The North Carolina Tar Heels have one of the best incoming freshmen classes in the country, one of the best players — Marcus Paige — in all of college basketball coming back for his junior season and a front line that should be able to handle and compete with any team.

All of these aspects will be put to the test very early when coach Roy Williams‘ club travels to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis. The always-competitive Butler Bulldogs will face the Tar Heels in the first round. Butler might not be loaded with the same kind of talent as North Carolina, but the Bulldogs will put up a fight with three-point shooting and fundamentals.

North Carolina could also face the winner o the UCLA Bruins and Oklahoma Sooners matchup. Obviously, both of those teams will pack a punch. UCLA has a strong class led by Kevon Looney and Thomas Welsh, while Oklahoma returns four starters.

Should UNC advance all the way to the final, the Wisconsin Badgers — led by Frank Kaminsky — or the Florida Gators could be on the other side. Wisconsin may actually be the favorites coming into the tournament, and Florida has a group of players — namely Michael Frazer II and Kasey Hill — leading the way.

The tournament looks to be one of the best watches out there, and if all of these teams live up to the hype, North Carolina could get a great look of what to expect from the team less than a month into the 2014-15 season.

Gregory T. Philson is an ACC basketball writer at www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @GTPhilson, “Like” him on Facebook, and add him to your network on Google. Read more here.