UNC Basketball: 5 reasons the Tar Heels will be better in 2020
By Carson Brown
The No. 3 recruiting class in the country
Roy Williams managed to secure five of the top 60 players in the 247Sports Composite for 2020. The balance of youth and age on next year’s team will give the Tar Heels a dynamic that should put fear in the eyes of the opponent.
College basketball is driven by freshmen talent, and it’s hard to dispute that. The collection of players competing in the NCAA just to make the leap to the NBA a year later isn’t just a trend. At the end of the day, the freshmen are crucial, and usually the most talented. The Heels will have a few of those freshmen next year, and a set of upperclassmen ready to lead them. So, watch out for the 2020-21 North Carolina Tar Heels.
The group is led by Day’Ron Sharpe, a 6-foot-9 center from Montverde Academy who ranks 14th in the class of 2020. The 5-star from Lafayette, Alabama comes loaded with a high motor and leaping ability to help him protect the rim. He’s an incredible rim-runner, which will make him a perfect pairing for soon-to-be sophomore guard Jeremiah Francis.
The Tar Heels have another 5-star big man coming to campus next season named Walker Kessler. Kessler is ranked just two spots behind Sharpe, and brings with him a ton of size and skill. Just five spots down the list is Caleb Love, a terrific point guard from Saint Louis, Missouri that’s ready to make an instant impact for the Tar Heels next season.
Overall, this class is going to be a difference-maker. Five players — three of which fall within the top-25 — and a pair of likely multiple-year college players in 4-stars R.J. Davis and Puff Johnson. That’s a dream class for a team already loaded with upperclassmen that have tons of college experience.