UNC Basketball comes up short in pursuit of highly-coveted transfer

Well... the third time wasn't the charm for the UNC basketball program.

Cal transfer Andrej Stojakovic has committed to Illinois. The former McDonald's All-American chose Illinois over North Carolina and Stanford, the program he spent his freshman season with.

While Illinois was presumed the favorite from the jump, the UNC basketball program made a strong effort to lure Stojakovic to Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels recruited him out of high school, pursued him as a transfer last offseason and rekindled their interest for him when he entered the transfer portal a few weeks ago.

Unfortunately, all three recruiting processes ended the same way: Stojakovic not becoming a Tar Heel.

When Drake Powell declared for the NBA Draft, essentially ruling out a return to North Carolina for his sophomore season, landing a top-tier wing like Stojakovic seemed like even more of a priority. Now, the UNC basketball program must pivot quickly, still needing to find a legitimate option on the wing to help fill the void of Powell's departure.

This is a major miss for the UNC basketball program on the transfer portal recruiting trail, as landing a player of Stojakovic's caliber would have been a massive addition to next year's squad. Unfortunately, the Tar Heels came up short once again in pursuit of the son of former NBA star Peja Stojakovic, a player they have coveted for quite some time.

It will be interesting to see how the Tar Heels proceed over the next couple of weeks. With a clear need on the wing, does the UNC basketball program identify other targets to fill the void, or will they be content with the roster in place and make it work with what they have already.

You could make the case that both options could be in play.