UNC Basketball: Former Tar Heel Seventh Woods is weighing his options

Former UNC basketball reserve guard Seventh Woods will transfer schools for his final year of college eligibility. These 3 programs are the front-runners in his recruitment.

From 14-year-old YouTube sensation to back-up point guard to junior transfer player in search of a new school, things didn’t pan out quite like we thought they would for former North Carolina Tar Heel Seventh Woods.

Once seen as an up-and-coming youngster with the grit and skill to take over the starting point guard role at North Carolina, Woods started just one game in three seasons as a member of the Tar Heels. And despite the fact that his final season in Chapel Hill was his best — 2.5 points, 2.1 assists and one rebound — Woods averaged just 10.8 minutes per game as a back-up to sensational freshman point guard Coby White, who stood out as one of the league’s most talented guards.

When Woods was in the game, he struggled with inconsistency and turnovers, and never established himself as any kind of real threat on the offensive end of the court. His shooting percentage was third-lowest on the team, and only four Tar Heels had more turnovers, despite logging the eighth-most minutes on the team. However, there were times during the first half of the season that Woods showed flashes, and optimism ensued.

Over the final month of the season, though — four regular season games, two ACC Tournament games and the first three rounds of the NCAA Tournament — Woods showed less promise and more inconsistency. He never played more than eight minutes in a game, and averaged just 5.7 per game during that span. He also had more turnovers (10) than points (6) in those nine games, and hit just two of his eight shots attempted.

White declared for the 2019 NBA Draft after the Tar Heels’ season ended, seemingly opening up an opportunity for Woods to step into the starting five for his final season in Chapel Hill. That window was quickly closed when North Carolina got a commitment from the No. 3 prospect in the class of 2019, 5-star point guard Cole Anthony.

Shortly after, Woods announced that he’d be leaving the program with plans of transferring to another school to use his final season of eligibility. In the time since, it’s South Carolina, Michigan and Gonzaga that have gone to the forefront of his second recruitment.

The Gamecocks were one of his finalists during the first go-round, though they don’t currently have an open scholarship for next season. Gonzaga’s Mark Few and newly crowned Michigan head coach Juwan Howard are both looking for back court help, and Woods could give them depth at the guard position.

There’s no time frame for a decision, but Woods stated that he’s unlikely to take any official visits this time around.

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