UNC Recruiting: Class of 2018 forward Nate Laszewski sets official visit

North Carolina going all in on big men in the class of 2018

The University of North Carolina men’s basketball program continues to search high and low for its next batch of interior players after the loss of its three most important big men during the team’s championship run in 2017.

Although the Tar Heels were prepared for the loss of senior forwards Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks, the need for additional big men became particularly important when freshman center Tony Bradley unexpectedly left Chapel Hill after just one season.

Since then, head coach Roy Williams has been throwing out a broad net in hopes of finding post players from the 2018 and 2019 classes, presumably so that this situation doesn’t happen again.

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The Tar Heels will likely start junior forward Luke Maye this season, who with all of his fanfare and individual growth last year, is still just a reserve player with limited experience.

Williams has offered a number of scholarships to front court players in recent weeks, most notably five-star prospects Simisola Shittu and Nassir Little from the class of 2018, and Vernon Carey and James Wiseman from the 2019 class.

Throw in scholarship offers to the highly coveted Zion Williamson and Mathew Hurt, and the Tar Heels have done just about everything they can to snatch a couple of elite big men over the next two recruiting cycles.

Along with the aforementioned players, Williams has also put offers out there to some high-level four-star prospects in recent weeks. One of those prospects, Nate Laszewski, has decided to take an official visit to North Carolina, per a report from Inside Carolina.

Laszewski is a 6-foot-10, 190-pound power forward from Northfield, Massachusetts, currently attending Northfield Mount Hermon. He’s set to visit UNC on September 23rd.

His tall, wiry frame might remind Tar Heels fans of a young Brice Johnson, but his skill from the three-point line makes him a much more perimeter oriented player than the former first team All-American.

"“I’m more on the perimeter, kind of like a stretch ‘4,’” Laszewski told Inside Carolina. “I’m able to stretch the court with my shooting, but I can also make plays off the bounce and go hard inside if I need to and mix it up. Coach Williams said he hasn’t had a whole lot of bigger guys who can stretch the floor recently like me, but with Luke Maye doing a little bit of it last year he likes the idea of having more of it.”"

Laszewski will take trips to Notre Dame and Wake Forest in the month of September before making his way to Chapel Hill. He also has offers from Arizona, Indiana, Virginia, Vanderbilt and Wisconsin, and may very well plan visits to a number of those schools, too.

Laszewski is the No. 87 player in the class of 2018 according to the 247Sports Composite. He’s the 26th-ranked player at his position and a top-5 prospect in the state of Massachusetts.

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