A Big South First Team All-Conference member last season, Keeling is a legit playmaker and scorer from all three levels on the floor. It’s always tough to gauge the level of impact a mid-major will have on a Power 6 school, especially in the ACC, but at the very least Keeling should be able to provide shooting and solid defense. He’ll compete with sophomore Leaky Black and senior Brandon Robinson for a starting spot next season. Black saw limited minutes and suffered an ankle injury during the second half of the year, but he played well when he saw the floor. He’ll serve as a secondary ball handler on the wing to Anthony and three-point threat, and he’ll be one of UNC’s best assets on the defensive side of the ball. Robinson is the stereotypical “3-and-D” guy; he shot 46% from downtown on 50 attempts in 2018-19 and was one of UNC’s best defenders last season.

A second highly coveted grad transfer, William & Mary’s Justin Pierce, is a bit of a wild card. Pierce had a great junior season and earned a spot on the CAA’s 3rd Team All-Conference, but his once-elite three-point shooting fell off a cliff from 41.3% as a sophomore to just 32.8%. The 6’7” wing was one of the most versatile players in the CAA the last three years, contributing in the defensive, rebounding, passing, and scoring realms, but he’s much less of a “sure impact player” than Keeling. Against Tier A+B competition last season (a.k.a. @ODU, @UVA, @Charleston, @Northeastern, and @Hofstra), Pierce posted a brutally poor 83.7 O-Rating and shot just 15.8% from deep. This trend is consistent with Pierce’s sophomore (90.6 O-rating) and freshman (79.4 O-rating) seasons, so it’s very much unclear if he’ll be able to hang with opponents in the ACC.

Since Roy is a man of luxury, he went out and recruited two additional point guards in the class of 2019. Anthony Harris, a 4-star and top 100 player, and Jeremiah Francis, a 3 or 4-star depending where you look, likely won’t see too much run in their inaugural seasons in Chapel Hill, but both have potential to be key pieces in the future. Harris probably sees some time this year due to sheer lack of PG depth, and I’d bet dollars to donuts that he’ll be a better option at the backup PG spot than the departed Seventh Woods.

Defensively, UNC should be as solid as ever with the aforementioned Black and Robinson roaming the perimeter and behemoth forwards Brooks, Bacot, and Manley manning the paint. Last year’s Tar Heel squad had the 6th best adjusted defensive efficiency (per KenPom) in the Roy Williams era and ranked 15th nationally. Size has always been a key driver of defensive success for UNC and they’ll have plenty in 2019-20.

Bottom Line: UNC seems to be somehow cruising under the radar in many outlets’ preseason Top 25, but rest assured the Tar Heels are a legitimate title contender. Roy has size, scoring, and one of the five best players in the country on his roster, more than enough to compete with Duke, UVA, and Louisville for an ACC Championship and beyond.