Carolina has ten players who deserve to get some of the 200 minutes, but ratio between starters and subs is the key to production.
Most players need enough time to get comfortable. (Cade Tyson started for Minnesota and scored 30 points in the opening win over Gardner Webb after not producing much buried on the UNC bench last season.)
The Tar Heels got the 2025-26 season off to a good start, but the junior-laden rotation will be a challenge for Hubert Davis and staff.
We certainly know Seth Trimble, the senior guard and only returning regular from last year. We can certainly identify talented 6-10 freshman Caleb Wilson and junior transfer giant Henri Veesaar, the likely post men now that junior Luka Bogavac can play his expected small forward position. And junior Kyan Evans looks capable at the point.
With Bogavac finding out 30 minutes before tip-off that he was indeed eligible, the Tar Heels rolled out a team that we indeed may need a roster to learn who most of the rest are.
The projected starters played at least 20 minutes in the 94-54 blowout of Central Arkansas in the opener at an unfilled Smith Center Monday night. There are plenty of candidates to come off the bench, but who, what and where will fill out the rotation?
Play all 10 evenly, and Davis won’t give the top four or five time to shine. The third big man is another junior, Jaren Stevenson, who is from Pittsboro and played two years at Alabama before coming home. He is 6-10 and could give Carolina one of the tallest frontcourts in college basketball when they are all in there together.
Three others who played double-digit minutes are yet another 6-10 forward, sophomore Zayden High, who missed more than a season but looks surprisingly aggressive in his return; 6-5 freshman guard Derek Dixon, who may have the skill set to play either point guard or big guard; and 6-6 sophomore shooter Jonathan Powell, who led West Virginia in 3-pointers as a freshman. And then there is 6-4 junior Jaydon Young who made multiple three-pointers in 18 games at Virginia Tech last season.
Carolina won’t have the luxury of more sure wins to solidify the rotation before the first of four Quad 1 non-conference games Friday night, when nationally ranked Kansas makes its first-ever visit to Chapel Hill for another 7 pm tipoff. It is part of a two-game series that started last year when the Tar Heels barely lost to the Jayhawks in Lawrence.
Will Davis start Stevenson again or settle in with Bogavac? And who gets how much playing time against a defense-minded team that forces a lot of turnovers? Kansas is ranked No. 19 in the country, six spots ahead of the Tar Heels.
“I’m going to celebrate this win first because it’s also my wife’s birthday,” Hubert said. “Then we’ll get to work on preparing for Kansas.”
The Jayhawks have a legendary history with UNC dating back to the famous triple overtime game for the NCAA championship in 1957, won by Lennie Rosenbluth and those Tar Heels.
Then there was the 2022 national championship game in New Orleans that the Jayhawks won with a second-half comeback in Davis’ rookie season as a head coach.
Featured image via Todd Melet
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.
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