UNC Basketball: Five-star recruit Wendell Moore sets date for official visit

Slowly but surely the 2019 recruiting picture for UNC men’s basketball is coming into focus. With only a handful of scholarship offers currently available to the 2019 class, much of the interest this summer revolves around recruits scheduling their official visits. Yesterday, a major in-state recruit confirmed he’s finalized his dates, and UNC will receive a coveted visit. Small forward Wendell Moore announced that he’ll attend Late Night With Roy from October 12-14. Here’s a quick conversation he had with Brant Wilkerson-New of the Greensboro News & Record.

Moore is no stranger to UNC’s basketball program. The 6’5, 210-pound small forward has held a scholarship offer since February of 2016, and has made numerous unofficial visits to Chapel Hill. He spent last year as the teammate of incoming UNC recruit Rechon “Leaky” Black at Cox Mill High School in Concord, North Carolina.

As has been the case the past few years, Roy Williams jumped on the in-state talent early in his high school career. As Ross Martin reported at the time, Moore was only the second high school freshman ever offered by Roy Williams. Early consensus was that he would ultimately be a Tar Heel. However, as Moore has continued to climb the rankings and receive offers from other high-profile schools, he slowed his recruitment to evaluate all his options.

Now, his slate is set. He’ll travel to N.C. State, South Carolina, Wake Forest and Duke in the month of September. That means North Carolina will get the last visit at one of their premier recruiting events. In the end, being the last official visit will hopefully help convince Moore to commit to a lighter shade of blue.

As Akil mentioned yesterday in his weekly recruiting wrap-up, Duke has been considered the leader for his services in recent months. However, in the video above, Moore indicated he in no rush to make a decision. Plus, as Chad and I discussed on the Tar Heel Blog’s returning podcast, young high school recruits aren't always the most stable or reliable demographic to base your livelihood on. As Lloyd Christmas famously once said, “So you’re telling me there’s a chance!”

Fortunately for UNC, unlike previous years, they will have a plethora of available minutes in the fall of 2019. With the departures of returning starters Luke Maye, Kenny Williams, Cameron Johnson and possibly stud-freshman Nassir Little next spring, there will be plenty of playing time up for grabs entering the 2019-2020 season. Should Moore choose North Carolina, the consensus top-25 recruit would be a welcome addition to help fill those voids.