UNC Basketball: What Ziaire Williams commitment means for Tar Heels

What Ziaire Williams’ commitment to Stanford means for the UNC basketball program, and where the Tar Heels go from here

The most pessimistic of North Carolina fans — ones you can find on Twitter with very little effort — would have you believe that the Tar Heels’ inability to secure a commitment from 5-star small forward Ziaire Williams is simply the program’s latest failure, and a sign of things to come. Those fans are, of course, idiots, because Roy Williams and company are currently in the process of welcoming in the nation’s No. 3-ranked recruiting class in the fall of 2020.

One of the best recruiting hauls of Williams’ 33 years as a head coach, the class includes three 5-star players, four McDonald’s All-Americans and five prospects ranked inside the top-54 of the 247Sports Composite. The five-man class is highlighted by two top-20 bigs in Day’Ron Sharpe and Walker Kessler, and a pair of dynamic back court players in 5-star point guard Caleb Love and 4-star combo guard R.J. Davis. Rounding things off for the Tar Heels is top-50 wing Puff Johnson, the younger brother of former UNC sharpshooter Cameron Johnson.

To be fair, Puff probably isn’t the caliber of player that Ziaire Williams is; at least, not at this point in his career. And he may never be. Williams is an elite talent, and one that would obviously be a starter at any of the five programs that made his list of finalists. He’d start at every other program in the nation, too. He’s an excellent player, and there’s no taking that away from him. But there’s also no need to compare the two.

Will Johnson be ready to jump into a starting role at North Carolina? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean he’s any less valuable for the Tar Heels moving forward. In fact, I’d argue that his value will far exceed that of Williams, given that the latter is almost undoubtedly a one-and-done player. Johnson has a terrific stroke from beyond the arc, and will more than likely be a multiple year player at North Carolina. Thus, he could be a tremendous asset for the Tar Heels for several years.

For now, though, the Tar Heels are left in a position where they are without an elite scoring wing; something that’s proven to be an important piece of a dynamic offense in the college game. Leaky Black is the player on UNC’s roster that’s most likely to fill that vacancy when the season begins in November. For as versatile as Black is — he averaged 6.5 points, five rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game as a sophomore — he doesn’t have the kind of natural scoring ability that one might prefer at that position. He does, however, have the ability to put the ball on the floor, play pesky, tenacious defense and drive to the hoop.

But that’s where the minority band of Twitter misfits would tell you that North Carolina is going to struggle mightily next season. They’ll tell you that despite a terrific returning front court and a star-studded cast of incoming freshmen, the Tar Heels simply won’t have what it takes to compete for a national title. They’ll tell you that because the Tar Heels didn’t “handle Nassir Little correctly”, they’re unlikely to ever sign an elite wing again. And they’ll, of course, ignore the fact that Roy Williams has had tremendous success with players like Harrison Barnes, Reggie Bullock, Justin Jackson, Cameron Johnson and Theo Pinson, and that each of those players have moved on to have a career in the NBA (all five are currently employed by an NBA franchise).

So, where do the Tar Heels go from here? Well, they keep doing the same thing that they’ve been doing. Williams is hard at work on the class of 2021, with a handful a talented wings on his radar. Will he get commitments from any of them? It’s too soon to tell. But I like the Tar Heels’ chances when they’ve got a team of 5-star players evenly mixed with four-year mainstays. After all, it worked out pretty well in 2017.

For more on the UNC basketball program, check back with Keeping It Heel.