UNC Basketball: Is Auburn the team to beat for five-star Tar Heels target?

The UNC Basketball program recently entered the mix in the recruitment for five-star guard Zion Cruz out of New Jersey. Hubert Davis and his staff officially offered the guard a few weeks back and since then, there has been some talk that the Tar Heels’ offer changed things in his recruitment.

It was also reported that Cruz was in the process of setting up a visit to UNC at some point later in the Summer, good news for the Tar Heels.  But as we get set to flip the calendar over to August, a team has emerged as the favorite to land Cruz and it isn’t North Carolina.

The Auburn Tigers have picked up a FutureCast prediction on Rivals from recruiting analyst Jamie Shaw recently, hinting that they are the early favorites in this recruitment. His prediction joins Jeffery Lee who made one in June as well, giving Auburn the only two predictions from analysts so far.

Predictions are just that, predictions. But they do hold some stock especially if they come from a recruiting analyst.

Now there’s a few things to consider here. There is no signs that Cruz is ready to make a decision on his recruitment just yet and that benefits UNC. Cruz would love to get on campus and check out Chapel Hill with another report confirming that on Tuesday. That’s another thing that works in favor of the Tar Heels.

The longer this recruitment goes on, the better for the Tar Heels and they haven’t been shy of their interest in Cruz, watching him play at the Peach Jam recently. However, it does appear that UNC has ground to make up in this recruitment and a visit is the first step in doing that.

For more on the UNC Basketball program and recruiting targets, please check back with Keeping It Heel.