North Carolina came almost as close as you possibly could to winning a national championship a season ago. They of course lost in heartbreaking fashion when Villanova’s Kris Jenkins splashed a jumper as the buzzer sounded. As that shot flew through the air, here’s the five-man group UNC had on the floor: Marcus Paige, Joel Berry, Brice Johnson, Justin Jackson and Isaiah Hicks. Two of those guys — Paige and Johnson — are gone, playing basketball professionally nowadays.
On the bench during that final play was one of North Carolina’s most experienced players — Kennedy Meeks. It’s been an interesting three years for Meeks in Chapel Hill; by a lot of metrics, he’s had a very productive career, and the team has experienced great amounts of success while Meeks has been an integral part of their roster: 83 wins, an ACC Championship and a Final Four appearance. He’s played in 104 games (79.8 win percentage) and made 77 starts. During the first week of the 2016-17 season, he’ll eclipse the 1,000 career points benchmark.
However, Meeks missed seven games last season, due to a bone bruise in his left knee, and played just 20.6 minutes per game. It’s tough to knock Meeks for playing fewer minutes; he was recovering from an injury that cost him 20 percent of the season, and his backup — Hicks — is an incredibly good player. Now as a senior, though, the big fella from Charlotte — a former four-star recruit — will need to live up to his billing, and play at an All-ACC level if the Tar Heels are going to make another run at the Final Four.
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