The North Carolina Tar Heels only have two basketball stars locked up in their 2025 recruiting class – and just two targets remaining.
UNC lost its greatest target on Tuesday, Dec. 10, when the Class of 2025’s top-ranked player in AJ Dybantsa chose BYU.
Dybantsa currently plays his high school ball at Utah Prep, so I can understand his choice if location was a factor, but there are rumors Dybantsa also chose a $7 million NIL bag.
With Dybantsa now gone, North Carolina now needs to focus all its 2025 recruiting attention on Caleb Wilson, a 5-star power forward from Atlanta, Ga.
Wilson, who plays his high school ball at Holy Innocents Episcopal School, is the Class of 2025’s fifth-ranked player. Wilson is the nation’s third-ranked power forward, plus Georgia’s top overall player.
The Tar Heels already have commitments from 4-star combo guards Isaiah Denis and Derek Dixon, but they have yet to land a 5-star.
Caleb Wilson’s recruitment just became extremely more important. A lot of folks have no faith in Hubert recruiting.
— William McCallister (@WilliamMcCall_) December 10, 2024
UNC hasn’t totally bombed in Class of 2025 recruiting, but it has lost out on two of its greatest targets. In addition to losing out on Dybantsa, North Carolina previously watched Jasper Johnson commit to Kentucky.
If the Tar Heels’ original 2025 class was based on offers alone, they’d have one of the nation’s best, but sadly, we are in a recruiting era where kids are choosing money over tradition.
I can’t blame recruits for chasing a bag, as they’ll be setting themselves (and their families) up for a better future. NIL is helping less-established programs lure in top-recruits, such as BYU with Dybantsa, but it’s also turning college sports more professional.
If UNC lands Wilson and Nate Ament, UNC’s other Class of 2025 target, its Dybantsa miss matters a lot less. If Wilson – and/or Ament – choose elsewhere, Hubert Davis will have to seriously reconsider his recruiting efforts.
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