Nine games into North Carolina’s basketball season, and the eyes suggest the Tar Heels are a vastly different team than a year ago. The results do, too.

UNC was 5-4 at this stage last season with no quality wins. It is 7-2 with two resume-enhancing nonconference wins already right now. Plus, the manner this team usually plays is just different from last season.

That club, which appeared to play in sand on offense too often, finished 20-13 and did not receive and invitation to the NCAA Tournament. Last year’s squad opened the season as the No. 1 team in the nation, but was out of the rankings two weeks later. The current Heels are ranked No. 9 for the second week in a row.

So, let’s do a raw stat comparison, last year through nine games versus right now: