CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) -Sylvia Hatchell sees enough talent and athleticism on North Carolina's roster to keep running her frenetic trap-and-transition attack. The coach also is prepared for a lot of patience-testing moments from her young players.

Her squad loaded with freshmen and sophomores, Hatchell isn't just thinking about the fifth-ranked Tar Heels' chances of winning the Atlantic Coast Conference or making a deep NCAA tournament run this year. She's talking about a 2-year plan, defying traditional one-game-at-a-time coachspeak by saying this team could lay the foundation for even more next season.

"Let them play and make mistakes," Hatchell said. "You let them play big games and get experienced and make some mistakes, because it's going to pay off in the long run."

The Tar Heels have two starters back from a team that reached No. 2 in the country in January, but faded down the stretch and lost four of their last seven. North Carolina's streak of four straight ACC tournament championships ended with a semifinal loss to Maryland, and the Tar Heels bowed out in the second round of the NCAAs after reaching two Final Fours and two regional finals the previous four years.

The Tar Heels figured they would build around rising senior Jessica Breland inside, and juniors Cetera DeGraffenreid and Italee Lucas on the perimeter. Then came news that Breland had been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, requiring her to undergo five months of chemotherapy that she recently completed.

Hatchell has said Breland's disease is in remission, but she's also said she expects Breland will redshirt.

Breland was the team's second-leading scorer and the team's top rebounder at 8.5 per game. Her uncertain status didn't prevent media members from voting her a preseason all-ACC pick last month, nor from making the Tar Heels the league favorite.

"She wants to go out and be her best," Hatchell said. "That's why I'm saying right now we'd be leaning toward redshirting her. She wants to be an All-American. She wants to play in the WNBA. She doesn't want to lose a year of eligibility and not be 100 percent."

That's only going to increase the burden on DeGraffenreid - a two-year starter at point guard who could face competition for minutes from sophomore She'la White - and Lucas, who averaged 13.9 points last year.

"I'm not sure exactly where, but somewhere during (last) season we hit our peak way too soon," Lucas said. "Hopefully our peak this year is a national championship, so we're focusing on the little things and taking advantage of every day in practice."

Hatchell said she expects freshman Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, the preseason ACC rookie of the year, will be a starter thanks in part to what Hatchell described as her highly developed court awareness. But Hatchell promises she won't hesitate to play her freshman class, which includes plenty of size in 6-footer Krista Gross on the perimeter, 6-4 forward Cierra Robertson-Warren and 6-6 Waltiea Rolle.

They'll join a front line that already includes sophomore Chay Shegog and Laura Broomfield, a group that should help the Tar Heels indulge Hatchell's long-running fixation with rebounding.

Hatchell figures the pieces are there. They just have to mature, whether it's this season or next.

"She tells us just to play," DeGraffenreid said. "She tells us not to worry about turnovers as long as we're pushing and going - and that's what we're going to do."

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