UNC Basketball: Here’s where Tar Heels stand with Cole Anthony

Tar Heels making strong push for 5-star prospect Cole Anthony

With longstanding commitments from two top-75 guards in the class of 2019, Roy Williams and the North Carolina Tar Heels have been heavily focused on obtaining talented front court players in order to withstand the looming departures of senior starters Luke Maye, Kenny Williams and Cameron Johnson. Add to that the Tar Heels’ crop of unproven sophomore bigs, and a lot of uncertainty surrounds the future of the UNC interior.

With Coby White’s steady development and increased national exposure over the past year, though, North Carolina has to prepare for the possibility that his stay in Chapel Hill might be a brief one. And despite the obvious guard-oriented skill set of Rechon Black, the 6-foot-8, 185-pound hybrid point-forward may never play a day at the point guard position.

Seventh Woods is showing improvement and may be ready to take over the lead guard role at North Carolina, but he’s set to graduate in the spring of 2020. With his eligibility winding down, and the uncertainty of the talented, but oft-injured 2019 commit Jeremiah Francis, the Tar Heels are in need of reinforcements in the back court.

That’s why the recruitment of Cole Anthony has become such an important one for the Tar Heels and their Hall-of-Fame head coach. And it explains why they’ve made such a strong push in his recruitment over the past few months, hoping to nab a player that many feel is the best in his class.

It’s that push that has many, including Rivals recruiting analyst Eric Bossi, favoring the Tar Heels in Anthony’s recruitment.

"“North Carolina has been rumored to be the team to beat in Anthony’s recruitment and the Heels have had him on campus,” Bossi said. “So have Notre Dame and Oregon after this last weekend. The next step for Anthony is to shave some teams off his list. But, barring a surprise, look for him to take his time in making a decision.”"

And according to predictions from recruiting experts on 247Sports — namely Director of Basketball Scouting, Jerry Meyer — the Tar Heels are currently the favorite to land the five-star combo guard.

Meyer, along with recruiting experts from Duke and Kentucky, have all cast their votes in recent weeks. Each of them chose North Carolina as Anthony’s most likely landing spot. Past predictions for Duke are still included in the odds, but North Carolina is now a 67 percent favorite to snag the talented guard.

Anthony’s recruitment is one that is expected to last well into the spring, likely dragging on into college basketball’s late signing period. And although he still has a list of a dozen possible schools, he’s expected to substantially reduce that number in the coming weeks. Once he does cut his list, North Carolina is one of the few programs considered a shoe-in to make the cut.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for more on the Tar Heels’ pursuit of Anthony throughout the upcoming college basketball season.