UNC Recruiting Week of 4/22: Roy Williams sets his sights on Christian Keeling

This week has been an insanely busy week for both the football and basketball program. On the football side of things, Mack Brown landed three 2020 commitments, which has the Heels in great shape to keep their top-ten recruiting class rolling along. As far as things go in basketball, Roy Williams landed two extremely talented guards for the 2019 class, one of which is the best guard that he’s received a commitment from since he came back to Chapel Hill. Needless to say, it’s been a fun time for both coaching staffs.

Without further ado, let’s jump into this week’s recruiting recap.

Football

• Carolina football has had an extremely good week, as Mack Brown received four verbal commitments to his program within seven days. Three-star players Kendall Karr, John Copenhaver, Tylee Craft, and Cedrick Gray all decided to take their talents to Chapel Hill for the 2020 season, with three of the four players being from the Carolinas. Our own Chad Floyd wrote a breakdown of each commit yesterday, so go check it out to learn about the future Tar Heels.
• As it currently stands, UNC currently has the 8th best 2020 recruiting class in the country according to 247 Sports. The ACC currently has four teams in the top ten, with UNC having the fourth-best class in the conference. If the Heels manage to finish things out with a top-20 class, it will be the the strongest recruiting class that we’ve seen since 2011.

Basketball

• It goes without saying that Roy Williams is having a fantastic week. Five-star combo guard Cole Anthony announced that he will be attending Carolina this fall, filling the huge void left by Coby White when he announced he was going into the NBA Draft. Shortly thereafter, four-star combo guard Anthony Harris announced that he will be teaming up with Anthony, with both players signing their letters of intent that same day. We provided plenty of coverage throughout the week on both signees, and the links will be provided below.
• There was some good news and bad news announced yesterday for Carolina fans. The bad news is that Seventh Woods announced that he will not be returning to the University of North Carolina for his senior season. The good news, however, is that Charleston Southern graduate transfer Christian Keeling tweeted that he will be announcing where he is transferring to on Mothers Day (May 12th) in honor of his mother.

Keeling averaged 18.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game in his final season with Charleston Southern. His team ran up against a few Power Five programs in Clemson, Marquette, and Florida during the season, and he finished each game scoring 25, 18, and 18 points respectively. Even more impressive is how efficient he was in doing so: in all three games, Keeling took no more than 17 shots, with that particular amount transpiring in the 76-46 loss against Florida in the second game of the season.

The graduate transfer will be choosing between two schools: UNC and Clemson. One has to feel like Roy Williams has a great chance of landing him, and perhaps this subtweet from Tuesday serves as a good indicator:

• As far as the other current offers go, the remaining prospects for the 2019 class right now are Precious Achiuwa and Justin Pierce. When it comes to Achiuwa, it’s likely that UNC may be fading into the background, as it’s currently looking like Kansas may be the favorite to land him. However, what makes the situation really interesting is that Achiuwa just took an official visit to Memphis Monday and Tuesday to scope out Penny Hardaway’s program.

It’s hard to ignore the big incentives that exist in the Tigers’ program — Hardaway’s NBA resumé, which can likely go a long way in helping him get into the league, and teaming up with the No. 1 player in the country, James Wiseman. The Heels aren’t completely out of the running yet, but it’s likely that the transfer portal becomes the sole focus going forward for 2019.

• For the 2020 class, five-star prospect and in-state product Isaiah Todd announced last week that he will not reclassify to join the 2019 class. Rivals’ recruiting analyst Corey Evans reported this week that Todd’s reasoning for staying in the class is so that he can develop during his senior year and go through the complete recruiting process. As it currently stands, Kentucky and UNC are considered the two favorites to land Todd, with schools like Maryland, Oregon, and Oklahoma State also being in the mix.

Coverage from Cole Anthony and Anthony Harris’ commitments:

Cole Anthony Commits to UNC

Anthony Harris Commits to UNC

Reactions from Cole Anthony and Anthony Harris’ Announcements

Between the Banners Podcast (TWICE!): Cole Anthony and Anthony Harris, Tar Heels