Tag: UNC Tar Heels

Blue-blood rival takes top spot in Jasper Johnson predictions

Jasper Johnson, a five-star recruit in the class of 2025, is predicted to commit to this North Carolina rival.

The Class of 2025 has been a hot topic for the North Carolina Tar Heels recruiting reporters. With the Heels in the running for the No. 1 and No. 5 overall prospects, AJ Dybantsa and Koa Peat respectively, it is easy to overlook players beyond the top 10.

Star guard, Jasper Johnson, is the 12th-ranked player in the class, the No. 2 player at his position and the No. 3 prospect out of Georgia. He is also the teammate of No. 9 prospect Meleek Thomas. No. 6 Caleb Wilson is the top player out of the state.

This summer, Johnson signed with Overtime Elite forgoing his last year of high school basketball. He spent his sophomore year at Woodford County in Kentucky before playing his junior year at Link Academy in Missouri.

247Sports lists Johnson’s top five choices as Arkansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Louisville and Alabama in no particular order. However, On3 has more light to shed on the recruiting news. Its prediction meter is up to 75.5% in favor of Tar Heel rival Kentucky.

Despite the news the five-star recruit was favoring Kentucky, there were some things that he admired. However, he has yet to commit, so North Carolina isn’t out of the race despite its current 3.2% chance of landing the guard.

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Top 2025 basketball recruit cuts list down to 7

The UNC basketball program made the cut for the top overall recruit in the 2025 class.

The No. 1 ranked player in the nation coming out of the basketball recruiting class of 2025 has announced his final seven teams in his decision and the North Carolina Tar Heels are one of those teams.

AJ Dybantsa is a 6-foot-9 small forward who will play this season at Utah Prep in Hurricane, Utah, after playing for Prolific Prep in California last year. North Carolina was among 30+ teams to offer Dybantsa a scholarship and has made it to the final listing. The official offer from Hubert Davis and company came back in October of 2023.

In addition to UNC, Dybantsa has also included Baylor, Alabama, BYU, Auburn, Kansas State, and Kansas.

Adam Finkelstein of 247Sports had this to say about Dybantsa projecting him to be a future top pick:

“Dybantsa possesses a lethal pull-up game with a high release and a smooth ball rotation. He was the leading scorer in the 2023 Peach Jam as an underclassman and shows flashes of untapped potential on defense thanks to his size and movement skills.”

Dybantsa was the former Gatorade Player of the Year in Massachusetts after averaging 19.1 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.6 blocks per game for St. Sebastian’s school as a freshman.

A visit from the five-star to Chapel Hill is highly likely in the future now with the acknowledgment of his desire.

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Duke basketball offers four-star 2026 forward Miikka Muurinen

Duke basketball extended an offer to fast-rising 2026 prospect Miikka Muurinen.

2026 feels like the distant future, but considering that it’ll be 2025 on the calendar once Duke basketball reaches the ACC portion of its schedule this season, the future will be here before we know it.

That said, Jon Scheyer and the Blue Devils will likely focus considerable recruiting resources on the Class of 2026, and there are some terrific prospects for them to choose from. One of them, power forward Miikka Muurinen, received an offer from Duke over the weekend, according to 247Sports’ Travis Branham.

Muurinen, who plays for Compass Prep in Arizona, is originally from Finland. He stands 6-foot-10 and currently ranks as 247Sports’ 44th-ranked player in the Class of 2026, but many recruiting insiders expect him to receive a boost on all recruiting services. Branham named Muurinen the ‘biggest riser’ from Peach Jam, where he averaged 18 points and four rebounds per game for Bradley Beal’s Elite 16U squad.

He shot 62 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range (14-for-28 over six games) as he helped his team win an EYBL championship.

“Muurinen was oozing with talent and upside and looked every bit like a top-10 recruit in the 2026 class,” Branham wrote.

With his stock rising, expect Muurinen’s recruitment to reach astronomical heights in the coming months. Kentucky has also offered him thanks to his Peach Jam performance. His mother played college basketball for the University of North Carolina, so it shouldn’t come as a shock if UNC is a significant factor in this recruitment in the future.

Duke basketball offers 2025 shooting guard Braylon Mullins

Braylon Mullins is the latest 2025 player to receive an offer from Duke.

Duke’s 2025 high school recruiting board keeps taking shape as the Blue Devils extended another offer on Sunday, this time to shooting guard Braylon Mullins.

The newest recruiting target hails from Greenfield, Indiana, and plays his high school ball for Greenfield-Central High School. He stands 6-foot-5 and weighs in at 180 pounds, and a terrific spring and summer have vaulted his stock through the roof. He started this offseason as the No. 94 prospect on 247Sports’ rankings, but offensive strides as a scorer (25.0 points per game last season) and a playmaker (3.2 assists) helped him rise all the way to No. 23 in the updated rankings.

His skill set at such a young age is worthy of praise and definitely contributed to his rise. He’s dominated the Adidas 3SSB Circuit and has seen the offers flood in from the nation’s best basketball programs, including Connecticut, North Carolina, and Indiana.

In an interview with Steve Clark of 247Sports, Mullins revealed that he already has eight official visits lined up. The list includes the Huskies, the Tar Heels, the Hoosiers, Michigan State, Purdue, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee, all of whom will eagerly await his arrival. These visits are not just a testament to Mullins’ talent but also a source of excitement for the basketball community, as they eagerly await his potential choices.

Duke’s interest in Mullins has been palpable this summer, with the Blue Devils watching him play on numerous occasions. While they hadn’t made an offer yet, it was clear that they were familiar with his game and were admirers of his skills. After another impressive weekend on the circuit, the Blue Devils finally made their move and offered Mullins on Sunday, adding to the anticipation of his potential recruitment.

Will Duke’s offer change things and have Mullins push the Blue Devils into the mix? We have no clue, but it should certainly give Mullins something to think about as he attempts to narrow down his recruitment ahead of his final year of high school.

Duke offers 2025 CG Acaden Lewis

Duke offers 2025 CG Acaden Lewis.

2025 will be a massive year for Jon Scheyer, no matter what happens for him and his program in 2024. The hope is that, by this time next year, the Blue Devils will be figuring out how to repeat as national champions if we work under the assumption that their efforts to surround generational prospect Cooper Flagg with a championship-caliber team were indeed successful.

Even without that assumption, we know a few almost undoubtedly true things. Duke will lose at least four players from this year’s roster. Five, considering this will likely be junior Tyrese Proctor’s last year as a Duke Blue Devil.

With the departure of key players, Duke will again face a significant challenge in rebuilding the team to maintain its competitive edge next year.

Assuming Proctor leaves alongside Sion James, who only has one year of eligibility remaining, Duke will need actual ball handlers on next year’s team. It’s too far out to know who will be available via the transfer portal, so it makes sense why Duke recently offered 2025 combo guard Acaden Lewis.

Lewis is ranked as the 34th-best prospect in 247Sports player rankings for the class of 2025. He’s ranked nationally as the sixth-best combo guard and the number-one player from Washington, D.C.

 

In the film, you see a 6-foot-3 guard who thrives on using ball screens to get downhill, where he can finish with either hand. He is quite proficient in using mid-range jump shots or floaters to score. He uses pace to make defenders uneasy.

He has an effortless release and range. He also showcased the ability to be a proficient spot-up shooter. He has the versatility that Scheyer covets and could be a fit either playing on or off the ball in Durham.

He is being recruited heavily by UNC, Maryland, Georgetown, Kentucky, and Virginia Tech.

North Carolina’s RJ Davis coming back for a fifth year? One report says yes

Another year of RJ Davis in Chapel Hill? Say it ain’t so! One CBS writer says the All-American has already made up his mind.

Duke fans might have accidentally got two pieces of bad news in quick succession on Tuesday afternoon.

North Carolina guard Seth Trimble announced he’d withdrawn himself from the transfer portal. In response to the news, CBS senior writer Matt Norlander said that All-American guard RJ Davis is expected to make the same decision to stay in the coming days.

Davis started 118 games across the last four years for the Tar Heels, but with the one-year extension due to COVID-19, he could still exercise a fifth year if he wants. He’s yet to officially say he’ll be back in 2024-25, but Norlander said the decision’s already been made.

The First Team All-American and ACC Player of the Year last season, Davis averaged 21.2 points per game along with 3.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists. The Blue Devils managed to hold him in check, however, as he averaged 13.0 points per game and shot 34.6% from the floor against Duke.

If he’d decided to forgo his extra year for the NBA, all four double-digit scorers from last year’s UNC team would leave the program this offseason. Armando Bacot and Cormac Ryan are already out of eligibility, and Harrison Ingram declared for the NBA draft.

Davis’s official announcement is expected by the end of this week.

UNC’s Seth Trimble withdraws from transfer portal, will return to Chapel Hill

UNC will lose at least three starters from the 2023-24 season, but the Tar Heels are no longer losing sophomore Seth Trimble.

Duke fans hoping for a complete depletion in Chapel Hill this offseason received some bad news on Tuesday.

Tar Heels guard Seth Trimble announced that he’d withdrawn his name from the transfer portal, confirming he would return to North Carolina for the 2024-25 season.

As a sophomore, Trimble averaged 17.1 minutes per game across his 35 appearances. He scored 5.2 points per game, shooting 47.0% from the floor and 41.9% from beyond the arc.

North Carolina still loses a lot of talent for the 2024-25 season. Longtime center Armando Bacot is out of eligibility after a half-decade career, as is transfer guard Cormac Ryan. Harrison Ingram declared for the NBA draft, and All-American RJ Davis has yet to officially announce whether he’ll stick around for next season.

Should Davis leave, even with Trimble coming back, that’d be 59.4 points per game out the window between those four names alone.

Duke rises to No. 6 in D1Baseball poll after first road series win against Virginia Tech in years

Duke keeps rising in latest D1Baseball poll, moving up to No. 6 after they took a ranked road series against Virginia Tech.

Duke’s weekend in Blacksburg was full of excitement as Duke won a road series against Virginia Tech for the first time in six years. Both Duke wins came with late-inning dramatics, as the Blue Devils fought back and won the game late.

For their efforts against a top-25 team, the Blue Devils saw themselves rise one spot to No. 6 in the latest D1Baseball poll.

Duke’s win puts them two games behind UNC for the Coastal Division lead as the Blue Devils enter the home stretch of the regular season.

At the top of the newest D1Baseball poll, the Texas A&M Aggies remain the nation’s number one team. Arkansas is second while the Tennessee Volunteers are third. Kentucky and ACC foe Clemson are ranked ahead of Duke at fourth and fifth, respectively.

East Carolina, Wake Forest, and Oklahoma State follow in order before Duke’s next ACC opponent, Florida State, slots in at 10th.

The rest of the ACC continues to be well represented in the poll, with Virginia and North Carolina ranked 14th and 15th, respectively, while NC State ranked 21st.

Duke will remain on the road for a midweek game against a tough Campbell Camels team before returning home for a top-10 weekend series against the Florida State Seminoles.

North Carolina starter Harrison Ingram declares for the NBA draft

Harrison Ingram, who averaged 17.5 points and recorded two double-doubles against Duke last year, won’t return to Chapel Hill.

North Carolina starter Harrison Ingram won’t return to Chapel Hill next season.

The 6-foot-7 forward announced through social media on Saturday that he would be declaring for the NBA draft.

Ingram averaged 17.5 points and 11.5 rebounds against Duke last season, recording a double-double in both games. He likely irked Blue Devils fans the most in the first game when he made five of his nine 3-point attempts in a nine-point victory.

For the season, Ingram averaged 12.2 points and 8.8 rebounds. It was his first season playing for the Tar Heels after he started his career with Stanford.

With Ingram leaving and Armando Bacot and Cormac Ryan both out of eligibility, the UNC starting five will be more than 50% depleted this offseason. Hubert Davis still awaits the decision, at least publicly, of All-American RJ Davis to see if he’s losing a fourth starter.

Duke finishes at No. 9 in final AP poll

Four ACC teams, including Duke, crack final AP poll of the 2023-2024 season.

While the season’s outcome was not what many expected when Duke took the floor to start the season, Jon Scheyer’s team was, in essence, just 12 minutes from a Final Four berth.

NC State made more plays down the stretch and ultimately ended Duke’s season before having their season ended by national runner-up Purdue. Connecticut was always the best team from beginning to end, and they proved it by doing what hadn’t been done since Billy Donovan’s Florida Gators teams in 2006–07: winning a second consecutive national title.

It should come as no surprise that the Huskies end the season as the No. 1 team in the final AP poll for the 2023-2024 season. Purdue was second, while Houston, whom Duke beat in the Sweet 16, tied with Alabama for the third-place spot. Tennessee checked in at number five.

Illinois was next at No. 6, followed by North Carolina, Iowa State, and Duke. NC State rounds out the top 10 despite never joining the poll during the regular season. Clemson, one of four ACC schools to make at least the Sweet 16, finished at No. 14.

The ACC had the same number of teams in the final AP poll as the Big 12, with four each.