North Carolina native Jarin Stevenson made the decision to go out of state and pick Alabama over North Carolina last month, reclassifying from 2024 to 2023 and joining the Crimson Tide.
It was a tough recruiting loss for the Tar Heels who had pursued Stevenson for nearly two years. It was even tougher to lose a recruit right in their own backyard.
But there were some factors in Stevenson’s decision that led him to Tuscaloosa rather than staying in Chapel Hill and playing for the Tar Heels.
Andrew Carter of the News & Observer wrote on Stevenson’s recruitment as part of a series that documents what it’s like being a top recruit in college basketball in 2023. In the piece on Stevenson, it talks about some factors in the recruit’s decision and the biggest one appeared to be playing time, which took UNC and Virginia out of the race.
At UNC, Stevenson left his visit having “learned a lot,” he said. Among the lessons: “Playing time might be tough” if he were to reclassify. Davis, he said, made no such promises. His message was one of competing and working hard and though Stevenson understood he’d need to do that anywhere, he especially valued “a place where I can show off my abilities.” Meanwhile, he and his parents were still debating the decisions in front of them.
At UNC, “Coach Davis, he believes in me a lot,” Jarin said. It helped that Davis had a well-earned reputation as one of the kindest people in college basketball. Jarin knew the history of the place, the tradition; he took pride in being a legacy, and that his mom played there. And yet the concerns remained obvious, too: that Davis, for all his positivity and character, didn’t have much use for his bench during his first two seasons as the Tar Heels’ head coach. That seven players transferred out of UNC after last season. That, well, Jarin didn’t see much of a path to playing, at least not early.
With Stevenson’s goal of getting to the NBA, reclassifying felt like a good step towards that path. The Tar Heels added two players in the 2023 class and five out of the transfer portal plus returned Armando Bacot and R.J. Davis.
So playing time in 2023 might have been tough for Stevenson. And seeing the exodus after last season with playing time being a contributing factor, it makes sense to see why Stevenson picked Alabama.
Follow us @TarHeelsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.