ACC Recruiting: Recruiting Woes In Chapel Hill?

This article about UNC recruiting focuses on the pursuit of Tyler Nickel and Cam Whitmore.

The writer here thinks that Villanova leads for Whitmore and Virginia Tech leads for Nickel. And while Davis is just getting started, recruiting has fallen off at UNC for some time now, partly due to the massive series of scandals and partly due perhaps to Ol’ Roy Williams not adapting to the modern game.

Whatever it is, at the moment UNC is not the juggernaut it once was in recruiting. At his peak, Dean Smith rarely lost a player from North Carolina that he wanted and basically controlled South Carolina and a good bit of Virginia too.

As for Davis, it’s still very early but there are a couple of quotes from this article worth repeating.

First this: “First-year head coach Hubert Davis and the Tar Heels got off to a hot start on the recruiting trail this offseason when they got commitments from three highly thought of transfer players — Dawson Garcia, Brady Manek and Justin McKoy — and a trio of 2022 prospects that, at one point, had their class ranked No. 1 in the nation...They seem to have come back down to earth a bit, missing on several of their other targets, and looking like they may be on the outs with a few others...[including]Tyler Nickel, a 6-foot-8, 210-pound small forward that has the Tar Heels listed as one of five finalists along with Butler, Iowa, LSU and Virginia Tech.”

And this: “It’s not over until it’s over, but things are looking dicey right now, and the Tar Heels could end up seeing themselves on the outside looking in for both of the aforementioned players — something they’ve grown quite accustomed to at the wing position over the last several years.“

It’s hard to imagine, and not all that long ago, UNC losing a recruit to Virginia Tech, much less Iowa, Butler or LSU.

Nonetheless, everything in in flux and not just in Chapel Hill. He has enough to do well next year and there’s always the transfer market. We wouldn’t count Davis out just yet.