Carolina and Duke are finally getting on the same recruiting page.
After one of the games between the local blue blood rivals last season, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski deflected the talk about his own one-and-done players by saying of Carolina, “They will see what it’s like,” meaning the recruiting field was all but even now.
The Blue Devils became known for one-and-dones even more than Kentucky over the last five years, with multiple players leaving after their freshman seasons in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019. The Tar Heels joined that trend when freshmen Coby White and Nassir Little entered the draft last spring.
Now, the programs each have signed three 5-star recruits from the high school class of 2020 who will enter school next fall and are already overshadowing the teams that are about to get started with the current season, when each has players who might turn pro early.
Duke’s 6-10 Vernon Carey and 6-9 Matthew Hurt are 5-stars trying to replace RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson, while Carolina’s Cole Anthony takes over for White and fellow 5-star big man Armando Bacot plus a couple of new grad transfers join the committee hoping to replace the top five scorers UNC lost off its most recent team.
The edge in the current freshman crops as well as most preseason rankings goes to Duke, but Coach K’s prophecy seems to be coming true for the recruiting classes the schools are signing up for next year. The Blue Devils have commitments from 5-stars forward Jalen Johnson and guards Jeremy Roach and DJ Steward, while the Tar Heels just added point guard Caleb Love to 7-footers Walker Kessler and Day’Ron Sharpe in their own 5-star crop. Both look like they may sign more.
So the prospects for the two programs look mighty fluid right now as they try to recover from disappointing 2018 and 2019 seasons. Duke was a failed last possession from reaching the last two Final Fours while Carolina is looking to advance past the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament for the first time since they won the title in 2017.
How much will their teams turn over from one season to the next? A lot, with Duke losing seniors Javin DeLaurier and Jack White, plus the possibility of sophomore Tre Jones leaving along with Carey and Hurt. Carolina will be losing three, for sure, and likely a fourth in Anthony and maybe a fifth in Bacot.
So whatever their rosters look like now, wait till next year!
“Carolina is looking to advance past the second round of the NCAA tournament for the first time in three years.” Huh? Correct me if I’m wrong, but the math – or the facts – don’t add up. Am I misreading your comment? Didn’t the Tar Heels advance to the Sweet 16 just last season? And they won it all in 2017. By my math, they have not advanced past the 2nd round only once in the past three seasons. 2017 – Champs. 2018 – 2nd Round. 2019 – Sweet 16. What am I missing?