The North Carolina Tar Heels are staring down the beginning of the 2026-27 NCAA season, and this time around, it sounds like they like what they see. In an interview with the Tar Heel Tribune, head coach Courtney Banghart said that the team has something this season that they didn't have last year: experience.
"Every coach in the country would rather have the older team, and we finally have older guys," Banghart explained. The team has six seniors this season: Ciera Toomey, Laila Hull, Achol Akot, Sydney Barker, Reniya Kelly, and Sophia Burrows. That kind of experience is difficult to replicate if you just don't have it, and it also gives the Tar Heels the chance to have a successful run this year.
The Tarheels are coming into the new season confident, the Tribune also reported. That's because they've got back-to-back Sweet Sixteen appearances under their collective belt, which means it's time to push further and make a deeper run during next year's tournament. Of course, March feels awfully far away when you're sitting in September, but it's not unreasonable to assume that Banghart and her team are already strategizing for March Madness — at least a little bit.
Banghart addressed the tournament head-on. As she noted, making repeat visits to the Sweet Sixteen is obviously a good thing — it just presents some challenges, too. She explained, "The bad news is we’re not one of the teams that have been to the Elite Eight or the Final Four in my tenure. I get excited that we built the foundation the right way, that we’re able to attract the talent that we’ve attracted, both in the portal and in our freshman recruiting — people that we think can help us get to that next step."
A big part of the collegiate preseason is working together and finding out what the team's identity will be. Sometimes that's something that comes together quickly and is immediately obvious, and other times it's something that is developed over a few weeks of practices and even exhibition games. As Banghart put it, this year's team is "a whole lot of dog" — they're tough. She isn't the only one who wants to see the program make it to the next step; that's the entire ethos the team is operating from within this season.
The regular season won't begin until November 1, so there is plenty of time to take it slow and figure things out together. Of course, once things begin, all bets are off — and the season could end up being the Tar Heels' most successful yet.
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