Michael Malone has been tasked with building UNC's roster effectively from scratch in his first month on the job. That's the reality of the Transfer Portal era in today's college basketball.
Results have been mixed for Malone and company, and a quick peek at UNC's projected starting lineup leaves a lot to be desired. It certainly doesn't look like a blue blood roster, and right now the Tar Heels look more likely to be on the bubble than to be serious contenders in the ACC race with Duke, Louisville, and Miami, among others.
And UNC's roster could be about to get a lot worse.
While the Tar Heels' frontcourt doesn't look formidable, they did land a couple of talented players in the backcourt in Terrence Brown (Utah) and Matt Able (NC State). Able, however, is going through the NBA Draft process. According to ESPN's Jeff Borzello, he's not a slam dunk to report to Chapel Hill.
Able performed well enough at the NBA Combine to put himself in the late first/early second round discussion for the draft. If he can get a first-round promise, he might stay in the draft and put Malone in a real bind with no real way of finding a suitable replacement for their projected starting two guard.
Matt Able staying in the draft would be catastrophic for Michael Malone and UNC
And don't take the words from a Duke perspective about it. Our friends at Keeping it Heel agree.
"What happens if Able does stay in the draft?" KIH's Josh Yourish ponders. "Well, catastrophe is a strong word, but it would be pretty close to that for Michael Malone. The move could free up some money to help Malone turn back overseas and find a replacement on the wing, but it’s so late in the process to start that type of recruitment. There aren’t any viable Able replacements left in the portal, and there likely wouldn’t be any available on the international market either. So, unless Malone is interested in shamelessly recruiting a G Leaguer and spending the offseason in eligibility battles with the NCAA, he’d be forced to find the answer on his own roster."
Yourish goes on to state that UNC might be forced to rely on an in-house solution in rising sophomore Isaiah Denis, a former Top 60 recruit who averaged a whopping 1.9 points per game during his freshman season in Chapel Hill.
Denis would represent a significant downgrade from Able and put UNC in a precarious position in a season they need to show genuine progress under Malone to try to beat the allegations that they made a panic hire to avoid missing the beginning of the Transfer Portal window.
With how poorly the roster construction has gone, they may as well have missed the window and waited for Billy Donovan. While Tar Heel fans remain in a state of delusion about it, Able sticking in the draft and poor results on the court next season would quickly wake them up.
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