UNC Basketball: Tar Heels the favorite for 5-star wing Josh Green?

Is North Carolina in the lead for 5-star wing Josh Green?

Australian-born Josh Green burst onto the scene this spring, skyrocketing to a five-star ranking and becoming a nationally recognized player in the process.

The 6-foot-6, 190-pound Green is a smart, athletic, talented scorer who’s asserted himself as one of the nation’s top wings, gaining the attention of just about every coach in college hoops.

It took him no time to compile a list of scholarship offers that reads like a who’s who of college basketball’s elite programs. In all, Green has somewhere near a bagillion offers, but the list is headlined by Arizona, Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA, Villanova and Virginia.

Since officially joining the Green sweepstakes a couple of months ago, Roy Williams and company have made a strong push for his commitment. Green had already shown a considerable amount of interest in the Tar Heels prior to their scholarship offer in late July.

Shortly after, Green trimmed his list of schools down to just six, and included North Carolina among the finalists. Also included in his list of a half-dozen teams is Arizona, Kansas, UNLV, USC and Villanova.

More good news for the Tar Heels is that the 247Sports Crystal Ball favors them by a considerable margin over second-place Arizona. North Carolina is currently an 83 percent favorite to land Green over the Wildcats, who have received just one of the six votes tallied on the site. It’s also worth noting that just two weeks ago 247Sports Director of Basketball Scouting Jerry Meyer predicted that Green would pick North Carolina.

In a recent report, Rivals recruiting expert Corey Evans stated that he felt as if Arizona, North Carolina and Villanova had the edge over Kansas, UNLV and USC. He also noted that Green’s recruitment was still in the early stages, and would probably last a bit longer than most. In my mind, it’s likely that Green will wait to make his decision in the spring after he has had an opportunity to take official visits, and potentially cut his list one more time.

Green is the 11th-ranked player in the class of 2019 according to the 247Sports Composite. He’s a top-3 shooting guard in the class, and the No. 3 prospect from the state of Florida.

Stick with Keeping It Heel in the coming months for more on the Tar Heels’ pursuit of Green, and the entire class of 2019.