UNC Basketball: Tar Heels kick off the season at home against Notre Dame

Basketball is finally back! UNC opens their season tonight against Notre Dame in the Dean Dome for a weird early season ACC matchup. In a time of year where we’re used to seeing the Tar Heels take on fairly easy competition, they’ll get a pretty good conference test right off the bat.

Carolina’s team looks a bit different this year after plenty of attrition since we last saw them play in the Sweet 16. Garrison Brooks will be surrounded by newcomers at almost every position in the starting lineup with Leaky Black expected to slot in for an injured Brandon Robinson being the only other player from last year expected to start.

The good news is that the new players come with a fair amount of excitement. Cole Anthony is legitimately expected to be one of the top players in the country this season and could compete for ACC Player of the Year. Armando Bacot is no slouch himself, and word on the street is that he may end up being another one-and-done player looking to make a splash in his lone college season. Christian Keeling is going to try and replicate the success of Cam Johnson as a graduate transfer with a smooth three-point shot. Anticipation has been building for a while, but tonight we’ll finally get to see it all in real action.

As always, we’ll be back after the game with a complete roundup of the happenings. Until then...

Go Heels!