Should Zeller play this season at North Carolina?

What about Tyler Zeller?
Tyler, Tyson, Tyrell. Whatever his name is :) He will be returning to practice so the big question is whether he should play or "save" one year of eligibility.

The big question to ask when deciding this is simple: With the NBA's insatiable hunger for non-utility-post seven-footers, how likely is Ty Zeller to stay at UNC for four years? How likely is he to stay for three years? How about two years?

If the answer is three or less, then he should try to make a comeback and contribute. After all, he could end up with a RING in his pocket and then come back next year and have a Cole Aldrich type of a season.

In my opinion, if he is healthy enough and there is no further risk to his injury, he should return because he gives UNC a different dimension inside.

Consider the potential Final Four matchup of UConn vs UNC. None of the current UNC players has the height or weight to go after Hasheem-shot-blocking-Thabeet. Zeller would give them an alternative!

But it's not just UConn. How about foul trouble? With Ginyard and Graves gone, UNC does not have the luxury of playing Danny Green at the four spot for more than special situations. Grave is gone, so Copeland becomes the 4th big man. He is a rotation-caliber talent considering the rest of the line-up, and it only takes a small injury or foul-trouble for UNC to be "stuck" with just two bigs for an extended period of time during the game.

So with all that in mind, I say yes to Zeller returning.