UNC Basketball: The Tar Heels are officially in the running for Jalen Wilson

This spring for UNC basketball was a whirlwind of events, with Cole Anthony, Anthony Harris, Christian Keeling, and Justin Pierce all signing their Letters of Intent within days of one another. Since then, we thought that the Heels were done had completed their 2019 recruiting class, but it turned out that this wasn’t quite the case.

As Akil Guruparan mentioned in his recruiting update last week, four-star small forward Jalen Wilson re-opened his recruiting process after being released from his Letter of Intent with Michigan. It was discovered that he was interested in UNC, as well as Kansas, Florida, and Oklahoma State. It wasn’t very long after discovering this that Wilson told recruiting analysts that he had scheduled an official visit with Kansas and that next on his list is to schedule an official visit to UNC as well.

Over the weekend, Wilson took to Instagram Live to discuss the Tar Heels, his friendship with Armando Bacot, and why he decided to add Carolina to his list:

While it’s clear that Wilson has every intent of visiting campus to figure out whether or not Carolina is a good fit for him, Roy Williams has not offered him just yet, which would likely come soon after the official visit takes place. Should Williams offer Wilson, it will bring him one step closer to potentially recruiting a true small forward to plug into the lineup instead of exploring options like Brandon Robinson, Leaky Black, and Justin Pierce. What’s even more intriguing about adding a guy like Wilson is his perimeter shooting capabilities. 247 Sports’ Evan Daniels stated in his scouting report last year that Wilson has great shooting mechanics and range, and has the potential to get drafted in the first-round of the NBA Draft. Adding Wilson would make for yet another dangerous starting lineup should it include Cole Anthony, Christian Keeling, Wilson, Bacot, and Brooks.

So then who do the Heels have to beat in order to land Wilson? If you buy into what recruiting experts are saying, it seems like the only other school to be concerned about is Kansas. There has been a big deal made of the fact that Wilson’s best friend is RJ Hampton, and that this combined with Kansas’ relationship with him prior to his commitment to Michigan may be enough to make this one a win for Bill Self. However, as Rivals’ recruiting expert Corey Evans points out, Carolina has too big of a hole to fill, and Wilson would be able to get more than enough playing time.

Thanks to John Beilein’s abrupt exit from Michigan to go coach the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jalen Wilson’s exit from their program has guaranteed at least a couple more weeks of 2019 recruiting excitement for Tar Heels fans. He stated that as of right now, he doesn’t have a timeline for when he plans on making his decision, and so we shall see how the official visit goes once it’s scheduled. Landing Wilson would be a huge addition for the 2019 recruiting class, as well as make Carolina a legitimate contender for both the ACC and NCAA titles.

Editor’s Note: It is now confirmed that Jalen Wilson’s official visit to UNC will take place June 3rd through June 5th.