The Celebration is On and Continues in Chapel Hill:What does the future hold???

North Carolina wins the 2017 NCAA Basketball Championship last night in Phoenix, Arizona and after the 71-65 victory, a few questions and thoughts begin to roll in, as the Celebration is On and Continues in Chapel Hill…

The Heels finished much better last night than they did on Saturday vs. Oregon……On Saturday, the game almost got away from the Heels, due to those missed free throws, but last night Carolina finished with a flurry, to top the Gonzaga Bulldogs….

With the win and now as they soak it all in, we do have a few questions, as we look back and look ahead, to what the future may hold, for the North Carolina Tar Heels…

First off, what did that sign or whatever Theo Pinson was holding up, what was he holding up and what was its meaning and what was it and he telling us? Whatever it is can be seen in the photo of today News and Record, and from the photo, I can’t tell if that is a sign, a T-shirt, or something else with some hidden meaning…Just curious and I was watching last night when UNC the team was on the Big Stage, on CBS TV, with Jim Nantz and Theo was holding up something there, but I can’t for the life me, tell what it is/was…..

Now on to more serious matters….

How many Tar Heels will return to help defend their 2017 Title next college basketball season?? They said last night that Roy Williams, now with three National Championships, is 66 years old, the same age Coach Dean Smith was when he retired….I don’t see Roy Williams stopping for another 10 years, unless his health were to force him to quit….Looks he has the energy to keep going for it all, for several more seasons..

On the other hand, as far as the players go, it sure looks like the team will look much different next year, than they did at the end of this year, as they hoisted the big NCAA Championship plaque up into the air, after the victory last night…

Kennedy Meeks, Isaiah Hicks and Nate Britt are all seniors and their time is done and they won on their way out….If you base the MVP Award on the semifinal and the final games, taking Saturday and Monday into consideration, I thought Meeks should have been the MVP….

Meeks, Hicks and Britt gone….

Justin Jackson and Joel Berry II are both juniors, but will they be back??? I would think no, that they would go, pro and they would not return to UNC, for their senior seasons…..Jackson looked it over last year and with what he did overall this season, his stock is high enough you would think, to make him a high NBA Draft pick….Berry should probably look to check out too, since it will hard for him to raise his game any higher next year, that it is already right now/this year….

So if all of this came to fruition, UNC will be without the services of Kennedy Meeks, Isaiah Hicks, Nate Britt, Justin Jackson and Joel Berry II when the new season starts up next fall….

That leaves the Tar Heels with Theo Pinson, a junior, Luke Maye, a sophomore, Kenny Williams, a sophomore, and current freshmen Tony Bradley and Seventh Woods….

This would make for a much different looking North Carolina Tar Heel team than we saw walking, running or flying in the air, as they left the court last night, but in the basketball court of returns, the jury is still out on who will be back with the North Carolina Tar Heels next season…

To me, that is the biggest question facing us this day….The Heels have the title, but who will be back to carry the banner into the 2017-18 season?????

*****I would make Theo Pinson the full time point guard….His shooting game still leaves a lot to be desired, but his passing game has the touch of near-greatness to it, and that is hard to achieve….He made some outstanding passes in that tournament, but he will have to find a way to improve his shot and his shot selection, as the new season begins to draw near…Excellent rebounder too and again, his passes, even those little ‘touch passes’ he made following his key rebounds, those were a sight to behold….The kid has some kind of game and his passes are on the money and ought to make him some money, some day/somewhere…..*****