UNC Basketball Recruiting: It’s Really All About Julius Randle
By Matt Hamm
During the off season of college sports two premiere draws basketball and football, the excitement of recruiting heats up. The hot bed of college basketball recruiting is taking place right now on the AAU circuit. The Tar Heels have been all around the country scouting many prospects for the 2013-2015 classes. Some of the top names Carolina is in the hunt for include Troy Williams who says he will decide by next weekend. And other top perimeter players like Jabari Parker, Nick King, and Keith Frazier just to name a few.
The 2012 Tar Heels will be extremely deep on the perimeter with Dexter Strickland and Leslie McDonald returning from injury. They will join rising junior Reggie Bullock, sophomore PJ Hairston and incoming freshman JP Tokoto. Calling this group stacked would be an understatement. UNC will also be deep in 2013 considering only Strickland is set to graduate.
With all the available talent on the perimeter amongst the undecided prospects and the depth on the roster. The perimeter isn’t nearly of as much importance as adding talent inside the paint. Roy Williams has already added one of the top talents in the 2013 class in PF Isiah Hicks. With Joel James and Brice Johnson coming in the 2012 class, a solid foundation has been built. The likely departure of James Michael McAdoo after the 2012 season emphasizes the need for at least one more big time talent inside.
Landing Julius Randle, ranked as the #2 prospect in the 2013 class is pivotal. Roy has a lot of time invested in Randle who he has been recruiting since early in his sophomore year. Randle is a dynamic PF, he can face up and create his own shot as well as any big man I’ve seen in a long time, maybe better than McAdoo coming out of HS. Randle is a very good shooter who knocks down the mid range shot as consistently as most perimeter players with three point range. His athleticism is another strength, Randle can run the floor and finish at the rim better than any other big in the class.
Pairing Randle with Isiah Hicks would be instantly dynamic. In my view, their games would complement one another’s perfectly. Hicks is a better post player and doesn’t hang around on the perimeter like Randle does. Both players like the ball in their hands but command a different part of the court and play such different styles it’s conceivable they could mesh their games together almost instantly. In other words, the pairing seems natural, like a match made in basketball heaven and Roy knows it. That’s why he’s been recruiting Randle so hard the last two years and continues to do so.
Roy would like to see Troy Williams who’s decision between Kentucky and Carolina will tentatively be decided by next weekend end up in Chapel Hill. But he’s done a great job of keeping tabs on the classes other perimeter stars not just Williams and Parker. I receive a lot of questions via Twitter, email or whatever asking “Why hasn’t UNC offered ___ player yet?” the reason is simple. Roy Williams has been watching this class for a couple years now. He has two recruits in hand already and four official offers out. He will not over extend himself and have more offers out than he can take onto his program (running a clean program basically).
Roy also knows that many of these players, especially a few in the 2014 class (most notably Joel Berry) want to play for UNC already. He doesn’t need to waste his time breathing down their necks, making official offers now and pressing for decisions. It’s time to focus on the most important prospect to Roy Williams and Carolina, Julius Randle.
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