Tag: unc basketball recruiting

UNC now the team to beat for top five-star recruit?

The UNC basketball program appears to be the favorite for the top five-star recruit in the 2023 class.

The UNC basketball team won their biggest game in their rivalry with Duke on Saturday night to punch their ticket to the national championship game.

And now it looks like they are going to add another win to their resume over Duke in terms of a big recruiting target as well.

Five-star power forward [autotag]G.G. Jackson[/autotag] is close to a decision in his recruitment and it could come as early as this week. The five-star recruit is the top player in the country for the 2023 class and it appears to be a battle between the Tar Heels and Blue Devils for his service.

As we sit here on Sunday, the recruitment appears to have shifted in the Tar Heels favor. Two Duke reporters have officially switched their crystal ball predictions on 247 Sports from Duke to North Carolina, shifting the predictions to the Tar Heels.

With that, UNC now has the majority of the crystal ball predictions with 83.7 percent. There are no more predictions for Duke and South Carolina has just one although they seem to be out of the running. This is GREAT news for UNC as they should get a HUGE piece to their 2023 class.

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G.G. Jackson makes his Final Four prediction

UNC basketball recruiting target GG Jackson makes his prediction for Saturday’s Final Four game against Duke.

Five-star power forward G.G. Jackson is getting set to make his college decision ‘soon’ here in April but before that, he’s making a prediction on the Final Four.

Two teams that are the favorites in Jackson’s recruitment, UNC and Duke, will meet on Saturday night in New Orleans for a trip to Monday’s title game on the line. It’s the first matchup between the two teams in the NCAA Tournament and a lot is at stake.

But what does Jackson think will happen?

The five-star recruit told Joe Tipton of On3 that he is picking the Tar Heels to not only beat Duke on Saturday but win the national championship as well:

This could be a huge week for UNC in terms of their current team and Jackson’s decision which is likely coming this week.

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Frank Martin, UMass offer UNC target GG Jackson

UMass head coach Frank Martin have officially offered UNC basketball recruiting target G.G. Jackson.

There’s a new team but a familiar face that is trying to get into the race for prized five-star recruit [autotag]G.G. Jackson[/autotag].

Just a few weeks after being fired from South Carolina, Frank Martin took the head coaching job at UMass. And now he’s hoping to pull off a miracle and land Jackson. Martin and the program officially offered Jackson on Saturday morning, a day after the recruit hinted that he is likely committing to a program very soon.

Now, UMASS offering is a bit interesting. It’s no secret that Martin and Jackson had a strong relationship and there were strong rumors that the recruit may have even silently committed to South Carolina before Martin retired.

Many still believe this is a battle between the two blue bloods in UNC and Duke that is going to come down to the wire. UNC was the strong leader at one point but visits to Duke and South Carolina closed the gap for both of those programs.

Still, UNC appears to be in really good shape for this announcement that is likely coming soon.

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South Carolina still pushing for UNC target G.G. Jackson

The South Carolina Gamecocks could still be involved for UNC Basketball’s top recruiting target in the 2024 cycle.

The recruitment of five-star power forward [autotag]G.G. Jackson[/autotag] might be nearing an end soon and while many believe it’s a blue blood battle between UNC and Duke, South Carolina appears to be making one final push.

After firing Frank Martin and hiring Lamont Paris, the head coach visited Jackson’s high school on Monday to meet with the prospect. Paris is hoping to leave a good enough impression that Jackson will still consider the Gamecocks with a potential decision looming. And according to The State.com, the visit went well despite Paris and his new staff playing from behind in this recruitment:

“It went really well,” outgoing Ridge View basketball coach Yerrick Stoneman said on SportsTalk Radio show with Phil Kornblut. “Coach Paris is an amazing person. I think he is going to be similar to coach (Shane) Beamer. And the community is going to get behind him, want to be around him just because of his personality…. They are a little behind and he knows he is really behind, but they are really working hard to build that relationship between the Jacksons and himself.”

The meeting was a good first step, Stoneman told The State, as Paris laid out his vision for the program and how Jackson could fit in it. Jackson’s mother couldn’t make the meeting because of work, and another meeting could follow.

South Carolina could get another visit if the NCAA allows it thanks to Paris being a new head coach. But would it be enough to sway his decision?

Right now, it’s believed to be a two-team race between the Tar Heels and Blue Devils heading into their Final Four showdown this weekend. And depending on who you ask, both teams are the favorites.

Buckle up, because this recruitment is coming down to the wire.

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Five-star prospect dishes on UNC basketball program in recruitment

Five-star shooting guard Cam Scott dished on the UNC Basketball program and his recruitment in a recent interview.

While all the focus appears to be on G.G. Jackson in the 2024 recruiting class, the UNC basketball program does have other offers out to prospects they are hoping to add to their class.

Among them is five-star guard [autotag]Cam Scott[/autotag].  The Lexington, South Carolina native has a total of 10 offers in his recruitment and things are starting to heat up for the talented shooting guard.

Scott recently talked to On3’s Jamie Shaw about his recruitment and where things stand at the moment. In the interview, Scott dished on some of the top programs that are in pursuit including the Tar Heels. Here is what he had to say about UNC in his recruitment:

North Carolina: “Their whole thing is playing somewhere I feel comfortable. They have had a lot of great players play there, a lot of great players at my position there. They want me to be the one to come in and follow them.”

In addition to UNC, he also talked about Florida State, Kentucky and South Carolina, all teams amping up the pursuit to land him.

The 2024 cycle still has a long way to go, and UNC has yet to have a commitment in that class. However, they do have Seth Trimble coming in for 2022 and Simeon Wilcher for 2023 at the guard spots. There is room for a talented wing like Scott to come in and stand out in Chapel Hill.

He’s already been on campus before and it does appear as if UNC is a team to watch in this race.

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UNC basketball recruit Seth Trimble named AP Player of Year in Wisconsin

UNC Basketball guard Seth Trimble earned AP Player of the Year honors in the state of Wisconsin to wrap up his career at Menomonee Falls.

As the UNC basketball program heads to New Orleans for the Final Four, recruits are wrapping up their senior seasons before they arrive on campus in a few months.

[autotag]Hubert Davis[/autotag] and his staff have an impressive 2022 class that features four recruits with one of those recruits, Will Shaver, already with the team. But joining Shaver will be four-star guard [autotag]Seth Trimble[/autotag], four-star center Jalen Washington and three-star forward Tyler Nickel. The new recruiting class will look to come in and make an impact right away and help find more success next season.

For Trimble, he’s wrapping up his senior year at Menomonee Falls with a big season. And he’s being rewarded for it.

Trimble was named the AP Player of the Year for the state of Wisconsin on Monday, capping off a stellar season:

He adds this accolade to others including being named the Gatorade Player of the Year for Wisconsin as well.

The 6-foot-3, 184-pound Trimble committed to UNC over 14 other offers including Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, and Wisconsin among others.

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Top UNC basketball recruiting target close to a decision

The UNC Basketball program will soon find out their fate in the race for a big five-star recruiting target after the 2022 NCAA Tournament.

Hubert Davis and his North Carolina Tar Heels are focused on one thing right now, getting to the Final Four.  But ahead of their matchup with Saint Peter’s on Sunday afternoon, some news regarding a big recruiting target emerged.

Rivals.com’s Rob Cassidy wrote about five-star power forward [autotag]G.G. Jackson[/autotag] on Sunday morning, talking about his recruitment and what we should expect here in the coming weeks. And in the article, Cassidy writes that Jackson is close to a decision and it should come after the 2022 NCAA Tournament is completed within the next two weeks.

Jackson also spoke on his communication with Hubert Davis and the Tar Heels recently:

“I texted with [North Carolina head coach Hubert] Davis before they played the UCLA game and gave him my opinion on what that game was going to be like and all that,” Jackson said. “It’s always all love with him and all love around there. I liked watching them. They don’t play as many guys as other programs do, so this [tournament run] surprised me a little. Obviously Coach Hubert knows what he’s doing, though. It seems like all the coaches and the players are always on the same page.”

For the longest time Jackson appeared to be a lock to UNC as the Tar Heels picked up crystal ball predictions for him. However, with South Carolina out of the mix after firing Frank Jackson, things may have swung in favor of the Blue Devils instead.

Duke picked up two crystal ball predictions from writers on 247Sports’ The Devils Den but both with low confidence. Both teams do believe they are the frontrunners and with Jackson keeping his decision very private, it’s anyone’s guess at this point.

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Tar Heels reach out to intriguing guard in transfer portal

The UNC basketball program is showing interest in this guard out of the Missouri Valley Conference that is in the transfer portal.

The North Carolina Tar Heels have found success in the transfer portal in recent years, most notably with Cameron Johnson and now Brady Manek here this season. While the focus is still on the NCAA Tournament, UNC is starting to take a peek at the portal as this season starts to wind down.

And they have their eyes on an intriguing guard.

According to Jake Weingartern of Stockrisers, North Carolina is among a handful of teams that has reached out to Illinois State guard Antonio Reeves  recently. The Chicago native has entered the transfer portal and is drawing some interest early on from programs.

The junior guard averaged 20.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game for the Redbirds this past season. He committed to Illinois State over programs like Chicago State, Northern Illinois and Detroit among a few others.

But UNC does have some competition in the portal. Teams like Duke, Memphis, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Texas Tech, Alabama and Oklahoma among others have reached out.

UNC’s season is still alive and there’s a LONG ways to go before everything is finalized with the roster. However, it’s very likely Caleb Love tests the NBA Draft waters at a minimum and even with R.J. Davis likely back and Simeon Wilcher coming in, UNC needs depth.

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Former UNC guard in transfer portal again

Former UNC basketball point guard Jeremiah Francis is in the transfer portal once again after two seasons at New Mexico.

Former UNC basketball point guard Jeremiah Francis is heading to the transfer portal once again.

A former three-star point guard in North Carolina’s 2019 class, Francis is back in the portal for the second time as he looks for a new home starting next season. Francis played one season with North Carolina back in 2019-2020 but opted to transfer out. He landed at New Mexico where he played two seasons and is now in the portal.

Francis averaged 3.3 points and 1.6 assists for UNC in that one season, appearing in just 16 games as he recovered from a knee injury. The talented point guard out of Ohio battled injuries throughout his high school career, forcing him to miss the final two games.

He averaged a career-best 6.4 points and 2.2 assists per game during the 2020-21 season for New Mexico.

The 6-foot, 210-pound guard was ranked No 179 overall, No. 19 point guard and No. 4 player in the state of Ohio per the 247Sports rankings. He picked UNC over a total of 15 offers.

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Armando Bacot has message for UNC recruiting targets

UNC basketball forward Armando Bacot had an interesting message for recruiting targets on why they should come to Chapel Hill.

The UNC basketball program will take on No. 4 UCLA in the Sweet 16 in Philadelphia on Friday with a trip to the Elite 8 on the line. But before that game, the players spoke to the media on Thursday about their run and some other interesting things.

Among the notable quotes out there is junior forward Armando Bacot who gave a little bit of a recruiting pitch to UNC targets in future classes.

On a question asked about Hubert Davis and the value of coming to a school to be coached by someone who played in the NBA, Bacot had a simple answer that recruits should listen to via Inside Carolina:

“I would just say for all recruits, I don’t know why they wouldn’t look at the way we play and not want to go here or consider going here. We’ve got Coach Sullivan, too, who was in the NBA for 20 years and then Coach Lebo who coached in the NBA. A lot of things we do best defensively, icing the ball screens, the offense kind of free form and shooting a lot of threes, spacing the floor out. It’s a lot of opportunities to show those type of things that NBA teams like. It’s just great and fun to be able to do, and yeah, we enjoy it.”

Bacot picked North Carolina over a handful of schools, including Duke, and since he arrived on campus in 2019, he’s improved each year and is now being honored for his big junior year.

Davis and the Tar Heels do have an impressive 2022 class coming in and are still looking to add to the 2023 class which has five-star guard Simeon Wilcher committed. Their top target, G.G. Jackson, is reportedly down to UNC, Duke and South Carolina.

But Bacot is right. This system favors the players and the pace is a fun one to play in. And we have a feeling someone like Jackson would fit in perfectly…

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