UNC Basketball: Tar Heels vying for first top-5 recruiting class since 2012

Roy Williams, UNC basketball program vying for top-5 recruiting class for first time since 2012

Thanks to a pair of 5-star commitments over the past two weeks, and three overall in the class of 2020, Roy Williams and the North Carolina Tar Heels have the No. 3-ranked class in the country, and are vying for a top-5 recruiting haul for the first time since 2012.

It was nine recruiting cycles ago that Williams and company signed a quartet of 4-star players that truly didn’t look that great on paper, but aged considerably well thanks to four-year players Marcus Paige and Brice Johnson. In all fairness, though, the aforementioned duo was ranked too low coming out of high school.

Paige, who finished his career averaging better than 13 points and four assists over four seasons in Chapel Hill, was ranked 30th overall in the class of 2012. A passionate player and teammate, Paige quickly became a UNC fan favorite, and his worth on the court was validated with nods for first team All-ACC and second team All-American in 2014. He also hit what I humbly consider the most clutch shot in NCAA title game history against the Villanova Wildcats in 2016.

Johnson was even further down the recruiting board at No. 45 overall, and 13th among power forwards in the class. For a player who narrowly missed ACC Player of the Year after averaging 18.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game as a senior, Johnson was sorely undervalued coming out of Edisto High School in 2012. The exuberant big man shot nearly 62 percent from the floor in his final year of college ball, good for first-place in the ACC. He also improved his free throw shooting by almost 22 percent from his freshman season, knocking down 79.4 percent (10th in the ACC) during the 2015-16 season.

The other half of the Tar Heels’ 2012 recruiting class was comprised of a pair of top-75 recruits in Joel James and J.P. Tokoto. James didn’t get a ton of time on the basketball court, and Tokoto left unexpectedly after his junior season at North Carolina, but the former did give us a GIF for the ages.

Still, though, the Tar Heels managed a top-5 recruiting class that season, finishing behind Kentucky, UCLA, Arizona and Baylor. The Duke Blue Devils finished the cycle ranked No. 41 nationally, their last sub-top-10 finish to date. In the years since, North Carolina has finished 15th, 10th, 70th, 14th, 19th, 13th and ninth.

And although there are a bunch of prospects left on the board in 2020, the Tar Heels are in great position to reel in their first top-5 recruiting class in nearly a decade.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for more on the UNC basketball program, and the recruiting class of 2020.