North Carolina basketball 2014-15 season preview

Overview: If the Tar Heels can survive the program’s current off-the-court academic scandal, then they should be in good shape to make a deep postseason run. North Carolina opens at No. 6 in the AP Poll, and will instantly be in the race for the ACC title. The Tar Heels return three starters, as well as four of their top six leading scorers, and will hope to improve on last year’s third-place finish in the country’s most top-heavy conference.

North Carolina returns leading scorer and ACC Preseason Player of the Year Marcus Paige, who averaged 17.5 points per game last season on 44 percent field goal shooting. If the junior can maintain this production while getting his teammates involved more efficiently than he has in the past, Roy Williams’ typically high-scoring offense will be very difficult to stop.

Forwards Brice Johnson and J.P. Tokoto return after averaging a combined 19.6 points and 11.9 rebounds per game last season, and will look to replace the gap in production left by the early departure of star forward James Michael McAdoo.

Although the loss of McAdoo seems damaging, his production should be easily replaced by Johnson, big man Kennedy Meeks and the nation’s third-best recruiting class, according to ESPN. The group is headlined by heralded No. 8 recruit Justin Jackson. The five-star forward boasts a 6-foot-8 frame and a feathery touch on his jump shot that allows him to play almost exclusively on the perimeter. Jackson is joined by the No. 10 overall recruit, Theo Pinson, and No. 17 Joel Berry. Berry, a point guard, has an excellent feel for the game and should provide instant relief on the bench in his first season as he learns from Paige. Pinson, a Greensboro, N.C., native, will fit in nicely with the Tar Heels’ deep rotation of athletic wings that can play inside and out.