UNC Basketball: 5-star PG Kennedy Chandler to commit in fall

5-star UNC basketball target set to make college decision in the fall

For nearly two decades, Roy Williams and the North Carolina Tar Heels have boasted some of the nation’s top point guards. Over the last few seasons, though, they’ve had a string of success on the recruiting trail that even their own rich history can’t match up with.

Since 2018, the Tar Heels have brought in Coby White, Cole Anthony and Caleb Love. All three were 5-star recruits and McDonald’s All-Americans coming out of high school, and each will likely be a first round NBA draft pick by the time all is said and done. White was a lottery pick in 2019 after his lone year in Chapel Hill, and Anthony will soon follow in his footsteps. And although Love is yet to step foot on a college basketball court in any official capacity, he’s got the talent and athleticism to do the same.

That’s exactly why Williams and his coaching staff continue to push for commitments from the nation’s top point guards, hoping to hedge their bets if the incumbent floor general has a spectacular season and takes the one-and-done approach to professional basketball like his predecessor. 5-star point guard and Memphis native Kennedy Chandler is their top target in the class of 2021, and he happens to have the Tar Heels in his list of five finalists. That’s good news for North Carolina, given the kind of hype that’s already been made of Love, as well as the lucrative G-League offer that he declined earlier this year.

A 6-foot-1, 160-pound senior at Sunrise Christian Academy (he left Briarcrest Christian after his junior season), Chandler had nearly 30 scholarship offers in his possession before eliminating all but Duke, Kentucky, Memphis, North Carolina and Tennessee. He’s also considered spending a year in the G-League prior to entering the 2022 NBA Draft, but that option seems fairly unlikely at this point. That was evidenced by a recent interview with his father, Kylan Chandler, who stated that his son is hoping to make some campus visits before making a decision some time this fall.

"“He’s not going to wait his whole senior year to make a decision,” Chandler said. “He’ll make it this fall, like maybe November,” said the player’s father, Kylan Chandler. “He wants to make a couple of visits when he can. After that he wants to make a decision. He doesn’t want to go his whole senior year worrying about where’s going to school.”"

According to the eldest Chandler, he and his son have spoken to all five schools, and nothing has changed. Each of Chandler’s finalists appear to have a shot at his commitment, and much will be decided through conversation and recruiting visits over the next several months.

Chandler is ranked 12th in the nation according to the 247Sports Composite for 2021. He’s No. 1 among point guards in the class, and tops in his home state of Tennessee. He’ll also be the top player from the state of Kansas next season, where his new school is located.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the Kennedy Chandler recruitment, and everything UNC basketball.