UNC Basketball: Is this pair of 4-star recruits headed to North Carolina?

Could the UNC basketball program be in line for commitments from this pair of 4-star prospects?

The North Carolina Tar Heels got off to a good start with the class of 2020, grabbing a commitment from top-30 prospect Day’Ron Sharpe, a 6-foot-10, 246-pound center that’s likely headed for a 5-star ranking before he steps foot onto campus next summer.

Roy Williams and company have scholarship offers out to nine players in the class, and are keeping tabs on a handful of others. Many of their current targets are 5-star players, and the ones that aren’t are highly regarded top-100 prospects with lots of upside.

Two of those players have ties to the North Carolina basketball program, leading some to believe that the Tar Heels may have a leg up on the competition in their respective recruitments.

Bryce Thompson, a 6-foot-5, 175-pound shooting guard out of Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, recently received a scholarship offer from the Tar Heels. They joined the likes of Arkansas, Houston, Kansas, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Texas A&M as programs who have already offered the 4-star guard.

Thompson’s 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. That relationship has given the Tar Heels an “in” that most programs do not have with Thompson, though the Jayhawks’ Bill Self did coach the eldest Thompson for one season at Tulsa after taking over for Robinson in 1997.

Rivals recruiting analyst Corey Evans recently touched on the Thompson recruitment, echoing those thoughts and going as far as saying that North Carolina would be “difficult to beat if it was to make a hard push”.

Currently the No. 62 prospect in the class of 2020 according to the 247Sports Composite, Thompson is a top-10 player at his position, and No.1 in the state of Oklahoma. He’s a talented shooter that would provide the Tar Heels — or any program that he commits to — with depth and skill on the perimeter.

Donovan “Puff” Johnson, on the other hand, is the brother of former UNC sharpshooter and first team All-ACC performer Cameron Johnson. He’s a 6-foot-7, 185-pound small forward from Coraopolis, Pennsylvania that attends Moon Area High School.

Johnson has picked up nearly 20 scholarship offers to this point, including ones from Arizona, Auburn, Cincinnati, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Xavier. Many more offers will come in over the next few months, thanks, in part, to his brother’s pedigree as a knock-down shooter, but also because of his own ability on the basketball court.

It says a lot about the younger Johnson that Rivals recruiting analyst Eric Bossi points out that he might be further along in his development than the player who just connected on 96 three-pointers at a 45.7 percent clip for the Tar Heels last season.

"“When you can shoot it from deep like “Puff” can, you are going to attract a crowd,” Bossi said. “It doesn’t seem like he’s missed a jump shot in the past few months and he’s got some crafty offensive game to go along with hit. His older brother Cameron Johnson was a late bloomer who developed into a legitimate NBA prospect at UNC and little bro is way ahead at this point in his development.”"

Currently ranked No. 102 in the class of 2020, Johnson is top-20 among small forwards, and No. 3 in the state of Pennsylvania. Look for those numbers to rise as time goes on, as his play over the past year demands more recognition.

His Crystal Ball is in favor of North Carolina, but currently has just three predictions — two for the Tar Heels and one for the Arizona Wildcats. It’s worth noting, though, that all three of those predictions came last week, after the Tar Heels extended an offer.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for all of the latest on Bryce Thompson, Donovan Johnson and all things North Carolina basketball.