UNC Basketball: Transfer portal is closed, now what?

CHAPEL HILL, NC - FEBRUARY 21: A general view of a ball rack holding basketballs of the North Carolina Tar Heels during a game against the Louisville Cardinals on February 21, 2022 at Dean E. Smith Center on February 21, 2022 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NC - FEBRUARY 21: A general view of a ball rack holding basketballs of the North Carolina Tar Heels during a game against the Louisville Cardinals on February 21, 2022 at Dean E. Smith Center on February 21, 2022 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images) /
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The transfer portal window has officially closed for winter sports and the UNC basketball program experienced a last-minute entry. But what’s next?

The UNC basketball program and its fans have experienced the transfer portal this off-season like never before. The Tar Heels had seven (7!!!!!!) scholarship players enter the transfer portal this off-season and, to date, have added four players to the roster from the portal.

The transfer portal window for NCAA winter sports closed at midnight last night, and Carolina could not get through the final day without having one more player enter the portal. D’Marco Dunn chose to enter at the last second and leave Chapel Hill. So the portal is closed, but what’s next?

Well, the portal is closed… sort of. Players can still enter the transfer portal, but they will have to sit out the mandated year. So it’s unlikely any athlete is sitting out a year to transfer when they could have just entered the portal during the transfer window.

Also, post-graduate students can still transfer at any time outside of that portal window. So while most players are already in the portal, we could see some graduate students enter if they are looking to transfer.

As it stands now, the UNC basketball roster looks like this:

Guards – RJ Davis, Cormac Ryan, Seth Trimble, Simeon Wilcher, and Paxson Wojcik

Wings/Forwards – Armando Bacot, Jae’lyn Withers, Harrison Ingram, Jalen Washington, and Zayden High

By no means, this is the final roster. Hubert Davis still has three open scholarships and how he chooses to use them is still up in the air. With Dunn entering the portal as late as he did and the increased speculation of highly touted 2024 recruit Elliot Cadeau reclassifying, this is a scenario that seems to almost be a lock for one of the final three remaining spots.

Jarin Stevenson is also being discussed as an option to reclassify and join the Tar Heels next season taking another scholarship spot. This would be filling a massive need for big men behind Armando Bacot.

As for the third and remaining scholarship option. Could Hubert Davis and his staff take another look at someone in the transfer portal? Could they wait and see on maybe getting another graduate transfer? Would they take three reclassifications in the same recruiting class (if those players wished to go that route in their careers)?

While the roster is taking shape and now we know who is definitely on the roster for next season with the portal closed, there are still plenty of options and it could take some time to sort out. Remember Pete Nance didn’t join the UNC basketball program until June 18th last season. We’ll see where we are in a month. But for now, this seems the direction we’re headed in.

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