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UNC Basketball: Tar Heels facing uphill battle for 5-star guard?

By Zack Pearson

COLUMBUS, OHIO - MARCH 24: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels sits in the bench during their game against the Washington Huskies in the Second Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 24, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OHIO - MARCH 24: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels sits in the bench during their game against the Washington Huskies in the Second Round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 24, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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Where does the UNC Basketball program stand with five-star combo guard Cade Cunningham? Well, some news earlier this week could shakeup his recruitment

The North Carolina Tar Heels are one of many teams that showed interest in five-star combo guard Cade Cunningham in the 2020 recruiting class. After Cunningham elevated his play during his junior year of high school and on the Spring AAU circuit, the offers started to flow in.

As it stands now, Cunningham has a total of 13 offers and trimmed his list down to just 10 teams earlier in June. UNC did make the cut on his top 10 list but they are facing an uphill battle in their efforts to land him and the favorite might just be a shocker.

The Oklahoma State Cowboys have led the Crystal Ball predictor for Cunningham for weeks now as many experts think the Texas native is headed for Stillwater.

Earlier this week, those chances may have improved drastically.

Oklahoma State announced the hiring of Cade’s brother, Cannen Cunningham, as an assistant coach to the staff earlier in the week. It’s a move that could draw Cade to the program and have a ripple effect on recruiting.

Following that move, Cunningham spoke to Rivals reporter Corey Evans about how it could impact his recruitment. The five-star guard was honest when giving out these quotes:

"“My recruitment is still completely open,” said Cade. “I love my brother forever and that is obviously a big factor but it doesn’t determine my recruitment.“My brother has been my guy, I mean, he was the one that put the ball in my hands. He has been the guy that pretty much determines everything that I have been doing with my development and where I am now. He is my guy.”"

It’s very easy to make that connection to the Cowboys now that his brother is on staff but Cunningham did also say that Oklahoma State was the first team to offer him in his recruitment back when Mike Boynton was an assistant. That also plays a factor.

With the Summer here, Cunningham’s recruitment will heat up and he should be taking visits over the next several months. For now, UNC may be a contender but it does sound like they have some ground to make up.

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