WEST LAFAYETTE, IN – Sometimes, one of the easiest things for a team to say after its season has unceremoniously ended is “wait ‘til next year.”

It has almost become cliched, but that doesn’t mean it is entirely inaccurate.

Take North Carolina, as an example. The Tar Heels’ 2020-21 season ended Friday night amid an array of three-pointers by Wisconsin in an 85-62 drubbing that was by far the Heels’ most lopsided defeat of the season.

But the positive for anyone with ties to the program, or those with a rooting interest, is that next year should reflect a significant step forward. As it stands, the Tar Heels are set to lose Garrison Brooks (10.2 points, 6.8 rebounds per game) and Andrew Platek (381 minutes, 3.7 points per game). There is a chance Day’Ron Sharpe could leave for the NBA, as he’s projected as a late first-round selection in most mock drafts.

In addition, with the one-time transfer rule that will allow players to change schools without having to sit out a season, it seems logical one or more kids could move on.

If Sharpe and the other return, however, UNC will return 63.2 points per game, 31.6 rebounds, and 378 assists from this year’s squad.

“The future is really bright for this group,” Brooks said Friday night. “I think it’s going to be tremendous for them that they experienced this, got into the tournament, lost – you can always build off this. It’s always going to be motivation for us. They can always come back and work really hard, and it’s going to be good for them.”

Even if Sharpe leaves, the Heels will still return 53.7 points, 24 rebounds, and 336 assists. Caleb Love averaged 10.5 points and led the Heels with 104 assists this season, plus RJ Davis averaged 8.4 points, Kerwin Walton 8.2 points, and Walker Kessler came alive in February showing impressive glimpses of his future.

They will carry with them into the offseason and all summer the feeling they had on Purdue’s campus as Wisconsin rained 13 three-pointers on them and even outrebounded the Heels, despite the Badgers coming in as the No. 241 rebounding team in the nation versus Carolina’s No. 1 ranking.

There should be no shortage of fuel for this bunch, which finished this campaign 18-11, including 10-6 in the ACC.

“When you lose (I) hope it will be fuel for you to say you don't like this feeling, that you want to have a different feeling,” UNC Coach Roy Williams replied, when asked what he thinks his young team will take from this NCAA experience.

“And the way to have a different feeling is to play better. And the way you play better is to prepare better. You practice harder, you're more focused, you're more disciplined. That's what I hope they use this as, as fuel.”

Six freshmen were part of Carolina’s 10-man rotation, that also included sophomore forward Armando Bacot, who led the team with 12.3 points and 7.8 rebounds, and junior Leaky Black, who averaged 5.6 points and 4.9 rebounds.

The core, however, are the freshmen, which includes a seventh member, Puff Johnson, who has been out since January with an injury.

If the group returns intact, or mostly together, it will have a common bond pushing them forward, and they could be pretty good.

“Kids nowadays have decisions to make, whether to leave early, go to the NBA,” Williams said. “We'll have to wait and see how those situations pan out. But it is something that the foundation here is to – is something that could be really, really special.

“I remember Tyler Hansbrough's freshman year, started three freshmen start of the season, and then started just two down the stretch but still played four or five. I said at the end they're going to be really good. And they were. They won the national championship as a senior, and as a junior went to the Final Four.”

Whatever next year’s team’s fate is, it should conclude with a higher ceiling than the 2020-21 Tar Heels.