UNC Basketball: Does Wilcher commitment negate need for Dillingham?

The Simeon Wilcher commitment was a big one for the UNC basketball program, but does it mean that Robert Dillingham is headed elsewhere?

The North Carolina Tar Heels got a big-time commitment last week, their first from a class of 2023 prospect. Five-star combo guard Simeon Wilcher unexpectedly pledged to the Tar Heels during the program’s Late Night festivities at the Dean Smith Center.

Wilcher’s commitment to North Carolina further solidifies the team’s back court, which is beginning to look as deep as it is talented. They’ve already got a handful of sophomore guards that could easily end up being in Chapel Hill for four years, as well as a commitment from four-star point guard Seth Trimble, the highest-rated player in their sixth-ranked 2022 recruiting class. Adding Wilcher to the mix only increases their embarrassment of wealth in the back court.

And while that’s all good news for the Tar Heels, it does make me wonder how it all relates to the Robert Dillingham recruitment. Dillingham, a consensus five-star prospect and the nation’s No. 1-ranked point guard, was considered a strong UNC lean for quite some time. But then things began to change during the summer months. Talk of Dillingham potentially going pro rather than playing college ball came into question, and that was followed by his enrollment at Kanye West’s new private, tuition-free school — Donda Academy — located in Simi Valley, California.

Things got even stranger after that, as a number of reports stated that Dillingham couldn’t be reached by his father, and that the high school junior was missing classes. Speculation and rumors began to swirl regarding why Dillingham chose Donda Academy to begin with, and about the possible exchange of money from the rap mogul to Dillingham’s mother in order to get him there.

Did the events of the past few months change Dillingham’s mind on potentially attending the University of North Carolina? Or attending college at all? And did all of this weirdness turn the Tar Heels off on Dillingham, and further convince them that Wilcher was their man?

It’s hard to say, particularly since so much of what is going on is hearsay and speculative in nature. What I can conclude is this: I don’t think we’ll see Dillingham in a North Carolina uniform any time soon, and that might be a good thing. Among the traditions that I don’t mind Hubert Davis carrying over from the Roy Williams era is avoiding elite recruits that are heavily involved with handlers, or deeply mired in drama.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the Tar Heels’ 2023 recruiting class, and everything UNC basketball.