The college basketball season is officially underway, and we actually have some great games on the schedule of this opening weekend. Friday’s headliner is a matchup of the Blue Bloods, with the Kansas Jayhawks playing a true road game against the North Carolina Tar Heels in Chapel Hill.
Here’s a college basketball pick for Friday’s game between Kansas and North Carolina.
Kansas vs. North Carolina (7:00 p.m. ET on ESPN)
The Jayhawks and Tar Heels meet up for a big ranked matchup in the opening week of the season, after playing this matchup at Allen Fieldhouse on the first Friday night of the season last year. Kansas was No. 1 overall at that time, and jumped out to a 20-point lead at home, but wound up winning the game by just three points.
Now the Tar Heels will look for revenge on their home court. While we have some returning players from last season’s matchup, there’s a lot of turnover on both programs. Most notably, both schools are led by elite freshman play. Darryn Peterson of the Jayhawks is the projected No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft. He’s a smooth wing with natural scoring ability, and dropped 21 points in just 22 minutes in his debut.
On the other side, the Tar Heels landed Caleb Wilson — a versatile big that dropped 22 in his debut on an efficient 8-of-10 shooting. Wilson forms a strong front court with Henri Veesaar, a 7-foot junior that was productive in his first two seasons at Arizona, before transferring.
UNC took some major losses in the backcourt, most notably with RJ Davis finally moving on from college hoops. But Elliot Cadeau surprisingly transferred to Michigan, leaving the Heels in need of some guard play. Seth Trimble returns and steps into a larger role, while Kyan Evans comes over from Colorado State. Evans will be the engine that makes UNC go this season, and finished with 15 points, six rebounds and five assists in 25 minutes in the opener.
Kansas is built around the brilliance of Peterson, but has other weapons too. Flory Bidunga steps into the role of starting center, where he should give productive minutes. Tre White and Melvin Council provide veteran transfers to fill out the Jayhawks’ top end talent.
The reality is that these seem like two pretty even teams. Both of them tested themselves in preseason scrimmages, with Kansas defeating Louisville on the road, and UNC falling by two-points at BYU. I think the Tar Heels have two things working in their favor here, and they go hand-in-hand. Playing at home and having veteran guard play could give UNC the slight edge in this one.
While it’s terrifying to fade Peterson’s talent, I’ll back the Tar Heels as short home favorites to get the job done.
College Basketball Pick: North Carolina Moneyline (-120)
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