UNC Basketball: Teams Tar Heels have to beat for five-star guard

Hubert Davis and the UNC Basketball program would love to add at least one more player to their 2022 class, one in which they got off to a great start for.

With three prospects committed, including five-star center Jalen Washington, Davis would love to land another five-star prospect and boost the class even more. The Tar Heels have a few different offers out to five-star prospects and among them is guard Jaden Bradley.

The IMG Academy product is one of the top players in the 2022 class, ranking No. 17 nationally, No. 4 point guard and the No. 5 player in the state of Florida per the 247Sports composite rankings. He has a total of 17 offers in his recruitment including one from UNC as well as Kentucky, Michigan, Alabama, Florida State and Arizona among others.

But as we continue on in the Summer, which teams are legit contenders for the five-star guard?

Rivals reporter Jamie Shaw wrote on Bradley, naming him a standout at the recent Nike EYBL event and talked a bit about his recruitment, including the teams that might land in UNC’s way of landing the recruit:

"The point guard spot is all about winning, and Bradley led his Team CP3 (N.C.) team to a 5-1 record in the games IN which he played. Sure, the numbers may not support the eye test, as Bradley is leading the EYBL in turnovers (4.3 per game) and has not made a three yet (0-8), but you look at the assists at 6.6 per game and the points at 18.5 per game and you do not mind how much volume he has taken on because there is no doubt he makes this team better. In the one game he did not play his team took an 81-66 loss. it is the intangibles over the aesthetic. Alabama is heavily involved here, as are Arizona and Kentucky. The No. 17 player in the 2022 Rivals150 visited Michigan, Alabama, UNC and Arizona in June."

Bradley hasn’t really tipped his hand in terms of which program he’s favoriting at the moment and outside of the visits, it’s been a bit of a quiet recruitment. With four visits in the bag, it appears as if those three teams: Michigan, Alabama and Arizona are UNC’s biggest competition although Shaw doesn’t even mention the Tar Heels as teams that are “heavily involved” which is interesting.

Visiting UNC in June does tell us that both sides are still interested unless something developed recently that was kept private. But for now, we should continue to monitor the situation as we believe that Bradley is still among the top targets for Davis and the Tar Heels.

For more on UNC Basketball recruiting, please check back with Keeping It Heel.