The Carolina family is built differently.
While many people spend Labor Day weekend soaking up the final days of summer, UNC basketball alumni chose a different path—returning to Chapel Hill to lace up and run pickup games against the current roster.
This isn’t an obligation. It’s a choice. They want to be back.
Among those who returned were standouts from the 2023–24 ACC regular-season championship squad, including four of its starters: Armando Bacot, RJ Davis, Harrison Ingram, and Cormac Ryan.
And the list of returnees didn’t stop with those four stars. Garrison Brooks, James Michael McAdoo, Drake Powell, Kenny Williams, Joel James, Desmond Hubert, Duwe Farris, and Walker Miller all made their way back to Chapel Hill this weekend.
Freshman guard Kyan Evans put it best on the Carolina Insider podcast: the culture at North Carolina is unlike anywhere else. He’s right—no program in the country can replicate what the Carolina family means, or how deeply it runs.
It doesn’t matter if you graduated just a few months ago or hung up your Carolina blue uniform years back—every Tar Heel is welcomed home. Alumni take pride in supporting the next generation, showing up not just as fans but as mentors and family.
College athletics changes constantly. Rosters shuffle, coaches move, and eras come and go. But one thing never changes: the Carolina family. It’s a bond that no one else can match, and weekends like this prove it again and again.
Chapel Hill really is different.
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