North Carolina Tar Heels
Head coach: Roy Williams (11th season)
Record: 23-9
Season summary: The Tar Heels had one of the more bizarre seasons of any college basketball team, as they started the year with early losses to Belmont and UAB and picked up wins against then-No.3 Louisville, then-No.1 Michigan State, then-No. 11 Kentucky and then-No. 5 Duke. Behind the play of Marcus Paige and James Michael McAdoo, North Carolina finished 13-5 in the ACC and ended the season on a 12-2 tear. The momentum that had accumulated through the second-half of the season was taken away with back-to-back losses to the rival Blue Devils and Pittsburgh—the latter sealing North Carolina's early exit from the ACC tournament. But, if the Tar Heels have proven anything this season, it’s that they can heat up at any time.
How they make a run: If McAdoo can produce a solid shooting performance and Paige is playing lights-out in the second half as he has all year, North Carolina will be a tough out, even in the East.
How they falter: The Tar Heels have struggled all season with free throws—they rank eighth-worst in Division I in free throw percentage at 62.5—and in the NCAA tournament, where every point counts, this could come back to bite them.Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.