, he was knocking down shots with confidence, and the fans already love him. Marquette transfer Dawson Garcia should make major strides in his sophomore season and should pair nicely with Bacot. Garcia has a unique blend of inside-outside ability on offense and should be able to improve on his frosh numbers of 13 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 36% from distance, 53% on two-pointers. Leaky Black and Justin McKoy round out the wings/frontcourt options for the Heels and will probably not be DFS plays until we see how this rotation truly shakes out. Black has been an industry-favorite DFS value option for years but will probably get his playing time bumped for the shiny new toys. McKoy struggled to find his footing with Virginia last year and came to North Carolina for a fresh start. I’m sure that he wasn’t exactly thrilled to see Dawson Garcia join the Heels late in the off season because it will likely make him a bench presence for most of the year.

I think we were all excited to see Caleb Love make the decision to return for his super sophomore season because he just didn’t have the freshman campaign most of us expected him to. However, he did settle in and become a serious DFS threat as the season went on, and I think we see a lot more consistency from Love in Year 2. He did have a top-10 usage rate in the ACC, but his efficiency was absolutely atrocious if we are being honest. He shot just 31% from the field and was even worse from long range at just 26%. Those numbers will improve, and he should be one of the better guard plays in this conference this season. Anthony Harris struggled with health all year and is dangerously close to the dreaded “injury prone” tag. Assuming Harris can play a full season this year he should take a ton of pressure off Love as a ball handler and table setter at guard. RJ Davis and Kerwin Walton both had their moments last season but are best used as complimentary pieces and occasional value plays when priced under $5k. Newcomers D’Marco Dunn and Dontrez Styles will have work to do before getting enough playing time to be viable.

(Check out our rankings of the top 100 teams and top 100 players for men’s college basketball in 2021-2022.)

Summary

Armando Bacot is going to be a monster this season and will flourish as the primary big in an up-tempo offense filled with shooters. Dawson Garcia joins Bacot at a DFS staple while we take a wait and see approach on Brady Manek until we see how his minutes shake out. At guard, it’s all about Caleb Love in what I believe will be a much more efficient year shooting the ball and less pressure to initiate the offense with a healthy Anthony Harris and matured versions of RJ Davis and Kerwin Walton.