UNC Basketball: Tar Heels’ 2022 recruiting class could look a lot like this

Kyle Filipowski

The Tar Heels extended an offer to 6-foot-11, 230-pound Kyle Filipowski in early July. That was less than a week before Jalen Washington announced his plans to attend the University of North Carolina next season, which further decreased the odds of a player like Filipowski — who’s already heavily favored to land at Duke once his recruitment is all said and done — committing to North Carolina.

And even if he doesn’t end up eight miles down the road in a darker shade of blue, the competition for the standout center from Wilbraham & Monson Academy is quite stiff. Filipowski Is holding nearly 30 offers in total, and among them are Creighton, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio State, UCLA, Virginia Tech and Xavier.

Filipowski, who averaged 21 points, 13.2 rebounds, 5.2 assists and two steals per game last season, figures to be a big addition to the program that he ends up with next fall. He’s athletic for a player his size, and he’s incredibly versatile on the basketball court. He can extend out past the three-point line on offense, but he also has the ability to be a game-changer on defense. He’s a solid ball-handler and passer, runs the fast break well and pulls down a lot of rebounds.

All six Crystal Ball predictions that have been cast for Filipowski favor the Blue Devils. They come from a variety of sources, including recruiting insiders for Duke, Kentucky and Indiana, most of which come with a high confidence level. Only two FutureCast predictions for Filipowski have been cast on Rivals, but those are for the Blue Devils as well.

A native of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, Filipowski is the No. 33 prospect in the nation according to the 247Sports Composite. He’s the sixth-ranked center in the class, and No. 1 in the state of Massachusetts. He’s also sixth among players at his position per the latest Rivals150, though slightly lower in his overall ranking at No. 48.