UNC Basketball: Updated recruiting rankings place 3 Tar Heels in top 20

The latest recruiting rankings from 247Sports place three UNC basketball commits inside the top 20, more than any other program in the nation.

The North Carolina Tar Heels are limping through an injury-riddled season that’s seen as many wins as it has losses, despite being less than two months away from NCAA Tournament play. The imminent return of freshman point guard Cole Anthony should give them a boost, but will it be too little too late for a program that’s won more national championships over the past 15 years than any other?

Perhaps, but tough times in Chapel Hill probably won’t last much longer, regardless of what happens for the remainder of this season. The Tar Heels’ 2020 recruiting class — which is ranked No. 3 in the nation — should see to that, particularly when coupled with a talented pair of returning bigs in Garrison Brooks and Armando Bacot.

That class, one that includes three 5-star players and four McDonald’s All-Americans, continues to improve as we move closer to the start of the 2020-21 season. A couple of years ago, Day’Ron Sharpe was merely a top-75 prospect, and Caleb Love was barely inside the top 100. Around that same time, Puff Johnson was hovering around No. 200, and R.J. Davis was 250th.

https://twitter.com/UNC_Basketball/status/1220443189523505152

That seems like a distant memory now.

Sharpe, a 6-foot-10, 246-pound center out of Montverde Academy, is now the highest-rated member of the Tar Heels’ 2020 class at No. 14. The 6-foot-3, 170-pound Love is up to 18th in the latest 247Sports Composite, and second among point guards in the class. Johnson and Davis are 47th and 53rd, respectively. And the fifth member of North Carolina’s incoming freshman class, Walker Kessler, has remained a highly touted 5-star prospect for the better part of two years. He’s ranked No. 17 in the nation, and fourth among centers.

That gives the Tar Heels five players within the top 53, and three inside the top 20. That’s more than any other college basketball program in the nation, including Duke and Kentucky, the two teams just ahead of North Carolina in the class of 2020 team rankings.

There’s no denying that the Tar Heels are currently mired in one of their most difficult seasons in recent history, but help is on the way in Chapel Hill. On top of that, the Tar Heels may not even be done with their 2020 recruiting class, what with 5-star small forward Ziaire Williams and 4-star shooting guard Kerwin Walton still on the radar.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the Tar Heels’ 2020 recruiting class, and everything UNC basketball.