In mid-June, the rest of the college basketball world outside of Chapel Hill, North Carolina let out a collective sigh of relief when Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson, and Danny Green announced they would return to Carolina for the 2008-2009 campaign.

One would probably have to go back to the 1990s to remember a time where a team came into a college basketball season as such a prohibitive title favorite.  Heck, many had last year’s Tarheel team—the tournament’s overall number one seed—winning it all in their brackets.

They have all the pieces to not only win the '09 trophy, but to do so in dominating fashion from start to finish.  It’s easy to imagine Tyler Hansbrough and company blowing out ranked teams next year, assuming Hansbrough can contain himself from jumping off any more frat house roofs and getting hurt.

In scanning the horizon for a worthy foil, I see one team that could potentially give UNC a run for their money were they to meet in Motown next April.  But for as much as UNC is a sure thing, this squad has a ton of question marks—ones that if not answered could leave them well short of Detroit.

This summer probably has a bit different feel for Jim Calhoun—to say nothing of his bout with skin cancer—than the summers of '98 and '03.  Coming into those would-be championship seasons, his UConn squads were not only talented, but also proven based on strong NCAA runs in the preceding seasons.

Sure, it’s only been three seasons since UConn was a legitimate heavyweight, but the mass exodus after the 2006 season took a toll on the program, as evidenced by the tumultuous 2007 season.

It speaks volumes of Calhoun, his staff, and the cachet of the Uconn program that you can legitimately bring them into the discussion about being Carolina’s chief roadblock just two years after a season where they didn’t even qualify for the NIT.

The most pressing question coming into this year will be the health of their heart and soul, A.J.  Price.  Price—a sportswriter's dream due to his unique combination of transcendent on-court talent and unbelievable off-court dramas—is currently rehabbing from the horrific knee injury he suffered during last year’s first round upset loss to San Diego in the NCAA tournament.

All signs are good so far that a full recovery will happen in time for meaningful action, but you never really know how a player will react coming back from a serious injury until he’s back in the heat of the battle.  But seeing how he came back from a near-death experience, only a fool would bet against this young man capping his incredible UConn story with a glorious run to the Final Four.

The second question I see is, how will this team gel?  It’s unusual for a Final Four contender to have three prized recruits from just two years ago jet the program after their sophomore years, but that’s what happened to the Huskies.

Stanley Robinson has left the program for personal reasons, while Doug Wiggins and Curtis Kelly have opted to transfer (Wiggins to UMass and Kelly to Kansas State) for a chance to play more.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?