Michael Malone Rightfully Frustrated From One Problem UNC Needs to Fix

North Carolina will start its official season next week, taking on Western Carolina on Monday night. This should be one of the more lopsided opening-night games in college basketball, though one could argue that North Carolina hasn't shown much throughout the preseason and has to be very careful how it plays against some of the teams on its out-of-conference schedule. 

North Carolina's out-of-conference schedule is above average, but I wouldn't say it's great. 

Outside of Arkansas and Kentucky, there really isn't much of a reason for North Carolina to lose many of those games. We'll eventually see how those things look, but after struggling against Charlotte and winning only in overtime, it feels like there are questions that need answering, something many have suggested throughout the offseason. I'm a bit higher on North Carolina's roster than others, but I also see the flaws in it. 

Those flaws have been a problem throughout the exhibition games, especially on the boards. 

Head coach Michael Malone said he was very disappointed with how his team played on the boards after Indiana dominated them.

"Yeah, coming off that Indiana game when we gave up 20 offensive rebounds, 17 second-chance points, and then you look at tonight, overtime game, we gave up another 18 second-chance points. We gave up one off of a missed free throw. It's not just on Sayon. To your point, as a starting five, he can't have two rebounds in 33 minutes. That just can't happen. But we need everybody else.

“Jarin had two rebounds in 38 minutes. That's your four and five having four rebounds in a lot of minutes on the floor. Granted, in Jarin's defense, we were switching quite a bit with him, so he's on the perimeter a little bit more. But yes, I am concerned. It's been a point of emphasis, but obviously needs to continue to be emphasized as we approach our season opener,” Malone said, per FanSided.

Malone isn't someone who sugarcoats anything.

If he believes his team didn't play well enough, he won't come out and say he was happy with the performance. That's been the case in some of these exhibition games, though it's important to recognize that North Carolina can look completely different in the regular season. 

It's going to have to if it wants to be the team that everybody is hoping for it to be, as not rebounding the basketball at a high level in the ACC will likely be part of the reason why it doesn't come close to winning as much as it wants.