UNC Basketball Recruiting: Future Tar Heels earn states’ highest honors
UNC basketball recruiting is alive and well, as a member of each of the Tar Heels’ next two classes has been named Player of the Year in their respective states.
As if they weren’t doing well enough on the hardwood, things are shaping up rather nicely for the Tar Heels on the recruiting trail. While current members of the UNC basketball program are preparing for a much-anticipated Final Four matchup with the Duke Blue Devils, future Tar Heels are making a name for themselves in the high school ranks.
Over the last two weeks, class of 2022 point guard Seth Trimble has become one of the most decorated high school basketball players in Wisconsin state history. First, he was named Wisconsin’s Gatorade Boys Basketball Player of the Year following a sensational senior season in which he averaged 26.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 2.5 steals, and 1.6 blocks per game while shooting 56.5 percent from the field.
Then, he was honored by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association as the state’s Mr. Basektball, becoming the first player from the Greater Metro Conference to win the award since Wauwatosa East’s Devin Harris in 2001.
A 6-foot-3, 184-pound senior at Menomonee Falls High School, Trimble completed the hat trick on Monday when he was named Player of the Year in the state of Wisconsin by the Associated Press. Accordingly, Trimble was an Associated Press first-team all-state selection, too, further evidencing that he should have been participating in this week’s McDonald’s All-American Game.
Halfway across the country, class of 2023 combo guard Simeon Wilcher is having a similarly successful season, and North Carolina fans are anxiously awaiting the day they’ll get to see him on a college basketball court.
That’s still a year away, and Wilcher has some things that he wants to accomplish at the high school level between now and then, despite the fact that he’s already accomplished a handful of them this season.
A 6-foot-5, 185-pound junior at Roselle Catholic, Wilcher and his team won the NJSIAA Non-Public B State Championship in mid-March. The following week, Wilcher led his team to the New Jersey Tournament of Champions title, beating DJ Wagner’s Camden squad by a final score of 61-58 in overtime. Wilcher scored a team-high 23 points and avenged a loss to Camden earlier in the season.
Wilcher, who attended the Tar Heels’ Sweet 16 game against the UCLA Bruins later that week, has recently been named the NJ.com Boys Basketball Player of the Year for his outstanding penultimate year of high school ball. The future Tar Heel will begin his senior campaign as a favorite to win the award for a second consecutive season, and his team will need him to achieve similar levels of success if they have any hopes of repeating this season’s accomplishments.
With Seth Trimble and Simeon Wilcher in tow, and a surging R.J. Davis that will likely return to UNC for at least one more season, the future of the Tar Heels’ backcourt seems to be in good hands.
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