North Carolina was a good shooting team during the 2012-13 season, but consistent scoring in the post eluded the Tar Heels. ROBERT WILLETT

CHAPEL HILL — You might recall that before North Carolina’s season-opener against Gardner-Webb on Nov. 9, I posted a list of 10 questions that surrounded the Tar Heels at the start of the season. You can read those 10 questions right here.

Little by little, UNC provided answers to those 10 questions as the season progressed. And now, with the season complete, those answers are final. So here goes – the questions that surrounded UNC then, and the answers to those questions now, with the season already a memory:

Dexter Strickland on Tuesday reminded North Carolina coach Roy Williams of the Strickland of old. ROBERT WILLETT

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina coach Roy Williams said on Friday that Dexter Strickland played his best game in a while during the Tar Heels’ 82-70 victory against Boston College on Tuesday night. But not because Strickland scored 14 points and made a pair of jump shots.

Thanks to one N.C. State fan, Dexter Strickland for a while has known exactly how many days remained before North Carolina's game against N.C. State. ROBERT WILLETT

CHAPEL HILL — After Dexter Strickland said some things about N.C. State before the season – you know, about how the Tar Heels beat the Wolfpack “every single year” (and that has, in fact, been true for a while) – he told me during an interview that he’d been hearing just about every day from one N.C. State fan who sends Strickland messages on Twitter, counting down the days to Saturday, when the Wolfpack and Tar Heels play at PNC Arena.

I spoke with Strickland the other night after UNC’s victory against Georgia Tech, and he said that same fan had continued to send him tweet after tweet (most of them, it turns out, taking shots at Strickland’s jumpshot). That N.C. State fan is Ryan Forcina, and the majority of his tweets, going back to October, have been directed at Strickland.

Forcina deserves some credit for his relentlessness. It can’t be easy to talk smack day after day after day. He even managed to wish Strickland a happy Thanksgiving, a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year, all the while making fun of Strickland’s jump shot or, in the case of one tweet, writing simply, “You’re a scrub, bro.” I've reached out to Forcina but haven't heard back.

Of course, Strickland deserves some credit, too, for being a good sport. He told me he hasn’t even blocked Forcina.

Anyway, here’s what Strickland has been hearing from this guy for the past two months. This list doesn’t include every tweet, but most of them:

Brice Johnson's offense was a bright spot for North Carolina during the non-conference portion of the schedule. ROBERT WILLETT

CHAPEL HILL — As North Carolina coach Roy Williams said recently, “big-time basketball” is upon us. That being, of course, the start of ACC play. The Tar Heels open the conference portion of their schedule on Sunday night at Virginia, and so now’s as good of a time as there ever will be to take a look back at how UNC fared during the non-conference portion of its schedule.

So without further delay, a look back at the good, the not-so good and everything else in between from the start of the season until now:

Marcus Paige begins his college career as the starting point guard at North Carolina. How ready is he? ROBERT WILLETT

CHAPEL HILL — It’s here. Basketball season is here. Finally. It never really goes away in Chapel Hill, but it returns tonight when North Carolina begins the season at the Smith Center against Gardner-Webb.

Around this time a year ago, the Tar Heels began the 2011-12 season with national championship aspirations. Entering this season, though, who knows what to expect? I wrote some about that in a story we ran earlier in the week, which you can read right here.

The headline tells the story: “More questions than answers” for UNC.

Dexter Strickland has heard from N.C. State fans following his public comments about the Wolfpack. ROBERT WILLETT

CHAPEL HILL — You probably remember Dexter Strickland’s comments about N.C. State a while back. Strickland, the North Carolina senior guard, told CBSSports.com’s Jeff Goodman that the Wolfpack represented “the least” of the Tar Heels worries, and he noted that UNC routinely defeats N.C. State.

I recently had a chance to ask Strickland about the reaction he received from those comments.

“They’ve been blowing up my Twitter, saying crazy things,” Strickland said. “There’s this one guy, I don’t even know his name. He tweets me every day, and he counts down to the days. It’s a State fan. He says, ’95 days until we destroy UNC.’ And then the next day, ’94 days …’” 

North Carolina guard Dexter Strickland isn't buying the hype surrounding N.C. State. ROBERT WILLETT

CHAPEL HILL — Good stuff – no, great stuff – here from Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com. Goodman recently visited Chapel Hill and spent some time with Dexter Strickland, the North Carolina senior guard.

 The pair talked about Strickland’s injury last season, about how things might have been different had he remained healthy. And, oh yes, the topic of N.C. State came up. The Wolfpack, after all, were picked to win the ACC for the first time since coming off their national championship season in 1974.

CHAPEL HILL — Dexter Strickland has a long road to travel before he returns from the ACL injury he suffered in North Carolina’s victory at Virginia Tech on Jan. 19. But he’s getting closer, at least.

Strickland on Thursday spent some time with media members and, towards the end of his interview, a member of UNC’s basketball staff came through a door, looking for Strickland. It was time for more rehabilitation work.

There has been no shortage of that lately for Strickland. While his teammates have played pick-up games, he has spent time doing leg exercises in a pool. Doctors recently cleared him to start running again and on Monday he hopes he will be cleared to start jumping and performing more lateral movement.

CHAPEL HILL — As expected, North Carolina coach Roy Williams spent a good portion of his weekly ACC teleconference answering questions about how the Tar Heels plan to compensate for the loss of junior guard Dexter Strickland, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in UNC’s victory at Virginia Tech on Thursday night.

Here’s a summary of what Williams said about filling the void left by Strickland, among other topics:

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina junior guard Dexter Strickland suffered a torn ACL on Thursday night in the second half of the Tar Heels’ 82-68 victory at Virginia Tech. What does the injury mean to UNC going forward?

Some thoughts and analysis: