Next year’s North Carolina basketball team will look much different than it did this past season, but while the Tar Heels lose most of their key players, Roy Williams will return a host an interesting collection of talent that will be called on to move the program forward.

THI takes a look ahead to next season by zeroing in on each of the Heels that are expected to return.

It must be noted that UNC has already signed four prospects that will be freshmen next season – McDonald’s All-American big man Armando Bacot, McDonald’s All-American point guard Cole Anthony, 4-star combo guard Anthony Harris and point guard Jeremiah Francis. Williams likely will sign at least one more player.

Today, we look at rising junior Andrew Platek:

Platek averaged 3.6 minutes per game this past season as opposed to 7.5 as a freshman. The Heels were more settled on the perimeter, which is why his minutes went down, and when he was in the game, it’s no secret Platek didn’t play as well as he did as a freshman.

Perhaps he was pressing too much or just was just off his game, whatever it was, Platek just wasn’t as much of a factor he was a year ago. His high game was six points in a win at Elon on Nov. 9 and his high ACC game was five points at Wake Forest. He had four points versus UNC-Wilmington and in no other game did Platek convert multiple field goals.

In 115 minutes, Platek converted 14 field goal attempts (46.9 percent), including 5-for-15 from 3-point range, a surprising number to his teammates, as several often insisted he was the club’s best perimeter shooter.

The good thing for Platek is that he will have an opportunity to contribute next season. Of course, much of this depends on how the newcomers factor into things, but Platek is going to get an opportunity to etch out a role of some kind. As a junior who can knock down shots and defend, an attribute of Platek’s that Roy Williams defended often during his freshman campaign, he could be a surprise player.

Reason for optimism: Platek can shoot, trust us he can shoot, and he can defend, says Williams. So perhaps all he needs is an opportunity to play looser to allow more of his game to surface. He will get that chance in the summer and next fall. At the very least, he’s a program guy who may provide solid depth, and you can never have too many such players. On the upside, he could break free and make the kind of jump from sophomore-to-junior year that Brandon Robinson made this past season.

Projection: Platek might be the most difficult player to project on the team because there was no sign of his game making progress this past season. So simply expecting it to wouldn’t be fair, but then again not expecting any wouldn’t be either. He works hard and has some skills the Heels need, so if he can help he will get every opportunity. The projection for now is he will be a part of the rotation for sure, and that’s about all we are comfortable with at this time.