Following a down year for Mike Krzyzewski and his Blue Devils, there was a significant amount of offseason roster movement. Leading scorer and All-ACC forward Matthew Hurt was joined by guard D.J. Steward and forward Jalen Johnson in turning pro after the season, while guard Jordan Goldwire and forwards Henry Coleman and Jaemyn Brakefield transferred out. There are quality pieces that remain. Point guard Jeremy Roach and center Mark Williams showed flashes of potential last season, while forward Wendell Moore is a key veteran. The Blue Devils brought in Marquette transfer Theo John to add depth in the frontcourt, and as always, there’s an elite recruiting class headlined by No. 2 overall forward Paolo Banchero and No. 17 overall wing A.J. Griffin.
The Clef Hangers (also known as the Clefs) are the university's oldest a cappella group, founded by Barry Saunders in 1977.[208][209] The group has since won several Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards (CARAs), including Best Soloist in the song Easy, featured on the 2003 album Breeze. They have won two more CARAs for Best Male Collegiate Songs for My Love on Time Out (2008),[210] and for Ain't Nothing Wrong on Twist (2009).[211] Members have included Brendan James, who graduated in 2002,[212] and Anoop Desai, who graduated in 2008.[209] Since the spring of 2002, the Clef Hangers have sung each year at Commencement. They hold fall and spring concerts, sometimes featuring special guests.
One of the fiercest rivalries is with Durham's Duke University. Located only eight miles from each other, the schools regularly compete in both athletics and academics. The Carolina-Duke rivalry is most intense, however, in basketball.[181] With a combined eleven national championships in men's basketball, both teams have been frequent contenders for the national championship for the past thirty years. The rivalry has been the focus of several books, including Will Blythe's To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever and was the focus of the HBO documentary Battle for Tobacco Road: Duke vs Carolina.[182] Duke was Carolina's biggest rival from the 1930s until the early 1960s, when Duke's declining athletic program shifted Carolina's rival focus to North Carolina State.
Steve Forbes is another ACC coach who was active in the transfer portal this offseason, bringing in Colorado center Dallas Walton, Ole Miss forward Khadim Sy, Oklahoma guard Alondes Williams, Indiana State forward Jake LaRavia and East Tennessee State forward Damari Monsanto, who suffered an Achilles tear this summer. The group will need to provide adequate support for returning leading scorer Davien Williamson (12.9 ppg), junior forward Isaiah Mucious (10.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg) and former Top-100 point guard recruit Carter Whitt if the Demon Deacons hope to climb out of the league cellar.
Basketball coach Dean Smith was widely known for his idea of "The Carolina Way", in which he challenged his players to, "Play hard, play smart, play together."[172] "The Carolina Way" was an idea of excellence in the classroom, as well as on the court. In Coach Smith's book, The Carolina Way, former player Scott Williams said, regarding Dean Smith, "Winning was very important at Carolina, and there was much pressure to win, but Coach cared more about our getting a sound education and turning into good citizens than he did about winning."[173]
The program's first recorded game took place in 1867, when the Tar Heels defeated a Raleigh all-star team, 34-17. Although baseball continued to be played at UNC, there exists a gap in record-keeping during Reconstruction, despite the noted existence of the UNC baseball team. The program's next recorded games were played in 1891. Thereafter, the University sponsored a varsity intercollegiate baseball program on a regular basis from that season onwards.
Marcus Paige has signed with Orléans Loiret in France. Paige has spent the past three seasons in Serbia for KK Partizan, with multiple appearances in the EuroCup. He will be playing in the top-tier of French basketball and has been playing overseas since 2018 after some time in the NBA G-League with the Salt Lake City Stars and the Greensboro Swarm. (Ceiling Is The Roof)
