College Basketball Power 10: Kentucky Isn’t The Best
By Jeremy Karll
1. North Carolina (7-0)
North Carolina is a veteran team without a roster full of star freshmen. Therefore, many people forgot about North Carolina before the season, but they’ll quickly be remembered as the Tar Heels are the best team in the nation.
Joel Berry II looks like the best player in the ACC, Justin Jackson is still underrated, and Isaiah Hicks and Kennedy Meeks form one of the deadliest front courts in the nation.
Plus, freshman Tony Bradley found his footing in the Maui Invitational and is averaging 10.7 points per game on 68.3 percent shooting.
In the Maui Invitational, Jawun Evans of Oklahoma State went off for 30 points, but the Cowboys still lost 107-75.
The score doesn’t do justice to how well North Carolina played. Oklahoma State isn’t a bad team, but the Tar Heels sped up the pace and took everyone outside of Evans out of the game.
Then, in the championship game, Wisconsin forced North Carolina to play at a slower tempo. It worked for a while, as both teams played great defense, but the Tar Heels eventually pulled away early in the second half and won 71-56.
The Tar Heels can score and will put up a lot of points if you allow them to play fast, but they proved that they can win at a slower pace, too.
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Joel Berry II and Kennedy Meeks need to keep up their production for the Tar Heels to remain the top team in the country. If it’s not just an early season hot streak from those two, North Carolina looks Final Four bound.
North Carolina travels to Indiana and hosts Radford on Sunday.