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North Carolina’s season starts with two road games against mid-major programs

Gonzaga v North Carolina

GLENDALE, AZ - APRIL 03: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels questions the official against the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the 2017 NCAA Men’s Final Four National Championship game at University of Phoenix Stadium on April 3, 2017 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

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North Carolina released their non-conference schedule on Monday morning, and it is going to be quite a bit different than the schedules that you are going to see from the other blue-bloods around the country.

How do I know that?

Because the Tar Heels are playing two road games to start the season, both of which come against mid-major foes.

It starts with a road trip to Wofford, who went into the Dean Dome and beat the Tar Heels last season and who bring back everyone from last season’s team outside of a senior guard that averaged less than 20 minutes. Three days later, the Tar Heels will be the opponent that opens up Elon’s brand new, 5,100 seat arena.

It’s the first time since 1950 that UNC will be playing at Elon and the first time in 32 years that UNC will start the season with two road games. Perhaps the toughest part of this is that it comes at a time of transition, as the Tar Heels will be without Joel Berry II and Theo Pinson while playing with either junior Seventh Woods or five-star freshman Coby White at the point for the first time as a starter.

The rest of UNC’s schedule is pretty strong. They host Stanford -- where former Roy Williams assistant Jerod Haase is now the head coach -- and play in a series of big non-conference games: the Las Vegas Invitational (Michigan State, Texas, UCLA), the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic. There are also home games against Gonzaga, Davidson and Harvard.

This is about as good as you can ask for when it comes to a power conference program’s non-conference schedule.

Here is the full schedule:

Nov. 6, at Wofford
Nov. 9, at Elon
Nov. 12, Stanford
Nov. 16, Tennessee Tech
Nov. 19, St. Francis (Pa.)
Nov. 22-23, Las Vegas Invitational (Michigan State, Texas, UCLA)
Nov. 26-28, ACC/Big Ten Challenge
Dec. 5, UNC Wilmington
Dec. 15, Gonzaga
Dec. 22, vs. Kentucky (Chicago, Ill.)
Dec. 29, Davidson
Jan. 2, Harvard