2009-10 North Carolina Basketball Predictions
Written October 28, 2009 by Rock Henderson
The defending national champions will set out to capture their third title in six years under Hall of Fame head coach Roy Williams when North Carolina kicks off the 2009-2010 season November 9th at home against Florida International. Expectations are low for Carolina’s standards as four of last year’s five starters departed for the NBA. One thing remains the same for the Heels, they only know of one speed to play at and that is full throttle. If Carolina can find a go to player down the stretch they could be a tough out in the NCAA tournament. Looking at the NCAA basketball odds to win the 2009-10 Championship at BetUS, UNC is listed at +700 to take home the title. Let’s take a deeper look into how the Tar Heels plan to defend the ship.
Transition years can be down to swallow for such a storied program like North Carolina, but all signs point towards that this season. F Tyler Hansborough was one of the top Heels to come out of the program in the last 25 years and has moved onto playing professionally for the Indiana Pacers. Cousy Award winner PG Ty Lawson has been the glue at the point of the Heels’ fast break attack the past two seasons, but he is know with the Denver Nuggetts. Smooth swingman Wayne Ellington and versatile F Danny Green have also departed. The cupboard is not completely empty though as Carolina has plenty of young talent that has to stepup and fill the huge voids left by these players.
G Marcus Ginyard would have seen major action as a defensive stopper last year had it not been for a season ending injury. Now in his fifth year, Ginyard has all the sudden been thrown into the leadership role of a youthful squad. F Deon Thompson will be doing most of his work on the block in the post. The 6-8 postman averaged a career best 10.6 points per game with over five boards and should have more room to go to work with the departure of Hansborough. Sophomore F Ed Davis has all the tools to be the next great Tar Heel in a long line of them. The lanky Davis saw considerable action as a true freshman. His 11 points and a team high eight boards in the title game against Michigan State showed what he is capable of. F Tyler Zeller played his way into Carolina’s deep rotation last year and showed flashes of brilliance, but a wrist injury sidelined him for much of the year. Zeller reminds many of a much more fluid Tyler Hansborough. Point guard might be the biggest question mark on the team. Larry Drew II should be the starter for the Tar Heels and is a bigger version of Ty Lawson. The 6-2 guard out of California played in every game last year and averaged just over 10 minutes per contest. He will shoulder the burden of keeping UNC’s running attack well oiled. Will Graves will fill the role of Wayne Ellington as Carolina’s major 3 point threat. He was suspended for the final 18 games last season for violating team rules, but did hit on 37 percent of three point attempts prior to that. Throw in the top ranked recruiting class that includes 6-10 F John Henson and the Heels seem ready to run their young horses at will again in 2009.
Is this team set to win back-to-back titles? Probably not. But we do know that they have plenty of talent to choose from and if F Ed Davis develops into one of the more dominant players in college basketball UNC could be setting itself up for another deep run in March. Much of their success will be determined by the play of their young guards and incoming freshman, but look for the Tar Heels to pound the ball inside if they don’t get easy buckets in transition.
If you plan to do any college basketball betting, you will want expert basketball picks from our best handicappers. There’s simply no better site than Betfirms for getting NCAA basketball picks all season long.
If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:
- North Carolina State vs North Carolina Basketball Odds & Predictions
- North Carolina at Wake Forest: College Basketball Odds & Predictions
- Clemson at North Carolina: Basketball Picks & Predictions
- LSU vs North Carolina: March Madness Predictions
- 2009-10 North Carolina State Basketball Predictions
Got something to say?
No comments yet, but your thoughts are welcome!