Where UNC basketball lands in very early ESPN Bracketology

Sports fans are gearing up for the 2026 college football season that begins this weekend, but we aren't far away from college basketball starting either. In just a few months, the college basketball season will be here and for the North Carolina Tar Heels, they are entering year one of the Michael Malone era .

There are still a lot of questions left to be answered for the Tar Heels and we could get a feel for how things are going to go early on. Right now, many believe the Tar Heels are at least a tournament team, and if they don't make it, this season would be a huge disappointment.