UNC Basketball: Analyst says Tar Heels ‘difficult to beat’ for this prospect

The UNC basketball program may have a leg up on the competition when it comes to this 4-star shooting guard

With just one remaining target from the class of 2019 left on the board for North Carolina — small forward Precious Achiuwa, who’s set to announce his college decision this weekend — the Tar Heels have shifted nearly all of their focus to next year’s class.

They got off to a good start, thanks to an early commitment from 4-star center and No. 33 overall prospect Day’Ron Sharpe. The 6-foot-10, 246-pound Sharpe will be a nice addition to UNC’s front court trio of Garrison Brooks, Sterling Manley and Brandon Huffman, as well as incoming freshman center Armando Bacot, should he choose to remain on campus for more than one season.

Roy Williams and company have already extended seven other scholarship offers to players in the 2020 class, and have their sights set on a handful of others. Those numbers will obviously increase in the coming months as the Tar Heels look to hedge their bets in a difficult recruiting landscape that saw unfamiliar programs like Memphis, USC and Georgia land in the top-10 of the 247Sports 2019 team rankings.

One player that North Carolina may hold a marked advantage with is 4-star shooting guard Bryce Thompson, whose father played under then-Tulsa head coach Steve Robinson in the mid-90’s. Robinson is now, of course, an assistant coach at UNC, and heading up the Thompson recruitment.

The 6-foot-5, 175-pound native of Tulsa, Oklahoma already has offers from Arkansas, Houston, Kansas, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Texas A&M, among others. North Carolina joined that group a couple of weeks ago on the heels of a successful in-home visit between Robinson, Thompson and his family.

Rivals recruiting analyst Corey Evans touched on Thompson’s recruitment in a recent piece, and named the Tar Heels as one of the programs to beat for his commitment.

"“. . . if I were to forecast the future for Thompson, UNC would be difficult to beat if it was to make a hard push,” Evans said. “Assistant coach Steve Robinson coached Thompson’s father at Tulsa during his own playing days, giving the Tar Heels an immediate ‘in,’ which is only aided by the program’s need for another guard after the likely one-and-done campaign of Cole Anthony.Kansas is another contender, however, as Bill Self also coached Thompson’s father for one year and the program was the first blue blood to jump into the picture over a year ago. The regional schools definitely have a chance and Tennessee is a dark horse, thanks to the recent hiring of Kim English, who developed a strong rapport with the family when he was on Colorado’s staff. The suitors are not in short supply, but if the Tar Heels follow up their offer with priority attention, Chapel Hill might be where Thompson eventually lands.”"

As Evans states, Kansas has a pretty good “in” with Thompson, too, thanks to Bill Self coaching his father for a season at Tulsa, and targeting the younger Thompson so early in the recruiting process.

There’s still a lot of time left in Thompson’s recruitment, however, and anything could happen. Look for the Tar Heels to put on the full-court press for Thompson, though, making Chapel Hill a likely landing spot for the talented guard in the fall of 2020.

Thompson is the No. 61 prospect in the class of 2020 according to the 247Sports Composite. He’s the sixth-ranked player at his position, and No. 1 in the state of Oklahoma.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the Bryce Thompson recruitment, and everything North Carolina basketball.