UNC Basketball: More Tar Heel transfers on the horizon?

Freshman center Walker Kessler has already announced his imminent departure from the UNC basketball program, but will the Tar Heels lose more key players to transfer before it’s all said and done?

With news of the imminent departure of Walker Kessler from the North Carolina basketball program, UNC fans everywhere are wondering if the 7-foot-1-inch freshman center is just the first in a series of dominoes set to fall for Roy Williams and the Tar Heels.

To be clear, I’m wondering the same thing. But if I’m being honest, I’m expecting more departures from the Tar Heels; and soon.

Not only have multiple sources close to the UNC basketball program indicated in recent days that a number of transfers could be on the horizon, but cryptic tweets from Tar Heels and the parents of current Tar Heels are making it seem even more likely.

Shortly after the Kessler news broke on Monday morning, freshman point guard Caleb Love’s father sent out a pair of tweets that could be taken a number of ways. Are they simply in response to Kessler’s decision to leave the program, or are they foreshadowing decisions by other players yet to be announced?

Less than an hour later, rising sophomore center Armando Bacot’s father tweeted “CHANGE IS EVERYTHING” via his personal Twitter account. Was Bacot’s tweet just one in support of Kessler, or was it more in agreement of how he feels and what led him to leave Chapel Hill?

https://twitter.com/dmlove38/status/1374008003456872451

https://twitter.com/dmlove38/status/1374012505022996487

Now, I’m not saying that those tweets specifically indicate that UNC is going to lose more players, but I am saying that there definitely appears to be some unsettling feelings from some within the program, and those closest to them.

Brendan Marks of The Athletic has gone on record to say that he expects more departures to come, noting that he anticipates more news from the UNC basketball program very soon. Could it be today? I believe it could, but that’s yet to be seen. So is which players it’ll be, and for what reasons.

We didn’t get a lot from Kessler on that front, who stated that he was leaving the program in the same breath that he extended the utmost gratitude to his teammates, coaches, trainers and administration, while saying that it was an honor playing for such a historic program. I’m hoping to find out more about why Kessler decided to leave, and what changed between now and his commitment to the school in September of 2019. Was it style of play? Was it how the coaching staff utilized him, or perhaps the lackthereof?

We’ve got far more questions than answers right now, but we’re hoping to find out more over the coming hours and days.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for that, and all the latest on the UNC basketball program.