Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports
The North Carolina Tar Heels will have to earn their ranking in the 2013-14 college basketball season. The Tar Heels will have some very tough games on the schedule–as usual.
North Carolina is scheduled to play Michigan State and Kentucky. This team will, of course, have other games on its non-conference schedule, but these two are arguably the toughest. There is always that one rivalry game in conference play on the season that happens twice a year, though, against Duke–could be the toughest test of the season.
Michigan State is basically returning the same team. You know, the same team that earned a No. 3 seed in the 2013 NCAA Tournament. Kentucky, on the other hand, did not even make the dance this past year, but their recruiting class is being regarded as the best ever by many people.
So, both of those teams will clearly enter the season with some pretty high expectations. Luckily for North Carolina, it will enter the season with some pretty high expectations as well. It is returning the top two leading scorers, a very good point guard, some role players that could play big minutes and a good recruiting class is coming in. Combine that with the name North Carolina and you will have a top 10 team entering the season.
However, the Tar Heels will have to win some out-of-conference games–including the big games–to keep their top 10 ranking. It would be quite the feat to beat both of of the teams mentioned above, but it is certainly not impossible. There is a chance that North Carolina will also have to play Louisville, who has the chance to repeat as national champions.
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