UNC Basketball: Tar Heels’ first commit of the 2022 class will be…

Roy Williams and the UNC basketball program are hot on the heels of this 2022 prospect, and he’ll be their first commitment of the class.

The De’Ante Green recruitment continues to heat up, particularly as it relates to the North Carolina Tar Heels. Within hours of Green announcing his list of six finalists last week, the Tar Heels began picking up Crystal Ball predictions for the 6-foot-9, 215-pound power forward.

Most notably, 247Sports Director of Basketball Recruiting Eric Bossi submitted his prediction for the Tar Heels with a “high” confidence level (7). A week later, it’s Director of Basketball Scouting Jerry Meyer who pegged North Carolina as the eventual landing spot of Green. He, too, has a high level of confidence in his pick (7), and that bodes well for the Tar Heels, who are yet to land their first commitment from a 2022 prospect.

Bossi has correctly picked the college destination of nearly 97 percent of prospects since joining 247Sports last year, while Meyer has accurately projected the eventual college destination of over 76 percent of recruits since the Crystal Ball’s inception in 2014. Meyer provided his analysis of Green in a recent piece, as well as addressing the currently sub-100 ranking that Green has in the 247Sports Composite that might concern UNC fans.

"“247Sports is ahead of the curve with Green, ranking him No. 67 in the 247Sports rankings although he lags behind in the industry with a ranking of No. 110 in the 247Sports Composite,” Meter writes. “It is highly likely that Green will rise in the 247Sports Composite ranking and possibly in the 247Sports ranking as well.”"

Green, who scored 18 points in Saturday’s NCISAA 3-A state championship victory over Gaston Christian School, is the No. 21 power forward in the class of 2022 according to the 247Sports Composite. He’s 13th in the Top247, however, which, as Meyer notes, is likely far more accurate than current aggregate ranking of Green. Regardless, Green is the consensus top-ranked player in the state of North Carolina, and one that the state’s flagship school would not like to see get away.

There’s no known timeline on Green’s recruitment, or when he plans to make a decision, but things are looking better and better for the Tar Heels, who’d like to make him the inaugural member of their 2022 recruiting class.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on De’Ante Green, and everything UNC basketball.