UNC Basketball: This 2020 recruit is an important one for Roy Williams

The UNC Basketball program has their eyes set out on five-star forward Ziaire Williams and he was called their most important recruiting target in the 2020 class

The North Carolina Tar Heels are all but done with their 2019 recruiting class as they await the decision on four-star forward Jalen Wilson. The former Michigan commit just wrapped up his visit to Chapel Hill which began on Monday and is reportedly down to UNC, Kansas and Michigan.

While Roy Williams and his staff are hoping to add Wilson in 2019, they haven’t ignored their 2020 recruiting class.

The Tar Heels currently have four-star center Day’Ron Sharpe verbally committed and they are showing significant interest in a lot of top recruits from the class. We have already told you about how UNC are being considered as legit contenders for Cade Cunningham but it’s another recruit that is being called the most important one for UNC in this class.

Rivals.com recruiting analyst Eric Bossi wrote an article on Wednesday, detailing the top targets for each of the top programs in the country. Among the 10 programs featured were the Tar Heels who Bossi says can’t miss out on five-star small forward Ziaire Williams.

Here is what Bossi said on UNC and Williams:

"The way things are looking, Roy Williams and the Heels will have a need for a high-end, instant-impact wing. I don’t think they want to have to rely on the grad transfer market or sweating out late decisions as much as they did with the class of 2019, and Williams has been a priority target for some time now."

The California native is one of the top players in the 2020 class, ranked No. 18 by 247 Sports Composite rankings and the No. 3 small forward in the class. He’s made a few visits to Chapel Hill, most recently in March to watch the Tar Heels’ season finale win over Duke.

UNC has also watched him early on during the AAU circuit, making their high interest show.

As it stands now, it looks like the Tar Heels are the favorites but there are some serious contenders after him and are trying to keep him on the West Coast. Arguably UNC’s biggest threat is Stanford who has been pushing for Williams for a while now. Located in California, Stanford would mean that Williams can stay in-state and close to home.

The other team is Arizona who just put together a top 3 recruiting class for 2019 and is hoping to build up the program again after missing out on the 2019 NCAA Tournament. Arizona is a lot closer to California than UNC so that’s also a factor to consider.

Williams’ recruitment is far from over but he’s a huge target for the Tar Heels and would be a prized recruit in 2020.

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