A day of bad recruiting news has begun for the UNC basketball program

Fair warning: October 21 will not go down as a good day on the recruiting trail for Hubert Davis and the UNC basketball program.

With two major decisions looming, we officially know that one top-10 recruit is off the board: Anthony Thompson.

The left-handed shooting wing, rated No. 7 in the Class of 2026 by 247Sports, has committed to Ohio State. He becomes the program's highest-rated recruit since D'Angelo Russell, which goes to show just how monumental this addition is for the Buckeyes.

Down the stretch, North Carolina appeared to be on the outside looking in. It had the feel of a two-team race between Ohio State and Indiana, as the Hoosiers made a strong push in this recruitment. However, the Buckeyes never wavered, bringing in the top-tier talent they coveted.

For the UNC basketball program, this is yet another miss on the 2026 recruiting trail.

While we don't want to add to the bad news, expect another priority recruit to make his formal decision later today, one that Tar Heel fans won't want to hear.

Five-star wing Bryson Howard is slated to make his final decision at 4:30 PM EST on Tuesday afternoon, as all signs point to Howard landing down the road in Durham with the Duke Blue Devils.

At this point, it's getting a bit concerning to think that the Tar Heels are missing out on the majority of their priority recruiting targets. Of course, there's still time to pick up ground, but the clock is ticking and it's rather concerning seeing how the UNC basketball program isn't able to attract the top talent on this recruiting cycle that they ultimately desire.

We'll see if Davis and company can pick up steam on the recruiting trail, but expect it to get worse before it gets any better...