The NCAA transfer portal is officially closed, so what we can say for certain is that should not see any UNC players that were on the 2025-26 roster leave Chapel Hill moving forward. As for incoming transfers and empty roster spots, that’s a whole other story. Michael Malone is still piecing together his frontcourt via the portal and international circuit, and it feels more and more like Sayon Keita could be the starter at center. How good or bad is that? It’s hard to say, but there are worse things than having a future NBA pick as your starting center. That said, let’s do a quick update on the portal situation, and discuss what the next move is for the Tar Heels.
This is old news at this point, but FAU transfer Maxim Logue will not transfer to UNC due to some issues with admission. From everything we’ve been hearing, Logue was likely going to be a development piece for Malone rather than someone that would have a significant impact for the Tar Heels. Still, it is a hit to the roster that the team didn’t want or plan on, so Malone is continuing his work of adding more depth to the frontcourt.
After a long, agonizing transfer portal cycle for one of the better scoring guards in the country, Wake Forest transfer Juke Harris announced that he was transferring to Tennessee to join Rick Barnes’ already stacked roster. While it’s unfortunate that UNC wasn’t able to land him, there are a couple of things with this one. First, getting Matt Able and Juke Harris felt like it would’ve been a crowded situation that wouldn’t have made a lot of sense. But the other thing is that Harris’ price tag was likely way higher than Michael Malone wanted to pay, especially considering how much of the roster needed to be filled out.
For Tennessee, though, their wallet seemed to be bottomless during this transfer portal cycle. It’s unclear if they are done, but so far they have earned commitments from Braeden Lue, Miles Rubin, Dai Dai Ames, Terrence Hill Jr., Juke Harris, Jalen Haralson, and Tyler Lundblade. Many are projecting that the Final Four is attainable with this group, and it’s hard to argue against that. The SEC may have their hands full dealing with the Vols this fall.
Tar Heel Tribune and 247Sports have reported that Michael Malone is recruiting 7’3” Italian center Luigi Suigo. He most recently played for Mega Basket in Serbia, but he was also invited to participate in the NBA Draft Combine, which kicks off this weekend.
Here’s where things are a bit messy with Suigo — during an Instagram Live, Suigo momentarily flashed a Villanova hoodie, which is significant because the Wildcats are one of the other schools recruiting him:
We’ll leave the Suigo situation at this: who knows what will happen. There’re conflicting reports regarding his recruitment, and it could be that UNC ultimately has no chance of pulling this one off. Still, it is something to keep an eye on. While things are somewhat of a mystery with Luigi Suigo, another big that has heard from the Tar Heels is FAU transfer Devin Williams. The 6’10” big man is considered one of the best shot blockers in the country, which follows the theme of what Malone is trying to put together in Chapel Hill.
Landing Williams would likely mean getting another good depth piece that may or may not be ready to see more action than Logue would’ve. Having one of the better shot blockers in the country come off the bench to spell Keita would be huge (no pun intended), and it’s likely that he wouldn’t need to do too much in the scoring department depending on who is in the game at any given time. It is worth noting, though, that he averaged 7.5 points while playing 23.8 minutes per game, so he is a capable scorer with the ball in his hands. The Heels will have to win him over against Arizona, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, and others, so we’ll see if Malone can pull it off.
