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You know the old joke about how you can’t tell the players without a scorecard?
That’s never been more true than it is now with college basketball rosters. Take the Triangle for instance, as this article from WRAL shows.
Duke alone sees DJ Steward, Matthew Hurt, Jalen Johnson, Jaemyn Brakefield, Patrick Tapé, Jordan Goldwire and Henry Coleman depart, along with little-used Mike Buckmire.
UNC loses Day’Ron Sharpe, Andrew Platek, KJ Smith, Walker Kessler, Garrison Brooks, Sterling Manley and Walker Miller.
And the Wolfpack?
NC State loses seniors DJ Funderburk and Devon Daniels although neither has made it official, Shakeel Moore, Braxton Beverly, Nick Farrar and Max Farthing.
We’ve talked a lot about the Duke players of course, so let’s just look at the departing players from UNC and State.
At UNC the losses start at the top with Ol’ Roy Williams stepping down.
We had a lot of respect for Garrison Brooks, who turned himself into a solid player and certainly saw the potential in Kessler and Sharpe. UNC had four really, really good big men last year and they’re all gone except for Bacot. Our hunch is that new coach Hubert Davis will put a lot more emphasis on versatility or at least versatile big men.
As for State, we were never huge fans of DJ Funderburk, who once tried to drive his car away from an NC State parking garage despite having all four wheels booted. Yet he said at one point he wouldn’t back down to Zion Williamson and he didn’t, so props to him.
Daniels was a tough out and we thought Moore had a great future at State. Sadly, that’s not to be.
So what about the new guys?
Again, we’ve talked a lot about Duke’s new players so we’ll give that a miss here. We’ll be curious what State does with Virginia Casey Morell - and how he plays with a bit more freedom. The Pack also brings in well-regarded freshmen Ernest Ross (6-9), Terquavion Smith(6-3) and Breon Pass (6-0).
As for UNC, Hubert Davis brings in 6-9 Oklahoma transfer Brady Manek, 6-8 Virginia transfer Justin McKoy and freshmen Dontrez Styles, who is 6-7 and 6-4 D’Marco Dunn, who graduated high school in North Carolina but came here from Tucson.