Tar Heels Basketball: 5 Questions UNC Must Answer to Win It All in 2011-12

North Carolina is the preseason No. 1 in most men's college basketball media polls.

The Tar Heels are loaded with talent, experience and depth. UNC made a deep run in last year's NCAA tournament and is poised to make a serious bid to cut down the nets in New Orleans at the end of this season.

That said, being poised and being a champion are two different things. Here are five questions that Roy Williams and the North Carolina Tar Heels must answer if they are going to win it all in 2011-12...

1. Will Teams Employ a Hack-a-Henson Strategy This Season?

John Henson is one of the nation's premiere post players.

He is a dynamic double-double dude.

But, for some reason, he can't hit his free throws.

Last season, Henson connected on only 48 percent from the charity stripe, averaging around 4 FTs per game.

Will the Tar Heels' opponents start to put the Big Guy on the line over and over again, taking their chances with his less-than-stellar shooting?

Or will Roy need to take Henson out of games to prevent this from happening?

Either way, UNC would be forced to adjust.

2. Will Reggie Bullock Find His Fantastic Shooting Touch?

Reggie Bullock arrived on campus last year with an impressive high school hoops' resume.

Many people believed that he was going to be the sharp-shooting running mate for Harrison Barnes.

Unfortunately, Bullock struggled in the early going of last season, shooting 36.7 percent from the field and less than 30 percent from beyond the arc.

And, before he could work through some of his shooting woes, Bullock was out for the season with a knee injury from which he is just fully recovering.

If Bullock can re-discover his silky smooth touch, that could be one of the missing pieces to the Tar Heels' championship puzzle for this season.

If he does not, Roy will be forced to look else where for someone who can shoot over the inevitable zones that UNC will see throughout the year.

3. Will Teams Force Kendall Marshall to Put Up More Shots?

Kendall Marshall is a cool customer.

He did an excellent job of running the Tar Heels' show after being inserted into the starting lineup in mid-season.

Marshall is a great play-maker and distributor to his Carolina teammates.

Opposing coaches may try to force Marshall into more of a shooters' role this year.

The sophomore point guard put up less than five shots per game, connecting on less than 38 percent of his three's and only 69 percent of his free throws.

If Marshall can improve his shooting numbers, that will take one more option away from his opponents and will help establish him as a complete player.

If he struggles, he may be left open to prove that he can consistently knock down shots.

4. Are There Enough Minutes to Keep All the Shooting Guards Happy?

Dexter Strickland (pictured) averaged 27 minutes per game last season. His playing time increased when Reggie Bullock went down to injury.

With Bullock recovering and highly-touted freshman SG P.J. Hairston arriving on campus, things are a little congested at the 2.

And that is with Leslie MacDonald being out for the season with a knee-injury.

It is possible that Strickland could slide over some to back-up Kendall Marshall at the point. And Bullock could pick up some PT behind Harrison Barnes.

Nice problem to have, but this could still be an issue that jumps up this season.

There are only so many minutes to go around on the Tar Heels' perimeter.

Will everyone get enough minutes to be happy? Stay tuned.

5. Is Harrison Barnes Ready to Take on the Full-Time Go-to Role?

As far as we know, Harrison Barnes didn't ask to be named to the AP preseason All-American team last year as an incoming freshman.

But when that happened, the already sky-high expectations for him got even higher.

Barnes didn't blow everyone away in the first half of the season. In fact, most of the knee-jerk reactions that came in November and December questioned whether he was worthy of all of his high-school honors.

Once mid-January rolled around (and Kendall Marshall was inserted as PG), Barnes started to perform in a manner that not only satisfied most of the Tar Heels fans but gained him the respect of most of the college basketball community.

The question this year is: Can Barnes be that guy for which Roy Williams can confidently draw up the play with four seconds on the clock? Is he the cold-blooded player that can deliver the winning blow at the end of close ball games?

All signs at the end of last season seemed to point that Barnes was moving toward that type of role.

Can the 6'8" sophomore from Ames, Iowa elevate his game so that he can step up when Carolina needs to finish an opponent off?

The Tar Heels hope so.