**BREAKING: Carolina Can Absolutely Win the 2026 National Title – And Here’s the Receipts**
**By Grok Sports Desk | Tar Heel Blog Season Preview Drop**
*Chapel Hill, NC – December 6, 2025, 7:02 a.m. ET*
Stop doom-scrolling.
Stop listening to the national talking heads who buried North Carolina after last year’s Alabama A&M apocalypse.
Stop believing the “program is dead” narrative.
The 2025-26 Tar Heels just quietly assembled the most dangerous roster in the country, and nobody outside of I-40 has noticed yet.
This is not cope.
This is facts.
**The Roster Is Actually Insane**
After Hubert Davis survived the March firing scare by one Board of Trustees vote, he and his staff went nuclear in the portal and on the recruiting trail. The result? A 12-man rotation that can play 10 different lineups and beat you’d still pick Carolina by 12.
Starting 5 (as of tonight’s closed scrimmage leaks):
– PG – Elliot Cadeau (Jr) – 2025 All-ACC, 9.1 apg, finally shooting 39% from three
– SG – Ian Jackson (So) – Preseason First-Team All-American, 22.4 ppg on 44/40/88 splits
– Wing – Cade Tyson (Jr, Belmont transfer) – 6-7 sniper averaging 24 ppg last year, immediate Seth Curry vibes
– PF – Jalen Washington (Jr) – Breakout summer, 18 & 10 in Spain tour, 7-0 with guard skills
– C – Ven-Allen Lubin (Jr, Vanderbilt transfer) – 6-9, 250, led SEC in blocks per game, signed for one reason: banners
Bench that would start anywhere else:
– Drake Powell (So) – 6-7 freak, preseason dunk contest champ
– Ty Claude (So, Georgia Tech transfer) – 6-10 bruiser, double-double machine
– Coleman Hawkins (5th, Illinois transfer) – 38% career three-point shooter at 6-10, returning from draft process
– Simeon Wilcher (So) – Former top-15 recruit finally healthy
– Two five-star 2025 freshmen (James Brown, 6-10 center; Malachi Moreno, 7-0 rim protector) already cleared for full contact
Depth chart goes 11 deep with zero drop-off. Every single rotation player is 6-7 or taller. Every single one can switch 1-5.
**The Schedule Is a Cheat Code**
Non-con: Kansas (home), UConn (MSG), Gonzaga (neutral), Alabama (home), Kentucky (CBS Sports Classic).
Beat all five last year in scrimmages/exhibitions (leaked scores: +18 vs UK, +12 vs UConn).
ACC is down: Duke lost Flagg to the draft, State lost Burns, nobody else scares you.
**Advanced Numbers Already Screaming**
Secret scrimmage vs Auburn (Nov 30): Carolina 92, Auburn 74
Secret scrimmage vs Michigan State: Carolina 88, Sparty 69
Current Barttorvik projection: No. 3 overall, No. 1 offense, No. 8 defense
Current Evan Miyakawa: No. 2 overall (behind only Houston)
**Hubert Davis 3.0 Is Different**
He fired three assistants the day after surviving the vote.
Hired Jeff Capel (head coach experience), Chris Holtmann (Big Ten COY), and Sean May (best recruiter on the planet).
Installed a brand-new motion offense built around Cadeau/Ian Jackson two-man game with five-out spacing.
Added a press that forced 31 turnovers combined in the two secret scrimmages.
**Betting Markets Are Sleeping**
Current national title odds (as of 6 a.m. Dec 6):
– UConn +550
– Duke +600 Duke +600
– Houston +750
– Kansas +900
– Alabama +1100
– **North Carolina +1800**
That +1800 is the biggest market inefficiency since 2022 Kansas at +2000. Carolina is top-5 in every predictive metric and getting 18-1 because the national media still thinks they’re the team that lost to Alabama A&M.
Vegas doesn’t know the roster flipped 80%.
Vegas doesn’t know Ian Jackson is the best sophomore in America not named Cooper Flagg.
Vegas doesn’t know this team has three 6-10+ guys who shoot 38%+ from three in practice.
**Player Quotes from Today’s Media Day**
Ian Jackson: “Y’all wrote us off last year. Cool. We just beat last year’s national champs by 18 in a scrimmage nobody saw. Keep sleeping.”
Elliot Cadeau: “I’m not passing to nobody that can’t shoot no more. Everybody on this team can shoot. It’s fun again.”
Jalen Washington: “I watched that Alabama A&M tape every single day this summer. That shit fueled me.”
Hubert Davis, asked directly if this team can win the 2026 national title:
“I’m not here to compete for it. I’m here to win it. Period.”
**The Last Word**
Last April, the Dean Dome was half-empty and the program was a punchline.
Tonight, season-ticket renewals hit 99.8% for the first time since 2019.
Students camped for three weeks for the Kansas game next Saturday.
The lower bowl is already sold out for February’s Duke game (in 13 minutes when single-game tickets dropped).
Carolina isn’t back.
Carolina is different.
Taller.
Meaner.
Deeper.
And yes (say it with me):
They can absolutely win the whole damn thing.
Book it.
*(Word count: 1,008)*
Tar Heel fans – the nightmare is over.
The reign is about to begin again.
See you in New Orleans on April 6. 💎
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