As His Roster Comes Into Focus, 2 Keys for Malone’s UNC Debut
By David Glenn
A handful of things already have come into focus regarding the 2026-27 North Carolina basketball team, the program’s first under new head coach Michael Malone.
The Tar Heels will have a heavy international flavor, for example, with rotation players from France (center Maxim Logue), Greece (guard Neo Avdalas) and Mali (center Sayon Keita). Keita has spent the past four years in Spain, with FC Barcelona, one of the top professional basketball clubs in Europe.
The Tar Heels also will be big. One conceivable lineup, for example, will have Avdalas (6-9) at point guard, Matt Able (6-6) and Maximo Adams (6-7) on the wing, Jarin Stevenson (6-10) at forward, and Keita (7-0) at center. The average height of a National Basketball Association player these days is about 6-foot-6, and UNC’s scholarship players project to match or even exceed that number next season.
Carolina also will have plenty of competitors with significant experience, by today’s standards, at the Power Four level. Seven of the 11 players on next year’s projected roster (see below) already have spent at least one full season in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big 12, the Big Ten and/or the Southeastern Conference.
During his first month on the job, Malone has built a roster with enough proven production (e.g., Avdalas, Able, Stevenson, Utah transfer Terrence Brown) and promising talent (i.e., Adams, Keita) for the Tar Heels to be an NCAA Tournament-caliber team again next season.
Then-Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone in the second half of an NBA basketball game in Feb. 2025. (Photo via AP Photo/David Zalubowski.)
In Chapel Hill, of course, making the Big Dance is an expectation. The goal is to be great — to compete for championships — and that part isn’t yet easy to see.
With such things in mind, here are two way-too-early keys to the Tar Heels becoming something better than merely “good” in 2026-27.
1. Malone must create a system, with well-defined roles, that maximizes UNC’s potentially complicated backcourt chemistry.
Avdalas, Brown and Able are individually proven (at the Power Four level) talents who likely will play major roles in UNC’s backcourt rotation next season.
But how well will they — especially Avdalas and Brown, two ball-handlers with very different physical profiles and skill sets — fit together?
Neither the 6-9 Avdalas nor the 6-3 Brown should be considered a “pure point guard” in the Ed Cota mold. Avdalas barely had twice as many assists (142) as turnovers (69) last season at Virginia Tech. Brown, who has played much more on the wing, never has come close to that baseline assist-turnover threshold.
Neither is a true shooter, either. Brown’s career percentage from 3-point territory is less than 30 percent, although it improved to almost 33 percent at Utah last season. Avdalas hit just 31 percent from long range in 2025-26.
While Avdalas is an NBA prospect, his maiden ACC voyage hit a lot of bumps in the road with the Hokies last season, on a team with several other talented players. Veteran Tech coach Mike Young, who led the program to the ACC title in 2022, basically never managed to make the pieces of the puzzle fit together, and Avdalas’ numbers — while solid — reflected the team’s inefficiency overall.
Brown, meanwhile, has been a high-volume scorer on bad teams. His 20-point average last season came with a 10-22 Utah squad that finished last in the 16-team Big 12. He spent the previous two years on losing teams at Fairleigh Dickinson, in the much lower-profile Northeast Athletic Conference, although his nearly 21-point scoring average as a sophomore finished eighth nationally.
There’s definitely significant talent in UNC’s backcourt, but it’s up to Malone and his staff to create an offensive approach that makes sure the pieces fit together.
1. At least two young UNC freshmen will need to grow up very quickly.
One of the ACC’s top freshmen last year, Virginia forward Thijs De Ridder, was 23 years old. A physically and mentally mature, long-time professional from Belgium, he earned first-team All-ACC honors during his initial season with the Cavaliers.
UNC’s top freshmen next season, Adams (a 2026 McDonald’s All-American) and Keita (a projected 2027 first-round NBA pick), are only 18 years old. That typically makes for a more challenging transition to ACC-level basketball.
While it’s a stunning accomplishment for any 18-year-old to compete for FC Barcelona’s top team, as Keita did for stretches last season, it’s also true that he averaged only seven or eight minutes per game in those elite-level Spanish and EuroLeague competitions.
More promisingly, perhaps, while representing Barcelona in Spain’s Under-22 league, Keita posted about nine points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals while averaging less than 20 minutes per game last season. Those solid but unspectacular numbers offer a reminder that, while Keita’s very high NBA draft projections are based mostly on potential, the Tar Heels will need an impactful level of production right away, especially with rebounds and blocked shots.
Similarly, it’s important to remember that not all McDonald’s All-Americans are created equal. Some become ACC stars right away, many take longer to develop, and others simply never live up to the hype at the college level.
Last year, for example, Duke forward Cameron Boozer and UNC forward Caleb Wilson (both members of the 2025 McDonald’s squad) were simply sensational on the NCAA stage, pretty much from the opening tip. Notre Dame guard Jalen Haralson and Louisville guard Mikel Brown Jr. also had strong rookie campaigns, although Brown’s was complicated by recurring injuries.
Duke’s Cayden Boozer and Nik Khamenia, meanwhile, were merely complementary players as college freshmen, after also competing in the McDonald’s game. Cayden Boozer mostly came off the bench for the Blue Devils, and Khamenia served as an eighth man who sometimes barely played at all.
Where will Adams, by reputation a versatile shooter and rebounder with good size on the wing, fall on that McDonald’s scale in his first year with the Tar Heels?
While nobody expects a Boozer/Wilson-type eruption from Adams, given Carolina’s current 11-man scholarship roster, the guard trio of Avdalas, Brown and Able definitely will need considerable help from somewhere, and Malone would get another big first-year boost if Adams proves up to the task.
UNC’s Projected 2026-27 Roster (11 Scholarship Players So Far)
G Terrence Brown (6-3/175), Sr. — HM All-Big 12; 20 ppg, 33% threes (Utah) F Jarin Stevenson* (6-10/215), Sr. — 8 ppg, 4 rpg, 47% FG, 74% FT, 30% threes G Jaydon Young (6-4/200), Sr. — minimal playing time in 2025-26 at UNC C Maxim Logue (6-9/232) , Jr. — 5 ppg, 3 rpg, 67% FG, 15 blocks (FAU) G Matt Able (6-6/205), So. — 9 ppg, 42% FG, 80% FT, 36% threes, 42 steals (NCSU) G Neo Avdalas (6-9/215), So. — 12 ppg, 67% FT, 31% threes, 142/69 ATO (VT) G Isaiah Denis (6-4/180), So. — minimal playing time in 2025-26 at UNC G Maximo Adams (6-7/205), Fr. — top-20 high school senior; McDonald’s A-A F Cade Bennerman (7-0/205), r-Fr. — redshirted 2025-26 season (Northwestern) C Sayon Keita (7-0/215), Fr. — 18-year-old NBA prospect (Mali/FC Barcelona) G Malloy Smith (6-6/190), Fr. — top-300 high school senior
NOTE: UNC is expected to add one or two more scholarship players.
UNC’s 2025-26 Departures (10 Scholarship Players)
G Luka Bogavac*, Jr. — transfer/Oklahoma State C James Brown, So. — transfer/Howard G Derek Dixon, Fr. — transfer/Arizona G Kyan Evans. Jr. — transfer/Minnesota F Zayden High, r-So — transfer/South Florida C Ivan Matlekovic, r-Fr. — transfer/TBD G Jonathan Powell, So. — transfer/Pitt G Seth Trimble*, Sr. — exhausted eligibility C Henri Veesaar*, r-Jr. — early NBA entry F Caleb Wilson*, Fr. — early NBA entry
*—five players with most starts at UNC in 2025-26
David Glenn (DavidGlennShow.com, @DavidGlennShow) is an award-winning author, broadcaster, editor, entrepreneur, publisher, speaker, writer and university lecturer (now at UNC Wilmington) who has covered sports in North Carolina since 1987.
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Holding Court: As His Roster Comes Into Focus, 2 Keys for Malone’s UNC Debut Chapelboro.com.
Hence then, the article about holding court as his roster comes into focus 2 keys for malone s unc debut was published today ( ) and is available on chapelboro ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Holding Court: As His Roster Comes Into Focus, 2 Keys for Malone’s UNC Debut )
Also on site :
- ‘A little touch of luxury, it goes a long way’: Starbucks CEO sees the turn in the turnaround as human touch sings
- What channel is Atletico Madrid v Arsenal Champions League semi-final on? TV coverage, live stream and kick-off time
- Best-Selling Author’s Novel, Ranked ‘Readers’ Favorite Mystery and Thriller,’ Was Built on a Wild Premise