CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina will begin life in a new-look ACC next season, and on Thursday, the team got more clarity on what its new schedule may look like.
The ACC released each team’s opponents for the 2024-25 season to include the additions of Cal, Stanford and SMU. North Carolina is 4-1 vs. Cal, last facing the Golden Bears in 1998.
The Tar Heels are also 2-1 vs. SMU, with their last meeting taking place in 1987, and 13-0 against Stanford, with 2020 being the most recent matchup.
Each team will still play 20 conference games and face three of its opponents both at home and on the road.
Every team will have to constant opponents each year that they’ll face both at home and on the road, and one additional opponent that they’ll play twice as well.
For UNC, those two teams will still be Duke and N.C. State, and Pitt will be the extra repeat opponent.
North Carolina will not have to head to California or Texas to face the league’s new teams.
In next season’s non-conference slate, UNC is already set to face Kansas (Nov. 8) and Hawaii (Nov. 22) on the road. The team will also take part in the Maui Invitational along with Auburn, Colorado, Connecticut, Dayton, Iowa State, Memphis, Michigan State. North Carolina will take part in its second ACC-SEC Challenge game against an opponent to be announced later.
The 2025 ACC conference tournament will be played at the Spectrum Center from March 11-15.
The Tar Heels lead the ACC with a 14-3 conference record. The last time UNC held at least a share of the conference regular season title was in 2019, and the last time North Carolina won it outright was 2017.
This year’s ACC Tournament begins on March 12 and will be played in Washington, D.C.
Hubert Davis Live: Tracking the Coach’s Animated Sideline Activity
What’s behind the tape job the UNC head man often wears on his right ring finger during games? The answer involves monitoring his fitness.
North Carolina coach Hubert Davis has worn white athletic tape around the ring finger on his right hand throughout the majority of this college basketball season.
Either head athletic trainer Doug Halverson or head team manager Ragan Copeland applies the tape job before games, Davis said, and a ring sits beneath. But it’s not a wedding band.
That hasn’t come off the ring finger on his left hand in 25 years, according to Davis. It’s an Oura Ring instead, a fitness smart ring that monitors physical activity and sleep schedule, among other things.
“It keeps track of your heart rate, calories, all kinds of stuff and it (sends) it to your phone,” Davis said Wednesday night, during the latest edition of his weekly radio show. “And my wife has been like, ‘I want to see what it looks like during the game.’ So I have it on then. … But this ring is a little bit bigger, and it can come off. I’m a little active on the sidelines. Without the tape, I think it might fly on the court.”
Ever the animated presence working the sideline, Davis simply put that he burns “a lot” of calories coaching in games. Across the last two games, though, the tape job on Davis’ right ring finger has been absent, along with his Oura Ring.
Why? Davis simply forgot a basic necessity required by the electronic ring, due to the Tar Heels’ short turnaround from playing Saturday at Virginia to Monday night at home against Miami.
“I forgot to charge it, I got busy,” Davis said Wednesday, laughing. “And I want my wife to stop checking it. I’m like, ‘I’m a little active on the bench, my heart rate is gonna go up during the game.’ ”
Davis’ fiery coaching style is in many ways just who he is as a person. As Davis put it Wednesday night, he’s always “wired in.” Davis added that if he’s up past 10:30 p.m., he often can’t fall asleep for another three or four hours due to a “second wind” he gets late at night.
His intensity has been on display as ninth-ranked Carolina (22-6 overall, 14-3 ACC) enters the finishing stretch of the regular season. Davis became fired up a little more than two weeks ago when asked about UNC’s pursuit of the ACC regular-season title.
The Tar Heels currently hold sole possession of first place in the conference, with a one-game lead on second place Duke (13-4 ACC) and 2½ games on third-place Virginia.
Davis displayed similar emotion toward the end of Wednesday night’s radio show. When Davis was asked how he might fare against UNC guards RJ Davis and Cormac Ryan in a game of H-O-R-S-E and who perhaps would win, the head coach confidently replied “me” five times. And evidently, Davis’ competitive nature has its health perks, too.
“It’s encouraging that on game days, I don’t even have to work out,” Davis said. “I don’t have to go walking. I don’t have to get on the treadmill or the elliptical. I can just go to a game and go up and down the sidelines.
“I’m so amped up. I’m just ready to go, it’s really hard because you really don’t have very much control at all. Just sit there and just want to be out there and play, but I’m 53 and can’t go out there and play.”
Weekly rankings notes: 2025 QB and tight end scouting, plus several debut grades
247Sports’ latest weekly package features 2025 quarterback and tight end scouting notes, plus several notable debut ratings in the Lone Star State.
A fully-loaded edition of the 247Sports weekly rankings notes arrived Thursday evening featuring excerpts from more than a dozen recently updated scouting reports on quarterbacks and tight ends in the 2025 recruiting cycle.
Additionally, tonight’s 20-piece rankings notes family meal also includes half a dozen debut grades in the state of Texas.
As always, you can find the full 247Sports scouting reports on the players’ profiles, which are linked in each of the scouting report-centric blurbs below.
Readers will find players committed to Ohio State, USC, Texas, North Carolina, Kentucky, and SMU in this week’s rundown, which starts with 247Sports Director of Scouting Andrew Ivins’ scouting notes on nearly double-digit elite Top247 signal callers.
Scouting report: Top247 QB Tavien St. Clair – Ohio State commit
Below is an excerpt from the newly updated 247Sports scouting report on elite 2025 quarterback Tavien St. Clair, an Ohio State pledge and the No. 12 overall prospect in the 2025 Top247 rankings.
St. Clair, who’s also played basketball and baseball, threw for school records of 3,083 yards and 37 TDs to only six interceptions in Fall 2023, when he completed 70.6 percent of his attempts and rushed for 352 yards and four scores for an 11-3 Bellefontaine (Ohio) squad.
Took a major step forward between freshmen and sophomore seasons and then again as a junior. More notably, has shown much more command as he has matured.
Methodical as a passer with the velocity and confidence to attack tight coverage windows. Skilled enough with his arm to pump, reset, and then fire a tight spiral. Rather accurate on the move and can expedite release when pressured. — Ivins
Scouting report: Top247 QB Julian Lewis – USC commit
Carrollton (Ga.) High’s Julian Lewis reclassified from the 2026 cycle to the 2025 class in January to give the seniors-to-be QB group another elite signal caller.
Ranked in the top 15 overall in the 2025 Top247, Lewis — a USC pledge — earned MaxPreps National Sophomore of the Year honors as he led Carrollton to an 11-2 record and a Georgia Class 7A state quarterfinal appearance. Lewis threw for 3,094 yards, 48 TDs, and two INTs. Here’s an excerpt from his updated scouting report.
A de facto point guard on the gridiron that can distribute the football like few others. Won’t blow many away with his build, but makes up for his subpar measurables with his ability to scan the field and manipulate defenses with his eyes. Compact release allows him to rip tight, accurate spirals to all different levels.
Might not have a true cannon, but will drop balls over coverage well into the deeper third. Has proven to be a crafty mover both in and outside of the pocket and will extend plays like a true escape artist.
