UNC Basketball: What roles will Luke Maye and Kenny Williams have?
By Sam Lawrence
Kenny Williams and Luke Maye might not be enough for the Tar Heels
With the academic scandal looming over UNC, Roy Williams and the rest of the coaching staff were not able to bring in their usual load of talent in 2015.
Usually, Roy is able to work a little magic and land some heavily sought after recruits. This was not the case for 2015, as he only landed 4-star SG Kenny Williams and 3-star PF Luke Maye.
Williams, with a composite ranking of 97th in the nation, was previously committed to VCU until Shaka Smart decided to take his coaching abilities to the University of Texas. After finding out about his coaches departure, Williams decided to reopen his recruitment and ended up choosing UNC.
Maye, having a composite ranking of 156th in the nation, chose UNC over the likes of some lower Division 1 schools. The 6-foot-7 power forward was an interesting grab for Roy Williams, as not many players at his caliber are usually targeted by the UNC staff.
As freshmen, Maye and Williams had very limited minutes due to the veteran depth the 2015-2016 Tar Heels possessed. Due to their limited playing time, neither players were able to put up noteworthy numbers. The Tar Heel nation was also unable to see the potential that these young men had and still do not know what their future holds in the upcoming years.
Although we are able to make some educated guesses.
In the 2016-2017 season, North Carolina will have a large amount of depth in the backcourt, forcing Kenny Williams to fight for his playing time. With incoming guards Seventh Woods and Brandon Robinson, combined with the veteran depth of Joel Berry, Nate Britt, and Theo Pinson, Williams will have to put in a lot of work in the offseason in order to earn himself some playing time.
The case is quite different for Luke Maye.
With the departure of Brice Johnson and Joel James, the Tar Heels are left with 4 big men to do the job. The starters are without a question seniors Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks. This leaves Luke Maye and incoming freshman Tony Bradley to contribute some key playing time off the bench.
Maye will mostly likely be the fourth big man on the court, but this will likely not take away his playing time. Roy Williams is known to use all of his players, and with the lack of true depth down low, Maye will see plenty of playing time.
North Carolina still has a strong group of veterans after the departure of beloved seniors Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson. This leaves the Tar Heel nation with a sense of security for the oncoming season, but the same is not to be said about the ones after it.
Little can be said about the quality of teams North Carolina will have after 2016-2017. So many things could affect them such as early departures or strong recruiting classes.
But one thing for sure is that Kenny Williams and Luke Maye need to become the player that Roy Williams saw in them. Every player Roy recruits have potential, whether it’s unlocked or not.
His job is to unleash that potential and make reliable veterans out of the 2015 class. Although the odds are against them, these two might become exactly what UNC needs.
Only time will tell.