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University of North Carolina Athletics
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Lucas: Nonconference Schedule Rapid Reactions
June 13, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Some quick thoughts on a challenging slate.
By Adam Lucas
1. One thing is for certain--this is a schedule unlike any in Carolina history. Because the season opener is against ACC opponent Notre Dame (almost every word of that sentence would've caused a doubletake ten years ago), the format is naturally going to be a little different.Â
2. And as you can always expect from Roy Williams, he doesn't make it easy for himself. As soon as the Tar Heels finish with the Irish, they hit the road to play at UNC-Wilmington, part of a series against former Carolina assistant C.B. McGrath. Opening the season with a conference game followed by a true road game is a challenging start.
3. You also have to keep in mind that it's hard to know exactly how everything fits together because there's still an ACC game to be put on the calendar before January. The Tar Heels won't know that date, opponent or location until the conference announces the league schedule later this summer.Â
4. There are two likely marquee parts of the nonconference slate. The first comes over Thanksgiving, when Carolina will participate in the Battle 4 Atlantis, which has done a solid job positioning itself as the Eastern version of the Maui Invitational. The field is stacked, including Gonzaga, Michigan, Oregon, Seton Hall, Alabama, Southern Miss and Iowa State. It's entirely possible that a good team could leave that event 0-3.
5. But that may not be the toughest part of the nonconference schedule, because in mid-December Carolina makes a visit to Gonzaga on Dec. 18, then stops in Las Vegas on the way home to play UCLA on Dec. 21 in the CBS Sports Classic. There are almost certainly other major head coaches wondering why in the world Williams would agree to play a game at Gonzaga--the answer is because that's the way Williams has always scheduled.
6. Another takeaway from the list of 2019-20 nonconference games--there sure aren't many of them. That's what happens when you play 20 league games. Williams has consistently said the casualty of increased conference responsibilities could be series like the UNC-Gonzaga matchup. It will be interesting to see what happens to those games in future seasons. The Tar Heels are always going to be highly sought-after for the high-wattage Thanksgiving tournaments, and there's a definite attraction in playing in events like the CBS Sports Classic. Put that together with 20 ACC games and you've got a home nonconference schedule that only has five dates.
7. The visits to Gonzaga and Vegas will mark the fourth straight year Carolina has played a regular season game in the Pacific time zone. To put a little context on that in terms of how much college basketball has changed, in the eight seasons before Williams returned to Carolina, the Tar Heels played exactly one regular season game in the Pacific time zone.
8. Don't ignore that home game with Ohio State. Slipped in there between the Bahamas and the West Coast trip, it may not get much attention. But the Buckeyes are just outside the top-ten in ESPN's latest top 25 projection (by the way, this schedule is loaded with teams that make an appearance on that list). It may not have quite the pregame hype of the classic 2006 matchup between the Tar Heels and Buckeyes--a 7 vs. 3 showdown won 98-89 by UNC--but it could be just as good.Â
1. One thing is for certain--this is a schedule unlike any in Carolina history. Because the season opener is against ACC opponent Notre Dame (almost every word of that sentence would've caused a doubletake ten years ago), the format is naturally going to be a little different.Â
2. And as you can always expect from Roy Williams, he doesn't make it easy for himself. As soon as the Tar Heels finish with the Irish, they hit the road to play at UNC-Wilmington, part of a series against former Carolina assistant C.B. McGrath. Opening the season with a conference game followed by a true road game is a challenging start.
3. You also have to keep in mind that it's hard to know exactly how everything fits together because there's still an ACC game to be put on the calendar before January. The Tar Heels won't know that date, opponent or location until the conference announces the league schedule later this summer.Â
4. There are two likely marquee parts of the nonconference slate. The first comes over Thanksgiving, when Carolina will participate in the Battle 4 Atlantis, which has done a solid job positioning itself as the Eastern version of the Maui Invitational. The field is stacked, including Gonzaga, Michigan, Oregon, Seton Hall, Alabama, Southern Miss and Iowa State. It's entirely possible that a good team could leave that event 0-3.
5. But that may not be the toughest part of the nonconference schedule, because in mid-December Carolina makes a visit to Gonzaga on Dec. 18, then stops in Las Vegas on the way home to play UCLA on Dec. 21 in the CBS Sports Classic. There are almost certainly other major head coaches wondering why in the world Williams would agree to play a game at Gonzaga--the answer is because that's the way Williams has always scheduled.
6. Another takeaway from the list of 2019-20 nonconference games--there sure aren't many of them. That's what happens when you play 20 league games. Williams has consistently said the casualty of increased conference responsibilities could be series like the UNC-Gonzaga matchup. It will be interesting to see what happens to those games in future seasons. The Tar Heels are always going to be highly sought-after for the high-wattage Thanksgiving tournaments, and there's a definite attraction in playing in events like the CBS Sports Classic. Put that together with 20 ACC games and you've got a home nonconference schedule that only has five dates.
7. The visits to Gonzaga and Vegas will mark the fourth straight year Carolina has played a regular season game in the Pacific time zone. To put a little context on that in terms of how much college basketball has changed, in the eight seasons before Williams returned to Carolina, the Tar Heels played exactly one regular season game in the Pacific time zone.
8. Don't ignore that home game with Ohio State. Slipped in there between the Bahamas and the West Coast trip, it may not get much attention. But the Buckeyes are just outside the top-ten in ESPN's latest top 25 projection (by the way, this schedule is loaded with teams that make an appearance on that list). It may not have quite the pregame hype of the classic 2006 matchup between the Tar Heels and Buckeyes--a 7 vs. 3 showdown won 98-89 by UNC--but it could be just as good.Â
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