This might seem like a weird question to ask considering North Carolina lost two of its top three scorers from last season's team that was good enough to play for the national title, including All-American Brice Johnson, but I'll ask it anyway: Is UNC even better this season? And this might also seem like a strange question to ask considering Kentucky is ranked No. 1, loaded with lottery picks and killing everybody, but I'll ask it anyway: Is North Carolina actually the nation's best team right now?
My answer to both questions is ... maybe.
And the idea alone that both questions can reasonably be asked three weeks into this season -- and in advance of the Tar Heels' Wednesday night showdown with Indiana at Assembly Hall -- speaks volumes about how impressive Roy Williams' team has been while building a 7-0 record. UNC has won each of its games by at least 15 points and, on average, the Tar Heels are winning by 27.3 points per contest. They beat Chattanooga 97-57, Oklahoma State 107-75 and Wisconsin 71-56. They're one of only two teams that currently have an offensive and defensive efficiency rating that both rank in the top six, according to KenPom. Kentucky is the other.
"I'm not going to go ahead and [already] make my reservations for the Final Four," Williams, the Hall of Fame coach with two national championships, said after winning the Maui Invitational. "I don't even know where the hell it is."
It's in Arizona, Roy.
The 2017 Final Four is in Glendale, Ariz.
And, no, I can't promise the Tar Heels will be there any more than anybody else can promise Kentucky or Villanova or Kansas or Duke will be there, if only because a single-elimination tournament of 40-minute games is not the simplest thing to predict. But does North Carolina have a really good chance? Man, it sure looks like it.
"The pieces just seem to be fitting together perfectly at this point," said Andrew Carter, who covers UNC for The Raleigh News & Observer. "It's early and that can change -- and tougher competition is ahead, starting at Indiana -- but this is my sixth season covering these guys, and I haven't seem them play so well, so early."
I reached out to Carter -- plus Raleigh radio hosts Adam Gold and Joe Ovies -- because they're three smart guys who live in the area and have been watching North Carolina up close for years. For what it's worth, Carter and Gold both said they think this team is better than last season's team. And though Ovies was hesitant to say that exactly, he did say this: "Here's where I'll say this year's UNC's squad is better than last year's: they're a tougher team. ... You see it in how they play defense. And all of that goes through Joel Berry. Everyone around here loved Marcus [Paige]; you know that. However, I think everyone also agreed the transition to it being Berry's team happened during the ACC Tournament last season. I can't say enough about him."
That seems to be true across the board because Berry is having one of the great breakthrough seasons in college basketball. The 6-foot junior is averaging a team-high 17.1 points, a team-high 4.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds while shooting 55.1 percent from the field and 47.1 percent from 3-point range. Those are amazing statistics. But Berry's impact is bigger than his numbers. He's taken complete ownership of the backcourt, and his teammates are feeding off him and following his lead.
The result has been ... domination.
"I have an unhealthy love for Berry," Gold said. "Plays point guard like a strong safety."
Simply put, the Tar Heels are a talented team -- there are six McDonald's All-Americans on the roster -- that's also experienced, both in years and big-game situations. They're third in offensive efficiency and sixth in defensive efficiency. They're making 54.7 percent of their 2-point attempts, 40.0 percent of their 3-point attempts and grabbing 46.6 percent of their own misses. So when a UNC shot doesn't go in, there's a decent chance UNC will just grab it and shoot it again.
Which brings me back to the original questions:
• Is this season's UNC team better than last season's team?
• Is UNC, right now, college basketball's best team?
Again, I'll go with maybe and maybe.
And, just so we're clear, my answers won't change even if North Carolina loses at Indiana late Wednesday because there's nothing crazy about the nation's best team losing at Indiana. It's happened before, you know?
That said, here's the truth: I am, at this point, leaning more toward yes than no on the first question, and I'm only going with maybe on the second out of respect for the undefeated and reigning national champions (Villanova), and because I just watched Kentucky murder Arizona State by 46 points on national television.
Kentucky is strong, strong, strong.
And UK has better NBA talent than UNC.
But what the Tar Heels might lack in lottery picks, they make up for with experience and cohesiveness. And, like I mentioned, it's not like North Carolina is just a scrappy bunch of overachievers. There are six McDonald's All-Americans on the roster -- among them Kennedy Meeks, the senior big who is averaging a double-double.
Bottom line, Roy Williams has something special here.
The Tar Heels might not win the national title.
That's hard to do.
But they could. They absolutely could.
And that seems clear already.
