Even without a ton of incoming activity, the North Carolina Tar Heels are a winner in the college basketball transfer portal.
UNC snagged a major scoring reinforcement on Thursday, May 9, nabbing Cade Tyson from Belmont University. Exactly two weeks later, North Carolina found its replacement at starting power forward in Vanderbilt transfer Ven-Allen Lubin.
The Tar Heels’ only loss was James Okonkwo, a rarely-used reserve forward who transferred to Akron. There was hope Okonkwo would play more this upcoming season with Armando Bacot’s departure, but that’s not a guarantee.
UNC still has one more transfer portal goal, an experienced center, which seems that much more of a possibility now.
On Thursday, May 30, North Carolina was linked as College Sports Wire’s number two landing spot for Illinois transfer Coleman Hawkins, who recently withdrew his name from the NBA Draft.
“The Tar Heels recently added Ven-Allen Lubin from Vanderbilt to shore up depth in the frontcourt, but after losing both Armando Bacot and Harrison Ingram this offseason it makes sense for North Carolina to keep looking for more help,” Andy Patton wrote. “Hawkins would fit nicely alongside Lubin and rising junior Jalen Washington up front, and should see plenty of action in Hubert Davis’ system. If the Heels are willing to pony up, this is a nice fit for them as they try to keep up with Duke’s electric recruiting class.”
If UNC is able to snag Hawkins, I imagine him starting at center from Day One. Hawkins is 6’10”, coming off a career-high 12.1 points per game last season and – most importantly – he comes from a winning program that made the Elite Eight last season.
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