Is Hubert Davis willing to play the waiting game?
One week remains before the deadline for players who have declared for the NBA Draft to pull themselves out and return to college. And some of them are also in the transfer portal and can pick a second school to play for next season.
It’s pretty well understood the 2022-23 Tar Heels must replace Brady Manek to have another special season with the four starters who are returning. Manek was crucial in spreading the floor and draining 3-pointers, which helped make Armando Bacot great.
Right now, three big men in the transfer portal are getting the most chatter to fill Manek’s shoes: fifth-year seniors Matthew Mayer from Baylor and Pete Nance from Northwestern, plus rising sophomore Pat Baldwin.
Mayer pulled himself out of the NBA Draft this week, while Nance and Baldwin are still assessing their potential to be picked in the first or second rounds.
Mayer is a 6-9 athlete who is better defensively than Manek but does not have his lofty shooting stats. And whoever starts at power forward for Hubert Davis’ second UNC team will have to show he can hit the 3-ball at a reasonable rate before opponents decide they can’t double-team Bacot.
Pete Nance, the 6-10 son of former Clemson star Larry Nance, played four years at Northwestern and was never in the NCAA tournament under head coach Chris Collins. While more of a true post player, he also shot 45 percent from the arc last season.
Baldwin is younger but may be the best pro prospect of all three after one season at Milwaukee of the Horizon Conference. Most mock draft boards project the 6-9 Baldwin to be selected late in the first round or early in the second.
So here is Hubert’s dilemma, if you can call it that. He has a returning team with a chance to do something Mayer has already done at Baylor but Nance and Baldwin have not: play in the NCAA Tournament and win a national championship.
Assuming he has already shown interest in all three of these big guys, does he decide to sign Mayer if he wants to come or wait to see if Nance (and Baldwin) stay in the draft?
Their deadline is June 1, and the clock is ticking.
Featured image via Todd Melet
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