UNC Basketball: Will Tar Heels add to 2022 class when 4-star announces?

Will the UNC basketball program add to its 2022 recruiting class when 4-star power forward De’Ante Green announces his college decision on November 1?

On Thursday morning, 4-star power forward and class of 2022 prospect De’Ante Green told On3Sports’ Joe Tipton that he intends to announce his college decision on November 1.

Green, a 6-foot-9-inch, 215-pound senior at Asheville Christian Academy, has a list of six finalists that includes Florida State, North Carolina, NC State, Tennessee, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.

It’s the Tar Heels that have seemingly established themselves as the prohibitive favorites for Green’s commitment, but there’s no doubt that Rick Barnes and the Tennessee Volunteers have made a strong push for the Swannanoa, North Carolina native. And that’s not to completely count out Green’s other four finalists, but my bet remains on him ending up in Chapel Hill when all is said and done.

The same is true for Jerry Meyer and Eric Bossi, 247Sports’ top recruiting analysts, both of whom have cast their respective Crystal Ball predictions in favor of the Tar Heels with high confidence levels. So, too, have Rivals’ Jamie Shaw and David Sisk, picking North Carolina to earn Green’s commitment prior to the coaching change we saw in Chapel Hill in early April.

And speaking of the coaching change — one that saw former assistant Hubert Davis take over for newly-retired three-time national title-winner Roy Williams — it seems to have done nothing to sway Green’s decision in the opposite direction. If anything, the relationship between Green and the Tar Heels appears to have strengthened over the first few months of first-year head coach Hubert Davis’ tenure.

Green, the No. 1 player in the state of North Carolina and a consensus top-15 power forward, is ranked 61st overall in the ESPN100. He’s 85th in the 247Sports Composite, and 95th in the Top247. Despite top-100 rankings from each of the aforementioned recruiting outlets, Green is just 133rd in the Rivals150, though I anticipate his ranking there, and everywhere else, to improve over the coming months.

I’m also anticipating that his announcement some five months from now will put him in a Carolina uniform for the foreseeable future, adding to a growing and increasingly distinguished 2022 recruiting class for the Tar Heels.

Check back with Keeping It Heel as we continue to follow the De’Ante Green recruitment over the next several months leading up to his November 1 decision date.