Nine games into the college basketball season, UNC fans should be asking themselves one question: what can’t Caleb Wilson do?
Wilson, the Tar Heels freshman superstar, is a main reason behind this season’s hot start. North Carolina currently sits 8-1 heading into Saturday’s matchup with USC Upstate, showing little difficulty easily dispatching opponents. Wilson is a double-double machine, currently averaging 19.3 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, while providing his fair share of highlight-reel dunks.
UNC can only dream that Wilson stays for multiple seasons, but he’s pretty much a lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Speaking of professional basketball, in CBS Sports’ latest NBA Mock Draft, Wilson goes fourth overall to the Brooklyn Nets. This puts Wilson behind Darryn Peterson (first overall), AJ Dybantsa (second) and Duke superstar Cameron Boozer.
“Watching Caleb Wilson play basketball is like watching Mozart compose music, or Picasso paint a work of art,” Kyle Boone wrote. “He’s a night-in, night-out joy because of his relentless energy and it shows in the box score, too. His defensive impact, selfless style and boisterous personality are all traits I’d bet on making him a top-five pick.”
If Brooklyn selects Wilson, he’ll be the third former Tar Heel playing basketball on Long Island, joining Drake Powell (2023-4) and Day’Ron Sharpe (2020-21). Wilson was a bright spot on last season’s North Carolina squad, which barely snuck into the NCAA Tournament, while Sharpe played on Roy Williams’ last team.
With the NIL era taking over college basketball, will Wilson end up staying another year? He’d be silly not to make the NBA jump, given his current production, but there’s still 3+ months for Wilson to decide his future.
