UNC basketball to visit 5-star Class of 2026 target after AJ Dybantsa miss

Can UNC land its first Class of 2026 basketball commitment on Wednesday?

The North Carolina Tar Heels failed to land a commitment from AJ Dybantsa, the Class of 2025’s top-ranked player, but that isn’t stopping them from continuing along the recruiting trail.

UNC’s next focus now appears to be on the 2026 recruiting class, with an upcoming visit for one of the class’ top players.

On Tuesday, Dec. 10, North Carolina announced that it will pay 5-star point guard Deron Rippey Jr. a visit.

Rippey, a junior who plays his high school basketball at Blair Academy in Blairstown, New Jersey, is the Class of 2026’s 21st-ranked player. Rippey is also the country’s fifth-ranked point guard, plus the top-ranked player in New Jersey.

UNC won’t be the only program in attendance Wednesday, as ACC rival Syracuse announced its plan to visit Rippey.

If the Tar Heels offer Rippey after their visit, he’ll be their seventh. North Carolina has already offered six other 5-star recruits: power forward Tyran Stokes, small forwards Cameron Holmes, Caleb Holt and in-state talent Cole Cloer, shooting guard Jordan Smith and power forward Miikka Muurinen.

UNC showed its ability to land top-end talent in its 2024 recruiting class, with 5-star McDonalds All-Americans Drake Powell and Ian Jackson choosing to play their college ball in Chapel Hill. High school standouts still want to become Tar Heels, but in today’s NIL era, money is seemingly more important to them.

When Hubert Davis is up in New Jersey visiting Rippey, he needs to find a way to convince Rippey that North Carolina is still a highly-sought-after college basketball destination.

UNC has the championships, NCAA Tournament appearances and tradition that some of these other programs – in this case, BYU – doesn’t have. Other programs might be able to offer high schoolers more money, only for those players to transfer or turn pro after one year.

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Elite 2026 point guard has been contacted by Kentucky basketball

Kentucky basketball has made contact with four-star 2026 recruit Deron Rippey Jr.

Kentucky basketball continues to make contact with members of the 2026 recruiting class. Deron Rippey Jr was the latest member of the class to hear from Mark Pope’s staff.

A class of 2026 point guard, Rippey Jr. is a 6-foot-2, 175-pound  guard from Blairstown (NJ). He’s currently a consensus top-30 recruit ranked 15th overall by On3, 21st by 247Sports, 26th by Rivals, and 27th by ESPN. All four services have him listed as a point guard.

Related: Kentucky offers top player in 2026 recruiting class

Rippey Jr has also received offers from Louisville, Michigan, Illinois, Maryland, Villanova, LSU, UConn, Arkansas, Duke, Indiana, Arkansas and Rutgers.

Last month in June, Rippey was named by analysts and scouts as a top performer at a USA Basketball U17 national team training camp in Colorado Springs (CO).

Rippey was a finalist for the U17 national squad; and made the 12-player roster and helped Team USA win a gold medal earlier this month at the 2024 FIBA World Cup in Istanbul, Turkey.