Michael Malone’s first UNC basketball roster is slowly taking shape, mainly with transfer portal additions and high school recruits.
Arguably Malone’s most important addition is Utah transfer Terrence Brown, who averaged nearly 20 points per game as the best play on a bad Utes team. Chapel Hill native Jarin Stevenson returns for his senior season, while international guys like Alexandros Samodurov bring plenty of talent and potential.
In hopes of filling one additional backcourt spot, the Tar Heels are now targeting Oregon guard Wei Lin. If Lin chooses North Carolina, he’ll provide some much-needed backcourt depth behind Brown and NC State transfer Matt Able.
Lin, who’ll be entering his junior season this fall, averaged 6.6 points and 1.7 assists per game for Dana Altman’s Ducks last season. Lin started 9 of his 30 appearances, recording a career-high 23 points in Oregon’s 88-85 overtime loss to Rutgers on January 5.
UNC’s 2025-26 roster was all about frontcourt production, with projected first-round NBA Draft picks Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar stealing the show. The year before, guys like Elliot Cadeau and Ian Jackson headlined a solid backcourt.
Looking at the Tar Heels’ roster, they have strong positional size across the board. Stevenson, Samodurov, Sayon Keita and Cade Bennerman are all a minimum 6’10”. Brown is 6’3″, Maximo Adams is 6’7″ and Neoklis Avdalas is 6’9″.
The talent is there on paper for North Carolina, but the challenge with teams in today’s college basketball era is new guys gelling. Can UNC add Lin to its roster and turn itself back into a contender?
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