The North Carolina Tar Heels failed to complete their mission in the 2021-22 season which was to win the national title. However, they are still regarded as a powerhouse coming into the 2022-23 campaign. In fact, Tar Heels basketball has just been ranked No. 1 overall in the AP Top 25 preseason poll.

The Tar Heels were among the biggest surprises last season when they managed to successfully hurdled one obstacle after another in the national tournament on their way to the national championship game despite being just a No. 8 seed. In the national finals, they came just a few points shy of winning it all, as they were defeated by No. 1 seed Kansas Jayhawks to the tune of a 72-69 score.

One of the chief reasons Tar Heels basketball is ranked atop everybody else in college basketball at this point of the offseason is the quality of talent returning to Chapel Hill. Brady Manek is gone but Caleb Love, R.J. Davis, Leaky Black, and Armando Bacot are all back to provide experience as proven commodities for North Carolina which is also currently ranked No. 8 by KenPom.

Although Manek is no longer around to help Tar Heels basketball on the floor, North Carolina is welcoming Northwestern transfer Pete Nance, who averaged 13.0 points and shot 41.5 percent from behind the arc in his last two years with the Wildcats.

Hubert Davis is also looking to prove he was more than just lucky in his first year as head coach of Tar Heels basketball, as he aims to steer the program back to another deep run in March Madness.