But before Cota can finish his assault on the Atlantic Coast Conference record books, the senior playmaker first must clear his name of assault. He and teammate Terrence Newby haven’t practiced with the team since a Halloween night fight left both arrested on charges stemming from an altercation outside a campustown bar.

Cota, the league leader in assists his first three seasons, will become the ACC’s all-time career assists man after his first handful of games. His brilliance stands as one of the reasons NorthCarolina was picked to finish first by media members attending the ACCOperation Basketball meeting in Greensboro.

The Heels won’t have Cota until a Dec. 6 court date — and perhaps longer, depending on the outcome there. As long as he’s gone, Carolina will play without an experienced point guard.

“If I were to define a point guard I’d say Ed Cota,”Carolina head coach Bill Guthridge said. “He really makes the players around him better.”

Ademola Okulaja’s graduation made Cota the team’s clear-cut leader, and not just on the court. It was Cota’s attitude that kept Carolina fighting toward the postseason last year. It was Cota who questioned the dedication of some of his teammates and got the desired result — a late-season surge that left the Tar Heels 10-6 in the ACC after losing to top-ranked Duke in the tournament title game.

Then disaster struck. Unknown Weber State exploded onto the national scene with a 76-74 upset of theTar Heels in the first round of the NCAATournament. Carolina left Seattle with a sick feeling that all but erased the positive aspects of a 24-10 record.

“I’ve put it behind, but I’m going to always remember that,” Cota said. “That’s always going to be a memory, not a good one but a bad one. That’s all we need really, for this season, the loss that we took out there in Seattle. That left a bad taste in our mouths and we definitely don’t want to feel that way again.

“We don’t talk about it much, but Ibring it up here and there occasionally because that was just a shock to me.”

When Cota eventually returns to the lineup, the Tar Heels enjoy the luxury of four returning starters, a rare feat for them and their contemporaries in the ACC. Only two years removed from the exploits of NBAstars Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter, the UNC offense looks to use its experience in a fast-paced attack on both ends of the court.

Guthridge and his staff introduced a pressing defense in the hopes of creating a transition game, something the Heels sorely missed last season. While Carolina led the ACCin defense and rebounding, the offense ranked sixth.

“The main reason we decided to go back to the pressure is because we didn’t get hardly any easy baskets last year,”Guthridge said. “We had to work for everything we got.”

That 68.0 scoring average simply couldn’t compete with the high-flying Duke (91.1) and Maryland (81.8) teams that handed Carolina four of its six league losses. A more frenetic defense can change all that.

“If we stick with the pressure defense Idon’t think it’ll be a problem because we’re going to do a lot of running up and down and the guards are going to really have an opportunity to shine,”Cota said. “If we go back to the halfcourt game and run our offense all the time, we just have to be prepared for that and be more consistent.”

Two stars await in the low post when Carolina decides to run a set offense. Junior center Brendan Haywood, a 7-footer, averaged 12 points and seven rebounds a game last season. He collected a team-high 60 blocks and connected on 65 percent of his shots.

Sophomore Kris Lang used his lanky 6-11 frame and jump hook to become one of the most recognizable — and unstoppable — players in the league. He finished third on the team in scoring at 10 points a game and averaged five rebounds in his rookie season.

Lang was hospitalized in the offseason with an unknown viral infection but actually reported to the Tar Heels some 15 pounds heavier, most of that muscle.

“Kris Lang’s a great player, he’s doing the regular Kris Lang thing — jump-hooking you to death,”Haywood said.

“We know, the post players, it’s not all about just us. We knew we had to come in and rebound better than last year, but we just have to play solid and depend on our teammates,” Haywood added. “If you have Max Owens and Joe Forte hitting jump shots, that makes it real hard for people to double team us. We’re only as good as our teammates.”

Owens, a junior guard, played extensive minutes and averaged seven points a game. Forte is Carolina’s highly prized recruit out of Maryland, a guard whom Guthridge said could be a very good player in the ACC.

Newby saw limited minutes last season but was being counted on in his senior season before the legal problems hit. Oft-injured junior Michael Brooker and freshman Jonathan Holmes, a guard out of Bloomington, Ind., will have to join Owens and Forte for significant minutes at guard because of more preseason woes.

Tar Heel quarterback/guard Ronald Curry tore his Achilles tendon during the football season and will miss all of his sophomore year on the basketball court. While Curry struggled on offense last season (three points, 25-percent FGshooting), his defensive presence and up-tempo ball handling created some excitement for the Dean Smith Center crowd.

In a rare bit of recent good news for the Heels, sophomore forward Jason Capel has returned completely healthy after back trouble sidelined him in several games last year.

Capel’s explosive play led to 10 points and four rebounds a game, and he added an 84-percent touch from the foul line.

“He missed lot of practice last year, resting so he could play in games,”Guthridge said. “This year I don’t anticipate him missing so much time.”

Another key in the frontcourt is Brian Bersticker, a 6-10 junior. Bersticker only played eight minutes a game last season, but the new uptempo offense should increase his minutes subbing for Haywood and Lang.

The ACCOperation Basketball meeting came exactly one week before Halloween and the troubles it brought to the UNC program. Cota and Guthridge both deflected the No. 1 ranking the Tar Heels earned then.

“I don’t think we’re the favorite, I think we’re one of five, six teams that can win it,”Guthridge said. “Last year and the year before there were two top teams, but I don’t think I can name two top teams this year.”