UNC will appear twice on ESPN’s College GameDay during the 2012-13 college basketball season, the school announced Friday.

The Tar Heels’ game at N.C. State on Jan. 26 (7 p.m., ESPN) will be preceded by a 6 p.m. College GameDay broadcast from Raleigh. Also, GameDay will be in Chapel Hill on March 9 for the regular-season finale between UNC and Duke (9 p.m., ESPN).

UNC will be appearing at a GameDay site for the ninth and 10th times in school history. By the end of this season, no team will have played in more GameDay games than the Tar Heels.

11. North Carolina

The Tar Heels were gutted by early-entry departures from Kendall Marshall, Harrison Barnes and John Henson. Tyler Zeller was already leaving because he was a senior. But that just opens more minutes for Dexter Strickland, Leslie McDonald, P.J. Hairston, Reggie Bullock and James Michael McAdoo, who made Tar Heel fans breathe a little easier with his decision to return. Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson lead a top-10 recruiting class and will step in and deepen this team. Let’s not kid ourselves: There’s still plenty of talent on hand.

1. How exactly do you play a game on an aircraft carrier?

I get it. It’s an aircraft carrier. You can, thereby, land planes on the thing, and as my 7-year-old’s video explains, when an aircraft carrier is stood on its end, it’s as tall as the Empire State Building. Still, a basketball game between North Carolina and Michigan State? Maybe this isn’t an architectural wonder in line with the pyramids, but it’s one heck of an interesting concept.

2. How will North Carolina handle pressure?

Ordinarily, the Tar Heels have the sneak-up-ability of an elephant playing a trumpet on roller skates. But last season, UNC was all but written off after a 20-point blowout loss to Georgia Tech on Jan. 16. One point guard change, a nine-game win streak and an Elite Eight berth later, Carolina now is to college basketball what Justin Bieber is to a teenybopper convention. Despite an embarrassing plethora of talent, this remains a fairly young team, so it will be interesting to see how the Heels handle the spotlight.