UNC Basketball Roster: What Do We Know?
It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks for the North Carolina men’s basketball program (and truthfully, all of college basketball).
Roy Williams retired.
Hubert Davis was hired.
Walker Kessler transferred, but then he didn’t, but then he did.
Day’Ron Sharpe and Armando Bacot both declared for the NBA Draft.
Some seniors decided to take advantage of the extra year granted by the NCAA and are transferring elsewhere.
Other players were expected to leave but have decided to stay.
Due to the extra year of eligibility, thanks to COVID-19, and the new NCAA one-time transfer rule, projecting the roster for next season is more difficult than normal.
Keeping up with every transfer, NBA Draft declaration, super senior decision, and the coaching carousel around the country essentially takes a master’s degree in college basketball roster construction.
With all that in mind, let’s take stock of where things stand currently for the 2021-22 Tar Heels (as of Friday, April 23). Roster makeup will change rapidly in the current landscape, so check back often for updates.
Gone
- Graduation
- Andrew Platek
- KJ Smith
- Graduate transfer
- Garrison Brooks (Mississippi State)
- Sterling Manley (TBD)
- Walker Miller (TBD)
- Transfer
- Walker Kessler (Auburn)
- NBA
- Day’Ron Sharpe
Returning Scholarship Players
- Senior
- Leaky Black
- Junior
- NONE
- Sophomores
- RJ Davis
- Anthony Harris (Redshirt)
- Puff Johnson
- Caleb Love
- Kerwin Walton
Returning Non-Scholarship Players
- Redshirt Senior
- Ryan McAdoo
- Junior
- Duwe Farris
- Sophomore
- Creighton Lebo
Uncertain
- Armando Bacot
Newcomers
- Freshmen
- D’Marco Dunn
- Dontrez Styles
- Transfers
- Brady Manek (Super Senior)
- Justin McKoy (Junior)
All told, the 2021-22 roster currently looks like this:
Armando Bacot is the biggest question mark of the potentially returning players. He had declared for the NBA Draft but all indications point to him returning to Chapel Hill for his junior year. Bacot has not signed with an agent and continues to make the type of comments on social media that suggest he really is only “testing the waters”. It might be a while though before we learn Bacot’s intentions. The deadline to withdraw from the NBA Draft isn’t until July 19.
Is the roster complete?
As for the rest of the roster, assuming Bacot does come back, Coach Hubert Davis still has two more scholarships at his disposal (three if Bacot stays in the draft). Those scholarships could be doled out in several different ways. Let’s explore those avenues.
Freshmen
Are there any other class of 2021 players that Carolina is in the mix for? The only other class of 2021 offer we are publicly aware of is Patrick Baldwin, Jr. from Wisconsin. Baldwin falls squarely in the category of "long shot" as most recruiting experts believe he will either go to Duke or Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where his father is the head coach.
Carolina has also recently begun working to land 6’1” center Efton Reid, who plays at IMG Academy in Florida (Armando Bacot’s alma mater). Once again, the Tar Heels are probably long shots since they entered the recruitment late in the game. Other suitors include Florida State, LSU, and Virginia.
Transfers
Given the accessibility and guaranteed immediate eligibility of transfers, Carolina has been active in the transfer market, already landing Justin McKoy (up to three years of eligibility) and Brady Manek (one year of eligibility). It’s hard to know with any degree of certainty who all UNC has merely expressed interest in vs. who they are fully pursuing.
Carolina was one of the final choices when Bryce Thompson chose Kansas. Thompson, currently a freshman from the Tulsa, Oklahoma area, is now in the transfer portal and the Tar Heels would be a logical landing spot. Thompson might also elect to return home to play for Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, or even Tulsa.
Jon Rothstein tweeted that Iowa transfer CJ Fredrick was receiving interest from UNC, along with schools such as Gonzaga, Virginia, Kentucky, and Kansas. Fredrick, currently a sophomore, is another strong shooter that would bolster a problem area for the Tar Heels.
Walk-Ons
In each of the past two seasons, one of Carolina’s 13 possible scholarships was not taken by a “scholarship-level player”. In those instances, the final scholarship has gone to a walk-on. In 2019-20 KJ Smith was the recipient while Ryan McAdoo was the beneficiary this past year.
Keep in mind that scholarships are only one-year commitments and so, just like KJ Smith only received a scholarship for one year, allowing the coaching staff to spread the love among the walk-ons, if there is an “extra” this year, it would likely go to someone other than McAdoo.
Using that logic, if there is an “extra” scholarship, it would likely be given to Duwe Farris or Creighton Lebo.
That said, given the uncertainty of the roster heading into 2021-22, Hubert Davis and the rest of the coaching staff will do everything in their power to fill out those two scholarships with “scholarship-level” players.
So there you have it: the state of the 2021-22 Tar Heel men’s basketball roster as of April 23. Things will certainly continue to evolve.
Stay tuned to All Tar Heels for all your UNC Basketball roster updates.
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