UNC Basketball: Is Gonzaga a legit threat for 5-star Tar Heels’ target?

Will this five-star UNC Basketball recruiting target head out West instead? One recruiting analyst thinks there is a chance it could happen.

The UNC Basketball program is still in pursuit of landing a big five-star recruit for their 2021 recruiting class that already has commitments from D’Marco Dunn and Dontrez Styles.

While the two-man class is a good start for Roy Williams and his staff, the Tar Heels still need to land a big fish to complete their class. But their options are starting to dwindle a bit.

There are just four players with an offer from UNC that still have the Tar Heels involved in their recruitment with three of them being five-star recruits: Chet Holmgren, Hunter Sallis and Patrick Baldwin. Of the three, the Tar Heels’ best bet just might be the Nebraska native Sallis who is one of the top guards in the country.

But a big program out West might have a say in it as well.

After losing out on in-state five-star recruit Paolo Banchero to Duke, the Bulldogs are turning to other five-star recruits to potentially bring in their 2021 recruiting class and that includes both Holmgren and Sallis. While Holmgren might be the most likely of the two to commit to the Bulldogs, don’t count out Gonzaga just yet as Stockriser’s Jake Weingarten wrote this week.

In his latest article “Jake’s Take”, Weingarten wrote that the Bulldogs are still in the race for Sallis but he does see the guard eventually ending up with UNC or Kentucky:

"Both of whom have cut down to final lists, Holmgren down to seven: Michigan, Georgetown, Ohio State, North Carolina, Memphis, Minnesota, and the Zags. Sallis, however, is down to eleven schools, including Kentucky, Iowa State, Alabama, Michigan, Oregon, Creighton, Kansas, Louisville, North Carolina, Auburn, UCLA, and the Zags.Sallis would be the hardest to land out of the two due to the fact that it’s wide-open. I currently see him landing with either Kentucky or North Carolina but a program like Oregon or Gonzaga wouldn’t surprise me. He took an official visit to the program last fall and would end up becoming an instant priority for Mark Few."

Sallis doesn’t appear to be in any rush to make a decision for his recruitment and the decision of 2022 five-star guard Skyy Clark later this month could also play a factor in this as well. The longer this recruitment goes on, the more Gonzaga could have a chance in landing him.

Throughout the recruitment both UNC and Kentucky have been the favorites according to many recruiting experts. But Gonzaga may play the role of spoiler down the line.

For more on Sallis and other UNC Basketball recruiting targets, please check back with Keeping It Heel.