As we look at North Carolina’s roster at the moment, there’s actually no debate that head coach Michael Malone has put himself in a really good position to win at a high level.
Malone, who I think did a much better job in the transfer portal than a lot of people give him credit for, finds himself in a tough spot. At the end of the day, this is North Carolina, so coming in from the NBA ranks, even if he coached one of the best teams in the world with the Denver Nuggets and won a championship with them and the best player in basketball, Nikola Jokic, won’t be all sunshine and rainbows.
As North Carolina looks to keep building its roster and beat out other programs, including one down the road in Duke, that has to be the top priority. With North Carolina interested in Beckham Black, the consensus No. 1 player in the country according to ESPN, Duke and the Tar Heels are expected to go at it. According to the latest, he’s close to setting up visits to Texas, UNC, Miami, Duke, and some other programs.
“Black is the best player in the senior class after dramatically improving over the course of a dominant year — including averaging eight assists and just one turnover for the gold medal-winning Team USA at the FIBA U17 World Cup. He also upped his 3-point shooting from 28% last year to 36% this summer, despite increased defensive attention. Black plays with a dynamic swagger, and continuing that productivity will be essential as expectations grow for the No. 1 recruit in the country.
“Recruitment updates: Black is close to setting up visits to Texas, North Carolina, Arkansas, Duke, Miami, USC and Florida beginning in September,” Paul Biancardi wrote.
It’s a really good sign that North Carolina is still getting the type of love that it was expected to when Malone was hired. Of course, just because he’s coming to visit doesn’t mean the visit will be great or that North Carolina will have a chance to land him.
Still, it’s a good thing he’s at least giving North Carolina the time of day, so Malone will have to do what he does best and try to get a player of his caliber to end up in Chapel Hill.
