Sports Illustrated
No coach in the country enters 2025–26 under more pressure than Hubert Davis. At most schools, his national title game appearance and NCAA tournament No. 1 seed in four seasons would be cause for celebration … but North Carolina isn’t most schools. Years 2 and 4 of his tenure have been ugly, missing the tournament as preseason No. 1 in 2023 before a mess of a ’25 season that saw the Tar Heels sneak into the Big Dance but go just 1–12 in Quad 1 games. A repeat of last season would likely cause a coaching change in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Davis has shape-shifted before, with 2024 being a good example of him building a far more cohesive roster meshing portal pieces in with returners. This is an even bigger roster teardown though, with just one rotation player (veteran guard Seth Trimble) back compared to that ’24 squad that returned RJ Davis and Armando Bacot. We’ve seen the potential for Trimble to take big leaps offensively, but North Carolina will need major contributions up and down the lineup from its newcomers to get back to national contention.
Projected Starting Lineup
PG: Kyan Evans
SG: Seth Trimble
SF: Luka Bogavac
PF: Caleb Wilson
C: Henri Veesaar
Key Reserves: G Derek Dixon, W Jonathan Powell, F Jarin Stevenson
North Carolina’s most obvious flaw a season ago was its frontcourt play. Undersized big Ven-Allen Lubin and former top-50 recruit were woefully unsatisfactory on both ends of the floor. Enter Henri Veesaar, a 7-footer who was awesome at Arizona last season. Offensively, he’s far more effective both as a play finisher at the rim and short-roll playmaker than any of North Carolina’s options a year ago, and he’s a steady rim presence defensively. This was the most important piece to get right for Davis and staff, and they nailed it.
Next was retooling the backcourt around Trimble, a highly effective straight-line driver who isn’t a great shooter. Kyan Evans, one of the stars of Colorado State’s March run, is the opposite, a limited athlete around the rim but a dynamite shooter from distance. He’s not necessarily a true point guard though, so Evans and Trimble will likely share ballhandling duties. Don’t be surprised if freshman Derek Dixon climbs into that mix, too. North Carolina also bet big on Montenegrin guard Luka Bogavac, a highly accomplished overseas pro who averaged nearly 15 points per game in the Adriatic League last season.
North Carolina’s highest-upside player is top-10 freshman Caleb Wilson, a do-it-all 6' 9" forward with an NBA frame and impressive versatility. Him making a quick adjustment to college hoops would increase this group’s ceiling immensely. Also at that spot is Jarin Stevenson, a rangey forward who spent the last two years in the rotation at Alabama.
This will be the first time in Hubert Davis’s tenure that he hasn’t had an elite ball-in-hand point guard to run the entire offense through. If that’s what Carolina hopes Evans will be, it’ll likely end up disappointed. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Trimble take on the role as offensive alpha (his 33-point outburst in a charity exhibition last year without RJ Davis sticks in many minds), but he’s not the first-team All-American talent that RJ Davis was. Hubert Davis will have to adjust how they play stylistically and likely manufacture more offense than just rolling the ball out and playing in ball screens.
In all, for one of the most expensive rosters in the country, the top-end talent is somewhat lacking. Wilson is the guy who can change that, but he’s somewhat raw and could take time to adjust to the college game. If he does, will North Carolina have the horses to keep up with Duke and Louisville at the top of the ACC?
The Bottom Line
North Carolina’s roster construction makes a lot more sense this year than last season’s combination of ball-dominant guards and bad bigs. Veesaar is a huge upgrade at center, and the Heels can surround a relentless rim presence like Trimble with plenty of shooting. If Wilson makes the impact some in Chapel Hill expect him to, this group could be in for a major bounce back.
