UNC Basketball: An interesting target emerges in the transfer portal

Could the UNC basketball program recruit another Big 12 standout to help fill an open scholarship void?

For college athletes, May 1 was the deadline to enter the transfer portal while being able to play right away for their new respective programs.

On the final day, Kerwin Walton entered the transfer portal, which opened things up a bit for the UNC basketball program. With Walton now likely on the way out, Hubert Davis and his staff will have one open scholarship to work with.

It’s important to note that we may still hear about more players entering the portal, as there is a one to two-day period that it typically takes to enter the player into the system. Even though we may hear about it over the next few days, it’s all but certain that the players filed before the final deadline buzzer.

On Monday morning, a very interesting name hit the transfer portal list, as Baylor’s Matthew Mayer is now among the players that are possibly available.

At the current moment, reports believe that Mayer intends on staying in the 2022 NBA Draft. He will have until June 1 to withdraw, and if he does, will have plenty of suitors trying to lure him to their program.

If Mayer decides to play one more season at the college level, the UNC basketball program should be all in on recruiting him to Chapel Hill.

Mayer is a 6-foot-9 presence who spent his entire collegiate career so far at Baylor. Although he was used in a reserve role for the majority of his time with the Bears, he’s a guy who is coming off a season in which he saw an increase in minutes played and scoring input.

Wow, a talented big man transfer who is coming from the Big 12 that is an above-average shooter for his size… where have we heard this one before?!

Oh yeah, Brady Manek!

Now, Mayer isn’t Manek. Both are very talented players, but also have some differences as well.

Although Mayer hasn’t been as good of a three-point shooter, you could make the case that he is a more reliable defensive player. He is coming off a season in which he led Baylor with 41 steals and was second on the team with 26 blocked shots.

Additionally, Mayer comes with NCAA Tournament experience, as he helped Baylor capture a national championship during the 2020-2021 season. Could Mayer be the missing piece that the Tar Heels need to make another deep tournament run this upcoming season?

If Mayer is interested in returning to college, the UNC basketball program should definitely be in the mix to bring him to Chapel Hill.

Follow us @KeepingItHeel on Twitter and like our fan page on Facebook for continued coverage of UNC basketball news, views, and recruiting updates.