UNC Basketball: North Carolina remains favorite to land prized recruits

The UNC basketball program remains the heavy favorite in a couple of high-profile recruitments.

Despite recent changes to the North Carolina men’s basketball program — namely the unexpected retirement of Roy Williams that led to former UNC assistant Hubert Davis’ promotion to head coach — the Tar Heels are still the heavy favorites in a pair of high-profile recruitments.

Specifically, UNC is the current clubhouse leader for the services of class of 2022 power forward De’Ante Green, and class of 2023 point guard Robert Dillingham. That the Tar Heels don’t seem to have missed a step in either player’s recruitment is a big deal not only for the UNC basketball program, but also for Davis, who’s still less than a month into his first head coaching gig.

Green, a highly-touted in-state recruit and 4-star prospect from Swannanoa, North Carolina, is the No. 1-ranked high school senior in the state of North Carolina, and he’s currently projected by 100 percent of analysts from both 247Sports and Rivals to end up at UNC.

Along with North Carolina, the 6-foot-9, 215-pound Green has a list of finalists that includes Florida State, NC State, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest. He plans to visit each of the half-dozen schools on his list before making a decision, one that we’d expect will likely not come until some time late this year.

Dillingham is a 6-foot-1, 160-pound guard that’s ranked among the top prospects in his class. He’s currently No. 11 in the 247Sports Composite, and he’s second in the state of North Carolina among class of 2023 prospects. He’s also the second-ranked lead guard in his class, which will likely be a position of need for the Tar Heels by the time Dillingham joins the college ranks.

And the good news for North Carolina is that Dillingham, similar to Green, is unanimously favored to land in Chapel Hill upon making his college commitment. That includes a prediction from 247Sports Director of Basketball Scouting Jerry Meyer, who projected Dillingham to the Tar Heels with a high confidence level in late December.

Needless to say, there is plenty of time left in each player’s recruitment, and anything could happen. But given the kind of changes that the UNC basketball program has gone through — and overcome — over the past couple of months, they have to feel pretty good about where they’re currently at with the pair of standout recruits.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the UNC basketball program.