UNC Women’s Basketball Adds Blanca Thomas for 2024

At the beginning of the month, Courtney Banghart signed a well-earned extension that seemed to cap off a great month, and let everyone know that the women’s program was on the verge of something special.

It turns out she wasn’t done setting up Carolina’s future.

On Monday, 6’5 post player Blanca Thomas, a five-star player on ESPNW’s Super 60, announced that she’ll be joining Banghart and the Tar Heels in the class of 2024.

I’ll be honest — not quite sure what a goat has to do with the whole thing. Maybe someone at ESPN’s Twitter department didn’t know how to Google a ram? Anyway. They followed it up with a highlight reel.

The choice is a huge win for Banghart. As you can see from the highlights, Thomas is a strong post presence and will allow Carolina to play a real high-low game that will allow them to compete with some of the strongest teams not only in the conference but in the country. While several other schools had been mentioned, Thomas’ last visit was to Tennessee, meaning that Carolina was able to impress her over the “pull out all the stops” visit from the SEC blue blood.

Thomas plays for Charlotte Catholic and in her sophomore and junior seasons she’s helped lead them to the state semifinals in 4A basketball, the highest level in North Carolina.

Thomas joins four star guard Jordan Zubich in the class of 2024. As it stands, the 2024 roster looks to be stacked for Banghart, as Thomas will join 2023 commit Ciera Toomey down low, creating a 1-2 punch that has potential to be in Chapel Hill for a while. Obviously the recruiting for 2024 still has room, as Banghart may have more spots available based on how the 2023-24 season goes.

It’s one thing to get multiple five stars to commit, it’s another to get one after they had visited another school and still be the choice. With multiple other women’s programs at Carolina adding NCAA Championships to the case recently, it looks like Banghart is dead set on adding another one sooner than later.