The North Carolina Tar Heels have had their fair share of struggles on the basketball court the past few seasons. Aside from a run to the national championship game a few years ago, UNC missed the tournament in 2023 and would have in 2020 had there been one. But the 2025-26 season is around the corner and the Tar Heels are hoping to change their luck. Hubert Davis has reshaped the roster following a first-round tournament exit last season. However, one former player has continued to criticize the program.
Former Tar Heel and national champion Rashad McCants is already disliked by North Carolina fans, and his latest comments will add fuel to that fire. On a recent podcast with ESports Insider, McCants ripped the state of the Tar Heels’ program.
“These kids want to know why they should go to Carolina,” McCants said in the interview. “The tradition is no longer where it was. We were winning through our talent and our recruiting, and now the standard of Carolina basketball is ‘Come play, graduate, then go on to play overseas ball.’ Getting back to understanding how to get recruits to your university – you’ve got to start throwing some money around now.”
Ouch. Those are some harsh words from McCants.
The guard went on to say that the program has a sense of entitlement. But in this new name, image and likeness licensing era of college basketball, that’s not a good selling point. The Tar Heels need to do more with NIL.
“100 percent. And that goes for the Kansases and Kentuckys of the world,” McCants said. “‘We are who we are. You should want to come here.’ The parents are now doing a better job of vetting programs, seeing where they’ve been and where they’re going. It’s at a place where you have to adjust, and they brought it on themselves about not understanding what to do with the structure of the NIL.”
As for what UNC can do? Well, McCants is calling on other former Tar Heels to donate money to the NIL collective and get this program on track. He even name-dropped Michael Jordan and Jerry Stackhouse among others.
“It’s a whole revamp, a whole rebuilding situation down in Carolina,” McCants, who won a title with UNC in 2004-05, told ESports Insider in the exclusive interview. “The culture of college basketball has changed with the NIL. Michael Jordan needs to throw some money in there. (Jerry) Stackhouse, Vince Carter, all these guys that are alumni. They say it’s a brotherhood. You’ve got to offer the bread.”
McCants’ comments will not sit well with North Carolina fans, especially after his past history with the program. A former teammate even called him out. And I’m guessing this situation will not get much better, either.
