There are times when a preview of UNC's sophomores would have entailed mostly, if not entirely, players that we'd seen some amount of as first-year players, hoping to establish themselves with bigger roles with a year of strength and conditioning and practice experience under their belts. Due to a combination of a coaching change and the era of player movement we find ourselves within, this is not one of those times. I'm not sure there's any particular significance to the class status that the below-mentioned four players share, other than that they're relatively, but not entirely, new to college basketball. The Ancient Greek roots of the word come to mind: sophos, for wisdom (like in "sophistry," but minus the negative part), and moros, for foolishness (like in "moron"). A state of being that has begun to gain wisdom, but has not yet shed its youthful ignorance. Michael Malone has four players for whom this year represents various different stages of their basketball journeys, all collected under his umbrella. It'll be his task, and theirs, to make them a little more basketball-smart and a little less basketball-dumb.
The lone returning Tar Heel among the bunch, Denis didn't play essentially any meaningful minutes last year for Hubert Davis, the apparent reason being, as I recall, that a preseason injury had put him behind the 8-ball as far as learning the defensive sets, schemes, and communication that Davis had needed from him. In his garbage time minutes, he immediately stood out for his motor, a good-looking jump shot, and for simply being at another level — maybe half a level — skill- and athleticism-wise from the end-of-bench guys who joined him. Michael Malone apparently got some looks at him in last year's practices even before doing his evaluations as UNC's coach, and was impressed enough to give him the opportunity to stay in Chapel Hill — and early returns are that he's going to play a significantly bigger role for the Heels this year than he did last winter.
The scouting report on Denis coming in was that of a high-motor player with a sweet shooting stroke whose body hadn't quite filled out enough to either defend at a high level or find reliable offense inside the arc — similar in a lot of ways to his then-classmate, Derek Dixon, though less of a passer and probably fleeter of foot. Based on limited looks this preseason, the bones of that scout remain true. Denis shot the ball well and confidently against Southern California before cooling off against Charlotte, but both teams successfully hunted him on defense. He does seem to be playing more intentionally as a playmaker, though he's not always comfortable with the ball in his hands — this, and a couple of lapses in focus, led to a couple of bad turnovers against Charlotte.
If there's anybody here for whom that classic sophomore story can be true, it's Denis. I expect him to be one of UNC's primary backcourt energy guys, as long as he can knock down a jumper or two per game. He's going to need to be able to stand his ground against opposing guards to really take the next step in his game, but he's shown that he can be enough of an offensive weapon to help this team out in spurts.
Maybe the highest-profile recruitment that Malone won in his first offseason as UNC's head coach was that of Avdalas, who had entered college ball amid quite a bit of fanfare among people with their eyes on future NBA prospects. As a freshman at Virginia Tech, he showed flashes of the traits that had made him such an interesting prospect — primarily, high-level court vision and passing ability at a listed 6'9 — but was a little too inefficient as a shooter and scorer, and too inconsistent on defense, to be ready for the NBA after a year, and thus entered the portal and eventually committed to Malone and the Tar Heels for the chance at improving his game and preparing him properly for the next level — and with any luck, helping UNC to a successful season while he's at it.
Avdalas' size, theoretically, gives him a lot of room for error. Just by being bigger than most opposing perimeter players, he can make their life hard as a defender without being tremendously instinctual or physical on that end, and that height helps him find rebounds without needing to clear that much space as well. In three games of preseason action, he's appeared more willing and able to use that size on the defensive end than he did as a Hokie; for just one example, he averaged just over 3 rebounds a game in Blacksburg but has been much more active on the glass as a sophomore.
But his calling card is on offense. Regardless of size or position, Avdalas is one of the best playmakers in the country, able to see the entire court and manipulate defenses with his eyes and hands. Whether it's making easy passes with the right timing and precision, or making flashier passes to create advantages for his teammates, he finds ways to get his team buckets. He averaged nearly 5 assists a game last year playing mostly off the ball, and that was the one aspect of his game that didn't fall off a cliff in conference play. He has a functional handle, though not quite an ideal one for somebody who's handled a lot of point guard minutes in exhibition action, and again can use his size against smaller guards and wings to either create easy layups past them or shoot over them, if they respect his jump shot. He was only a 31% shooter from deep last season, and worse than that in ACC play, and that sunk basically the rest of his scoring ability. Unofficially as a Heel, he's 3/9 through 3 games, which is better, but not enough so to be sure that he'll stay better than last year's numbers.
Avdalas is going to handle a heavy load for this year's Tar Heels. He's not the only player for whom it's true, but that doesn't make it any less so — if UNC is going to have a successful season, Neo Avdalas improving as a shooter and learning to really defend is going to have a lot to do with it.
The past few years had seen a couple of basketball transfers from UNC to N.C. State, but I believe Able is the first in the modern era to go in the other direction. It's more understandable than usual with both schools changing head coaches this past season, but it's still a little strange from a fan perspective.
Able was a very capable sixth man for the Wolfpack last year, averaging 8.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.2 steals in 22 minutes per game. He rode that season to an NBA Combine invite that seemed to generate at least a little interest in him as a prospect before he affirmed his decision to come to Chapel Hill and show he could scale up that production in a more featured role. He profiles as a pretty prototypical 3-and-D wing, listed at 6'5 with a reported 6'8 wingspan. Averaging 1.2 steals in 22 minutes is no joke, and there are plenty of examples of him harassing ballhandlers and getting in passing lanes if you check out the tape. He shot about 36% from three on 4 attempts per game — reasonable efficiency and pretty dang impressive volume for a freshman in relatively limited minutes. Malone would be more than happy to see that number remain stable at, say, 6.5 or so attempts a game, and it's not even out of the question that it improves with the college game slowing down a little.
If the early looks are any indication, Malone and UNC might be asking him to play more with the ball in his hands than he did in Raleigh. So far, that hasn't been one of his strengths, as he gets flustered easily by ball pressure and compiled as many turnovers as assists as a freshman. He has some flashes, especially when he can pass with his left hand, but he's best suited playing off the ball and I think that's where he'll find the most comfort. I do think there's more of a three-level scorer hiding in there. He's not particularly athletic, but he's got some wiggle to him and his ambidextrous finishing ability is a pretty big asset.
With precious few proven shooters on this roster, Able's floor spacing is going to be mightily important for UNC this year. He had an awful first exhibition against USC and a decent one against Indiana, so I've got less of a handle on what he's going to look like in Carolina Blue than for the two previous. But at the very least, having a reliable 3-and-D player is always going to help a team.
Bennerman redshirted his first year of college basketball, sitting on the bench for the Wildcats of Northwestern. In years past, this would make him a redshirt freshman, but I guess with the 5-for-5 rule in effect, there's no reason to call anybody a "redshirt" anything. The center is listed at 7'0, 205 pounds, joining Sayon Keita and Alex Samodurov as slight post players on this year's UNC roster. He's a developmental prospect, at best a year away from really contributing — again, sounding more like a redshirt freshman than a sophomore. He made a couple of nice plays around the basket in a Northwestern exhibition this time a year ago, but also obviously needed time in the weight room before being able to play even close to adequate defense in the post. That will be part of Malone and Sean May's project this season and going into next as they try to build not just this team, but a program.
