Chapel Hill will never forget the Iron Five.

UNC’s starting lineup of Caleb Love, RJ Davis, Leaky Black, Brady Manek and Armando Bacot earned the moniker as the heart-and-soul of last season’s national runner-up. The group collectively played more than 81% of all of North Carolina’s available minutes and only Black came at less than 75% of the Tar Heels’ available minutes per game.

Manek is gone, off to look like Larry Bird and play like an Australian professional league Dirk in Perth.

The remainder of last season’s core: All-American Bacot, Love, Davis and Black return. Call them the “Fatigueless Four.”

Yes, coach Hubert Davis said all offseason he wants a deeper rotation, and he believes his roster will cooperate.

But come crunch time in the season’s biggest games over the next 6 months, does anyone really believe Davis is turning to anything but the core 4? Spot 5 is up for grabs, perhaps, but Northwestern transfer Pete Nance is as close to a Brady Manek as Davis could find in the transfer portal, and it’s hard to see him playing less than at least 25 minutes a night. Will Carolina be deeper? Sure. But make no mistake. If North Carolina wins the school’s 7th men’s basketball national championship next April, it will be on the shoulders of the “Fatigueless Four.”

Maybe that’s not as catchy as the Iron Five.

Does it have to be?

How much better can the Fatigueless Four play, really?

Nance shot 45.2% from deep at Northwestern last season. Granted that came on 93 attempts, not the ridiculous 243 looks Manek hoisted. But let’s say Nance shoots 150 at Manek’s 40% playing in Carolina’s high-tempo offense. Is that a wash? Will Carolina need to make up the difference somewhere to be better than they were a season ago, when they didn’t truly play well until February? Rather than being “like for like” what the 2021-22 team was, Davis likely will use his depth to help the Fatigueless Four be better.

That means more Puff Johnson, naturally, but it also means more dynamic rotations.

If the Tar Heels need to play small or run, then they have 3 capable guards to do that with by getting Seth Trimble into the mix. If the Tar Heels want to be bigger, they can play Black at the 1, Puff at the 3, and match the length of basically anyone in America. If they need extra athleticism in that grouping, Dontrez Styles should be ready to spell Nance. If modern basketball is largely positionless basketball, Carolina has the depth pieces to play just about any style they confront. That’s a change from a season ago, where the Tar Heels were cooked until March if Love had a bad night or doomed on the rare nights Manek missed jump shots.

With more versatility, of course, comes rest.

Only one North Carolina guard ever, Kenny Smith, played more minutes than Love (1,332 minutes) and RJ Davis (1,324 minutes) did a season ago. Does either crack 1,300 minutes this season? They shouldn’t. But the depth of January and February makes this Carolina team a threat to win the ACC. It won’t change how they play during March, when once again, it will be 35-plus for RJ Davis and Love.

Ditto Bacot. Foul trouble is the only reason he played 78.4% of Carolina’s minutes last season, and not much more. Barring an injury, he’ll remain near that number in 2022-23. Will the preseason ACC Player of the Year and All-American play substantially less than that this season? Perhaps, but 32 minutes per night seems about right, even if the rest of the Fatigueless Four play less from January to March. There’s just not as much behind Bacot, with redshirt freshman Will Shaver being a project big man and freshman Jalen Washington largely being a question mark because of health issues.

The wild card might be the usage of Styles and Nance. If Nance can play some 5, it will help protect Bacot, whose health is essential if Carolina is to meet the “championship or bust” expectations being tossed around Tar Heel nation. Nance is a solid 230 pounds, and he played some center for Northwestern in the Big Ten. But it remains to be seen how viable he is as a 5 in the more athletic ACC. Expect Davis to try that liberally during November and December and to cut it back if it isn’t working come January. As a result, Bacot might play less than 30 minutes a night until league play, but if Nance isn’t viable at the 5 and Styles can’t offer help at the 4 when Nance shifts — the 32-minute mark will be hit when Bacot logs heavy minutes in ACC play.

But that’s the thing about the Fatigueless Four. They’ve done this once. They all play that much for a reason, and the reason is they all are really good.

RJ Davis scored in double figures in 4 of Carolina’s 6 NCAA Tournament games last season, and he has been an afterthought in this article. How many times is a guy who pours in 30 to defeat the reigning national champions in the NCAA Tournament not get any run in a preseason piece? But that’s just how good this Tar Heels group is, and why Hubert Davis echoed fan base sentiments Wednesday in Charlotte, N.C., when he said, “Look, we know it’s championship or bust for us this year.”

That’s heavy pressure. But when you log as many minutes as the Fatigueless Four, you’re used to pressure.

When you hit the 3-point jump shot clincher that ends Coach K’s career, like Love did, you are used to pressure.

When you roll your ankle during the national title game and still manage to play 38 minutes and post a 15-point and 15-rebound double-double like Bacot, you are used to pressure.

When you are the guy your coach has guard the other team’s best perimeter player in every game, and you still quietly have the team’s best offensive rating because you only take smart shots, like Black, you thrive under pressure.

Depth is a nice media days process story.

But make no mistake: it’s the Fatigueless Four, chasing Ty and Tyler, May, Ray and McCants, MJ, Sam Perkins and James Worthy, or running after Frank McGuire’s Invincibles … that’s what this season in Chapel Hill is all about.

You can bet the Fatigueless Four can’t wait to get started. It’s not like they ever sit down.