UNC Basketball: Tar Heels still in the running for this top recruit?

One recruiting analyst doesn’t think you can rule the UNC Basketball program out just yet for this five-star recruit in the 2021 class

The UNC Basketball program is set to tip off their 2020-21 season on Wednesday night by hosting College of Charleston in the Dean Dome. This is expected to be a wild season with all of the COVID-19 concerns.

But nonetheless, the season must go on.

While the Tar Heels are focused on this season and rebounding from their 14-19 season a year ago, they still have their eyes on the 2021 recruiting class. The Tar Heels have two recruits committed to the ’21 class but do have offers out for three other recruits. All three are five-star recruits and the Tar Heels would love to add at least one of those players.

Hunter Sallis is the top priority for UNC but they would certainly take a commitment from Patrick Baldwin and Chet Holmgren. Over the past few weeks the Tar Heels have appeared to fall behind in the race for all three but they might be a dark horse for one of those recruits.

Rivals’ recruiting analyst Dan McDonald wrote on some of the top uncommitted recruits left in the 2021 class including UNC targets. In the article, McDonald wrote on Baldwin Jr. but noted something interesting in there about the Tar Heels:

"We’ll keep this one simple. Does he want to play for his father, the head coach at Milwaukee, or does he want to play for a blue blood? If it’s the latter, Duke has long been rumored as the favorite, but North Carolina shouldn’t be counted out. There isn’t a concrete timetable for when he’ll come to a decision."

The consensus on Baldwin lately has been that Duke is the favorite in this recruitment but UW-Milwaukee could pull him away. His father, Patrick Baldwin Sr., is the head coach for the Panthers and there could be a chance he ends up there.

But the interesting note in that article is not to count UNC out. I think there is a slim chance Baldwin Jr. could pick the Tar Heels and it’s a little too early to rule them out. While Baldwin hasn’t made his decision yet, the longer this goes on the more of a chance UNC has to make up ground in the recruitment.

Can they pull it off?

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