UNC Basketball: What Seth Trimble brings to the Tar Heels

What can UNC basketball fans expect to see out of newly-committed 4-star recruit Seth Trimble?

Seth Trimble committed to the University of North Carolina on Wednesday night, giving Hubert Davis and the Tar Heels their second pledge of the 2022 recruiting cycle. Trimble joins 3-star center Will Shaver as members of North Carolina’s early two-man class, the inaugural one for the Tar Heels’ first-year head coach and his revamped staff.

Trimble, who had more than a dozen scholarship offers at the time of his commitment, chose North Carolina over the likes of Illinois, Iowa, Marquette, Michigan and Wisconsin. It was Juwan Howard and the Wolverines, in particular, that appeared to have the clear lead in Trimble’s recruitment until the final weeks leading up to his announcement.

Trimble’s June recruiting visit to Chapel Hill with his brother and former Tar Heel J.P. Tokoto seemed to turn the tide in the Tar Heels’ favor. So did the commitment of 4-star point guard Dug McDaniel, who gave his pledge to the Wolverines just two days after Trimble finished his official visit in Ann Arbor last week.

By Tuesday morning of the following week, predictions regarding Trimble’s future whereabouts from analysts and insiders on 247Sports and Rivals were unanimously in favor of North Carolina. So, by the time that Trimble announced his commitment to North Carolina some 36 hours later, absolutely nobody was surprised.

That they weren’t surprised doesn’t mean that they weren’t excited; the ones in Carolina blue, that is. And they’ve got all the reason in the world to be. Trimble’s pledge to North Carolina is an important one for a number of reasons.

The first and most important is that the Tar Heels now have a contingency plan in case starting point guard Caleb Love leaves Chapel Hill for the NBA following his sophomore season. Sure, you’d rather not trot a freshman Seth Trimble out on the court to take on the ACC’s top basketball programs, as well as a slate of difficult non-conference opponents, but the option would be there at the very least. In the event that Love doesn’t leave the Tar Heels in 2022, a year for Trimble to back up one of the nation’s best guards wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Secondly, Trimble offers additional depth in the UNC back court, both offensively and defensively. Adding Trimble to a group that already boasts shooting guards R.J. Davis, Kerwin Walton, Anthony Harris and D’Marco Dunn only makes the Tar Heels’ back court that much stronger. And Trimble might be the most versatile of them all. Not only is Trimble a good athlete with a nice offensive skill set, he’s a good rebounder and should be able to guard multiple positions at the college level. He’d be the primary ball-handler out of the group and more than capable of distributing the ball to his teammates, but he can shoot and get to the rim for his own buckets, too.

Trimble also projects as a multiple-year college athlete, and one that could help provide stability in the UNC back court for several seasons. The Tar Heels have been both blessed and plagued with point guards that excelled under Roy Williams and decided to leave campus much earlier than expected. Luckily, they won’t have to face that issue this year since Love, a former 5-star recruit and rising sophomore point guard, made the decision to return rather than press his luck in the NBA Draft with dozens of other early entrants. And for his part, Trimble is much more likely to stay all four years than to leave after one. That will be a welcomed sight for UNC fans that still miss Coby White and Cole Anthony as they have success with their respective professional teams.

The Tar Heels hope to add another piece to their 2022 recruiting class this weekend as 4-star small forward Justin Taylor plans to announce his college destination. Along with North Carolina, he’s currently deciding between Indiana, Syracuse, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

We’ll continue to follow Taylor’s recruitment, as well as all the latest on Seth Trimble and everything UNC basketball.