With the Wears transferring, a lacking interior presence could really hurt the Heels

North Carolina's basketball team had a pretty drastic overhaul from their 2009 national title team to the group that was the 2010 runners-up in the NIT.

They went from a veteran team that was as balanced, talented, and dominant as just about any team we've seen in recent years to a young team almost completely devoid of experience or any resemblance of basketball IQ in their back court.

And next year the overhaul may be just as significant.

UNC had a big, talented, and deep front line this past season, but that won't be the case next year. We already knew about Ed Davis heading to the NBA and Deon Thompson's graduation. Earlier today came the news that both David and Travis Wear, twins that just finished their freshman year in Chapel Hill, would be transferring out of the program.

Where they will end up, we don't yet know.

With the Wear twins transferring out of UNC, the Heels will have a big gap inside.
(photo credit: Flickr)

What we do know is that the only true post players remaining on the UNC roster are Tyler Zeller, a rising, 7'0" junior that is as talented as he is injury prone, and John Henson, a 6'10" beanpole that is a good 40 pounds away from being a real impact player in the ACC.

That's not a lot of size, or depth, for a front line. The Wear twins averaged about six points and four boards combined this past season, but that was more a result of the limited availability of front court minutes and a couple of nagging injuries than whether or not the Wears could play.

So Wear where does UNC go from here?

Its pretty obvious that they won't be landing anything close to McDonald's all-american replacements at this late of a date. Does that mean that Ole' Roy is going to have to run a different system?

UNC is going to be relatively young again next season, but that youth will have quite a bit of talent. Sophomore Larry Drew II and freshman Dexter Strickland were both McDonald's all-americans coming out of high school, and Leslie McDonald was a consensus top 100 recruit. Both Will Graves and Justin Watts were effective in the minutes that they got this season.

And added to that group will be three more McDonald's all-americans. Harrison Barnes, a 6'6" small forward, is the top recruit in the country. Reggie Bullock, a 6'4" scoring guard, is top 10. Kendall Marshall is rated in or around the top 40, depending on where you look, and is among the best at his position in a class loaded with point guards.

Like I said, there is going to be talent on this roster.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that UNC is going to be drastically improved this season.

Granted, having a team that is loaded in the back court is better for the kind of system Roy Williams employs than a team that is front court-heavy. Roy Williams likes to have his teams get out and run the floor, and having three and four players on the floor that can take the ball coast to coast -- as opposed to having John Henson at the three -- makes for a better uptempo team.

But if you remember, back in the Heels' championship season, what made their offense and their secondary break so effective was that their bigs -- Davis, Thompson, and Tyler Hansbrough -- were dominant on the block and even better at running the floor. Having that threat on the block created opportunities for Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, and Danny Green on the perimeter.

And vice versa. Scorers like those three on the perimeter made it very difficult to double down when a big man had the ball on the block.

That balance is what made UNC as good as they were.

And without that balance, the Heels are once again going to have some struggles living up to the hype of a team that has landed five McDonald's all-americans (they actually landed seven, but the Wear twins no longer count) in the last two years.