UNC Recruiting: Updates on basketball and football programs for April

Will UNC land a big man?

The Tar Heels had three post players signed in the 2017 class with Garrison Brooks, Sterling Manley, and Brandon Huffman. That was coming off a year in which they lost Isaiah Hicks and Kennedy Meeks to graduation and Tony Bradley Jr. to the NBA.

The lack of a dominant post player showed its ugly side at times for the Tar Heels this past season but we also saw some development. Both Brooks and Manley showed progress over the year and now they enter a big offseason in terms of their development and the future of the program.

As for future recruiting classes, UNC doesn’t have a big man signed in 2018 but they are still pursuing E.J. Montgomery.

Montgomery is one of the top players left unsigned in the 2018 class and would fill a big void in the post for UNC. He’d come in and make an impact right away.

The Tar Heels are currently battling Duke for Montgomery as well as Kentucky. Montgomery revealed at last week’s McDonald’s All-American Games that he will set official visits to schools soon, including UNC.

It’s rumored that UNC is starting to pick up steam in his recruitment but they still have to compete against Duke and Kentucky.

We’ve mentioned Baker and Hurt in the 2019 class but one of UNC’s top targets is power forward Armando Bacot.

Early in his recruitment, it appeared as if Duke was a lock for Bacot but now things have apparently changed. Bacot has taken unofficial visits to UNC over the past few months and Williams has been in to see the recruit.

Currently, the 247 Sports’ Crystal Ball has UNC in the lead at 56% and Duke at 44% but the last four predictions have been made for the Tar Heels.