UNC Basketball: What D’Marco Dunn commitment means for Tar Heels

What does the commitment of 4-star shooting guard D’Marco Dunn mean for the UNC basketball program?

D’Marco Dunn announced his commitment to the University of North Carolina on Wednesday afternoon, giving the Tar Heels their second commitment from a class of 2021 prospect. He joins 4-star small forward Dontrez Styles, who gave his verbal pledge to North Carolina in mid-April.

And although Roy Williams and his coaching staff are from from finished with their efforts on the 2021 recruiting cycle, they’ve got a nice foundation on which to build. But what do their commitments — D’Marco Dunn’s, in particular — mean for the Tar Heels in 2021 and moving forward?

Shooting

D’Marco Dunn is a terrific shooter, and can knock shots down from all over the court. He connected on 45 percent of his shots from three-point range as a junior at Westover High School last season, helping his team to a perfect 30-0 record. He averaged 20.4 points, 7.2 rebounds, two assists and 2.7 steals per game, and displayed an offensive prowess that got the attention of Roy Williams and the North Carolina coaching staff.

Dunn will be a nice addition to a UNC squad that already boasts a trio of talented shooting guards, including Anthony Harris, R.J. Davis and Kerwin Walton. All three players will be sophomores when Dunn arrives on campus next year, meaning that he’ll definitely have to earn his minutes in a crowded back court. However, it’s a pretty good problem to have a logjam of elite shooters to go along with one of the nation’s best young point guards, and the biggest, most talented front court in college basketball.

Depth

Not only does Dunn’s commitment add to the Tar Heels’ embarrassment of wealth at the shooting guard position, but it also allows for more flexibility up and down the lineup. At 6-feet-4-inches tall and 180 pounds, Dunn has the size to go along with a skill set that could see him slide over to play the wing for the Tar Heels if they go with a smaller lineup that needs more shooters.

It’s highly likely that we’ll see multiple bigs on the court for the Tar Heels at almost all times this season, given that they’ve got four starting lineup caliber players that measure 6-foot-10 or taller. However, if the Tar Heels are down big or need shooters late in a game, a lineup that includes Caleb Love, R.J. Davis and some combination of Dunn, Walton, Harris, and top-50 incoming freshman wing Puff Johnson could be absolutely deadly from a shooting standpoint.

Impact on other class of 2021 prospects

Dunn was the only true shooting guard on the UNC recruiting board when he gave his commitment to Roy Williams on Wednesday, so his pledge really doesn’t impact anyone else that they’re currently targeting.

He’s more similar to Kenny Williams than he is to Joel Berry or Marcus Paige, so he won’t likely be called upon to function as a secondary ball handler. The same goes for Harris and Walton, and the UNC coaching staff doesn’t want to see R.J. Davis play the majority of his minutes as the team’s primary ball-handler and facilitator. He’s better suited to play off the ball and come off screens, keeping his scoring ability as the main focus of his game.

That means that a one guard is still incredibly important to the Tar Heels’ 2021 recruiting class, considering that there’s no guarantee that Caleb Love will be in college beyond the spring of 2021. Hunter Sallis is the player they’ve targeted to fill that potential void, though a commitment and reclassification from 5-star class of 2022 combo guard Skyy Clark could work just as well. Clark will announce his college decision on October 22, while Sallis isn’t likely to commit until the spring, so we should know a lot more in a few weeks.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the Tar Heels’ 2021 recruiting class, and everything UNC basketball.