clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

UNC Snags Backup PG

UNC received a commitment from Wilmington(NC) Hoggard PG Stillman White on Tuesday for the 2012 season.

"He just did," Hoggard coach Brett Queen confirmed. "He loved the coaching staff and everything he saw when he visited. He's excited to be able to play at the highest level and play for Carolina."

White, who also had offers from BYU and Utah State, accepted a scholarship to play at UNC and plans to enroll for the 2011-12 season, leave for a two-year Morman mission, and then return to UNC for the final three years of his college career.

Roy Williams has stated many times over how much he likes having at least three serviceable PGs on the roster. What is unclear here is how much playing time he intends to give to a freshman player who is, at best, a mid-major prospect. If he does this will allow Roy to sit Dexter Strickland more if needed. I still would think Kendall Marshall ends up at around 30 mpg simply because he is so good running the offense. However, putting a backup PG in place means not having to play Strickland as many minutes at PG or in general. It also helps to have another ballhandler on a team that did not handle the ball particularly well. The flip side to this argument is giving Roy too many players to work with can sometimes be counterproductive. Still, UNC's depth can be a big factor in games when the uptempo offense is clicking like we all hope it will be next season....assuming everyone comes back.

The other question is whether White would actually return to UNC following his Mormon mission. That appears to be the plan now but the PG situation at UNC stands to be completely different when he comes back. UNC already has Marcus Paige committed for 2013 and no doubt will pursue other options. It is possible White simply moves on to another school after his Mormon mission. For now this is a stopgap move to augment UNC's depth at PG which is not a bad thing.

And who knows, maybe White turns out to be one of those diamonds in the rough who turns out to be better than everyone expected.