UNC Basketball: Tar Heels' Biggest Concerns Ahead of Conference Play

At its best, North Carolina is one of the top college basketball teams in the nation, although this doesn't mean it is without issues.

The Tar Heels are off to an 8-2 start to the year, which is disappointing for the No. 1 team in the preseason polls but far from a reason to sound the alarm. The squad has one of the top scoring guards in the nation in Marcus Paige, an elite playmaker in the post in Brice Johnson as well as a deep roster of contributors who can carry the team for long stretches.

A highly efficient offense and dominant rebounding group make this a difficult team to beat.

Of course, North Carolina is far from perfect as it completes its nonconference season. Heading into the ACC portion of the schedule, there are a few concerns which could hold the team back if they aren't solved.

While they remain in great shape going forward, here are a few notable issues surrounding the Tar Heels.

Frontcourt Depth

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Losing a starter of any kind is never ideal, especially someone as talented as Kennedy Meeks. The junior will reportedly miss at least two weeks with a knee injury after averaging 12.3 points and 7.4 rebounds in the first nine games.

If any team can handle this loss, though, it's North Carolina.

Brice Johnson proved he can handle the scoring load with 25 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Tulane. This was his sixth double-double in 10 games this season, and he has scored at least 10 points in every contest.

Isaiah Hicks has also shown plenty of ability off the bench this year as a versatile scorer who shows plenty of energy defensively.

The question is whether North Carolina can trust its other options. Joel James started in Meeks' place on Wednesday but is often a liability offensively. Freshman Luke Maye has also struggled to get consistent minutes earlier in the season and can be forced into action without being ready.

Even if the team can survive without Meeks, it is clearly better with the junior in the lineup and will hope he can return as soon as possible. The longer he is out, the greater the concern for the big man.

Perimeter Defense

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When North Carolina wants to play with intensity on the perimeter, it can have a tough defense. Tulane shot just 4-of-17 from three-point range, while Davidson was held to just 8-of-31 from beyond the arc 10 days earlier.

The problem is this hasn't been there all season long.

Even after Tulane's struggles, opposing teams have hit 37.4 percent from deep against North Carolina. This isn't acceptable for an average team, let alone one expected to contend for a national championship.

Texas certainly took advantage while hitting 12 of 24 shots from beyond the arc. This wasn't just luck either. It was a combination of slow rotations, missed assignments and flat-out laziness.

The ACC has a lot of teams that can really shoot the ball between Notre Dame, Duke, Miami and others. If UNC just lets them take any shot they want, this could lead to a lot of losses.

Road Woes

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It's obviously a small sample size, but so far, North Carolina is 0-2 in true road games this season. While some shrugged off the early-season loss to Northern Iowa without Marcus Paige, the second defeat at the hands of Texas is certainly concerning.

If this was a young team full of freshmen like Duke or Kentucky, this wouldn't be as much of an issue because you know they would improve with experience.

However, North Carolina has one of the more veteran teams in the nation with nine returning players from last year's rotation.

Nerves are not an excuse for this group.

Texas and Northern Iowa have quality teams, but things are going to get a lot harder in the ACC season with hostile environments like Duke, North Carolina State and others throughout the schedule. If North Carolina can't get over these early issues, it could be a serious problem.

Top-Heavy ACC

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College basketball is a sport where you want your regular-season competition to be as tough as possible to prepare you for the postseason. However, this is not ideal when you are hoping to win a conference title.

The ACC is always expected to be one of the top conferences in the nation, although this year was expected to be a bit down compared to last season. With Duke losing a lot of its talent from its national title team, UNC was the media's clear favorite to win the conference with only Virginia as a reasonable challenger.

This has not been the case, with a bunch of teams exceeding early expectations. Although every squad has had its mistakes, KenPom.com rates five different ACC squads among the top 12 in the nation as well as five ACC offenses among the top seven.

Not all of these teams have proved themselves this season, but in a predictive stat model, they are all expected to be among the country's elite as the year progresses.

All of a sudden, the Tar Heels don't have as easy a path to an ACC Championship as originally anticipated.

You can bet head coach Roy Williams and the entire team would prefer a strong conference to a weak one, but the next few months will be a serious grind.

Lack of Physicality

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This is something that's difficult to define in stats, but it is clear the Tar Heels have lacked intensity in big games this season.

ESPN.com's Jay Bilas summed up the issue with the playing style by writing, "North Carolina is talented and experienced but altogether too nice on the floor. Once Carolina decides to start street-fighting instead of playing by Marquess of Queensberry rules, this could be a title team."

Texas was clearly the more physical team in its upset win, pulling down 16 offensive rebounds while limiting North Carolina to just four. Cameron Ridley used his strength to simply bully UNC in the low post.

The Tar Heels will see a lot more physical players over the course of the season, including Tony Parker in the upcoming battle against UCLA. The ACC season will feature a lot more tough players who can cause problems in the post.

North Carolina needs to be able to match this in order to reach its potential this season.

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