UNC Basketball: Analyst says UNC one of two favorites for this 5-star prospect

National recruiting analyst names UNC basketball program as one of two favorites to land a commitment from this 5-star prospect

Fresh off their most successful two-year stretch on the recruiting trail since the 2010 and 2011 seasons, Roy Williams and the North Carolina Tar Heels are looking to keep things going by targeting some of the best players that the class of 2020 has to offer.

One of those players is Greg Brown, a 6-foot-9, 195-pound prospect out of Vandegrift High School in Austin, Texas that’s widely considered the top power forward in his class, and the No. 1 player in the Lone Star State. Brown, the No. 6 overall prospect in the nation, already holds scholarship offers from more than a dozen schools including Auburn, Baylor, Florida, Kansas, LSU, Memphis, North Carolina, Texas, Texas A&M and UCLA.

And although their involvement to this point has been minimal, nobody would be surprised to see Duke and Kentucky get into the mix before it’s all over. Both schools have a tremendous track record with top-10 recruits — despite the Wildcats’ recent string of misses — and there’s no reason to think that they couldn’t pose a threat to the other schools on Brown’s radar.

For now, though, it appears that there are a handful of schools rising to the top of Brown’s list — which is, in large part, speculative, because he hasn’t even officially released it — with a couple of them looking like the prohibitive favorites in the eyes of Rivals recruiting analyst Corey Evans.

"” . . . the [Memphis] Tigers, despite all of their recent success on the recruiting trail, are not thought to be much of a suitor for him,” Evans said. “Greg Brown is most likely bound for North Carolina or Texas, but Memphis has intrigued him, as have Auburn and Baylor, the latter a program he visited last Wednesday.”"

So, despite a recent visit to Baylor, a strong push from 2019 Final Four participant Auburn and Memphis, the program with the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation, Evans likes North Carolina and Texas as the favorites for Brown. The Austin native’s proximity to the University of Texas certainly helps the Longhorns, and so, too, does the relationship that he’s built with head coach Shaka Smart.

Brown did, however, visit the University of North Carolina in March, and later raved about his time spent in Chapel Hill. Shortly after, he began talking about a return trip to the school, saying “probably some time this summer I’ll go to UNC”. It was that talk of a second visit to UNC which led many to believe that the Tar Heels were a strong competitor in his recruitment.

And although he is yet to release a list of finalists, both schools are expected to be on it; and toward the top of it. There’s no time frame for a commitment at this point, but we’d expect Brown to make a decision some time late this year.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the Greg Brown recruitment, and everything UNC basketball.