UNC Basketball: Three wings the Tar Heels should target in 2022

Keeping It Heel takes a look at three elite wing prospects that Roy Williams and the UNC basketball program should target in 2022.

The Caleb Houstan recruitment ended on Wednesday afternoon, at least for Roy Williams and the North Carolina Tar Heels. The 5-star small forward from Montverde Academy spurned North Carolina — and five other schools — when he trimmed his list down to just four; Alabama, Duke, Michigan and Virginia.

For the Tar Heels, missing on Houstan is just the latest in a series of unsuccessful attempts at acquiring elite wings over the past few recruiting cycles. In fact, the next couple of paragraphs practically write themselves.

Since receiving a commitment from consensus top-5 prospect Nassir Little in late 2017, the Tar Heels have come up short with every single 5-star wing they’ve recruited. Literally, every single one. That list includes Josh Green (Arizona), Precious Achiuwa (Memphis) and Keion Brooks Jr. in 2019. They missed on Ziaire Williams in 2020 when he committed to Jerod Haase and the Stanford Cardinal. And along with Houstan, they’ve already missed on Harrison Ingram (Stanford), and are likely to strike out with the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit, Patrick Baldwin, Jr.

So, yeah, they’ve had a rough go of it over the past few years as it relates to the wing position. And it’s difficult to explain exactly why it’s that position, and not another one. They continue to bring in 5-star points guards every year, and added two new 5-star bigs to a front court that’s widely considered the best in the nation this season.

Regardless, the show must go on. And the Tar Heels won’t stop targeting some of the nation’s top wings each and every recruiting cycle. We decided to look ahead just a bit, and target a few of them ourselves. Take a look at three elite wings that North Carolina should have its sights firmly set on as we begin to shift our focus primarily to the class of 2022.