North Carolina Basketball was one of the last teams to make the NCAA Tournament last season, a controversial addition. A big issue with their resume was the lack of marquee wins, including in the non-con. The Tar Heels went 6-5 outside of ACC play, with the win over UCLA being the one key exception.

UNC, which typically plays a strong non-con schedule, has another good slate of future opponents. Here’s a look at the five most formidable non-con foes for the 2025-26 season. 

The Hoyas lost most of their top players this offseason, including NBA Draft picks Thomas Sorber and Micah Peavy. But joining Malik Mack on this roster includes guard transfers, KJ Lewis (Arizona), and Langston Love (Baylor). Without Sorber, they’ll need a big impact from St. John’s transfer Vincent Iwuchukwu in order to remain competitive in the Big East.

OSU brings back its top three players, including All-Big Ten guard Bruce Thornton. Devin Royal and John Mobley are also back, while the team adds several frontcourt transfers, including Brandon Noel (Wright State) and Christoph Tilly. The backcourt will be one of the better ones in the country, but the frontcourt is the open question on paper.

Coming off an Elite 8 appearance, Coach Tom Izzo had to replace Jase Richardson and Xavier Booker, while also dealing with a season-ending injury to incoming FAU transfer, Kaleb Glenn. They’ll need Trey Fort and Divine Ugochukwu to have an impact in the backcourt alongside Jeremy Fears, while Coen Carr will need to have even more offensive production for them to be a top-25 team again.

All five starters from the Jayhawks last season are gone, including star big man Hunter Dickerson. Flory Bidunga is back as a potential breakout candidate, while transfers Tre White (Illinois), Jayden Dawson (Loyola-Chicago), and Melvin Council (St. Bonaventure) are set to be impact contributors. It’ll all come down to top-3 incoming freshman prospect, Darryn Peterson, and how good he is out of the gate to determine the ceiling for Kansas. 

Kentucky brings back its best player from last season in Otega Oweh, who averages 16.2 ppg on 49% FG shooting. Joining him are a bunch of elite transfers, including Jaland Lowe (Pitt), Jayden Quaintance (ASU), Denze Aberdeen (Florida), and Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama). We’ll see how well they mesh with each other, but on paper, this should be a top-10 caliber roster.