UNC Basketball: Tar Heels named contender for Cade Cunningham

The UNC Basketball program was named a contender for a top recruiting target but they will have to beat out some Blue Bloods and a surprise school to land him

The North Carolina Tar Heels are still in the running for 2019 four-star recruit Jalen Wilson as he will be on campus beginning Monday for his official visit. Wilson would be the final prospect for UNC’s 2019 recruiting class that has ended up turning out alright with the additions of Cole Anthony and Anthony Harris.

With the focus shifting to the 2020 class, Roy Williams and his staff are looking to build on their start which includes having a verbal commitment from four-star prospect Day’Ron Sharpe.

One of the top targets on UNC’s board and nine other teams’ boards, is five-star small forward Cade Cunningham out of Florida. Cunningham is ranked as the No. 5 overall recruit by Rivals and is really improving his game as the AAU circuits continue into the Summer.

Cunningham recently listed his Top 10 schools on Thursday, revealing that he does have an offer from every team on that list including the Tar Heels. With nine other teams battling it out including Blue Bloods such as Duke, Kentucky and Kansas, landing Cunningham will be a true recruiting battle over the next few months going into 2020.

Rivals recruiting experts Eric Bossi, Corey Evans and Dan McDonald recently put out a roundtable discussion article featuring the topic of Cunningham and who are true contenders. Of the three analysts, two of them named the Tar Heels in their discussion about being a legit contender to land Cunningham.

Bossi wrote this part including UNC:

"I like Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oklahoma State and Texas the best. It seems like OSU could be a sleeper pick here. It has been on Cunningham the longest and built a deep relationship."

McDonald also mentioned UNC but did say it would be tough for a school like Oklahoma State to beat out a Blue Blood and land him:

"Any prospect’s list that includes Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina is going to be a tough battle for any other school to win. With Cunningham, it could be one where that happens."

As it stands now, it doesn’t appear like Cunningham’s recruitment will be over anytime soon and it could play out into 2020. More and more recruits are starting to wait to make their decisions and UNC saw that happen with Cole Anthony.

The 247 Sports Crystal Ball predictor does have six predictions in for Cunningham currently with Oklahoma State leading the way at 83% followed by Kentucky at 17%. The Cowboys are a darkhorse in this recruitment and really could steal him away from a big Blue Blood program.

Cunningham still has visits to take and will likely trim his list one more time and possibly twice before making that decision. So it will be a long waiting game for UNC and their fans in his recruitment.

For more on UNC Basketball recruiting targets, please check back with Keeping It Heel.