Tar Heels Tidbits: Tar Heels travel to Louisville, recruiting updates & more

Tar Heels travel to Louisville, baseball season starts Friday night, and Ty Lawson could be back in the NBA soon

The red-hot North Carolina men’s basketball team travels to Louisville for an ever-important ACC matchup that will help shape the teams’ place in next month’s ACC Tournament. Both the Tar Heels and Cardinals are currently in the ACC’s upper echelon, but have work left to do in order to get a top-four seed and double-bye in their conference tourney.

The road to Omaha begins on Friday night when the Carolina baseball team takes on South Florida in Tampa.

Wayne Ellington will be under the bright lights this weekend when he participates in the NBA’s 3-point contest at All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles.

And Roy Williams is back on the recruiting trail this week, checking out a power forward in the class of 2020.

We’ve got all of that and more in this edition of Tar Heels Tidbits.

Baseball

• The North Carolina baseball team opens the season in Tampa on Friday night against South Florida. The No. 6 Tar Heels look to ride a solid pitching staff, highlighted by sensational sophomore right-hander Gianluca Dalatri, to the 2018 College World Series.

Basketball

• The Tar Heels look to extend their winning streak to five games on Saturday when they travel to Louisville to take on the Cardinals. With just four games remaining in the regular season, a win against Louisville would go a long way in securing the Tar Heels a double-bye in the ACC Tournament.
• Luke Maye and Joel Berry II have been named as two of the 30 finalists for the 2018 Naismith Award.

Football

• Former Arkansas State wide receivers coach and special teams coordinator Luke Paschall joined the North Carolina football staff on Thursday. Paschall spent two season in Chapel Hill as an offensive graduate assistant under head coach Larry Fedora.

UNC in the Pros

• Former North Carolina standout Ty Lawson could be making a return to the NBA after spending a year playing for the China Basketball Association. With All-Star point guard John Wall injured, the Washington Wizards are strongly considering Lawson to fill a roster spot in his absence.
• Miami Heat shooting guard Wayne Ellington will be one of eight participants in Saturday night’s 3-point contest in Los Angeles. The former Tar Heel is currently fifth in the NBA in made three-point field goals.

https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/964287933355147264

Recruiting

• North Carolina head coach Roy Williams and assistant coach Steve Robinson visited Day’ron Sharpe on Wednesday. Sharpe is a 6-foot-10, 220-pound power forward out of South Central High School in Winterville, North Carolina.
• Williams is also set to visit class of 2019 prospect Armando Bacot on Wednesday of next week. Bacot, a five-star power forward out of Trinity Episcopal School, is the No. 20 player in the 247Sports Composite and the top prospect in the state of Virginia.
• Class of 2018 UNC signee Nassir Little is projected as a lottery pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. ESPN’s latest mock draft has Little listed as the No. 4 prospect in next year’s star-studded draft class.
• With the 2018 recruiting cycle now complete, Keeping It Heel takes a look at scholarship offers, targets and potential fits for future North Carolina football classes.

Next: How Coby White turned down LaVar Ball