UNC’s push for five-star guard Jordan Page may have hit a snag.
Only a few weeks ago, the Tar Heels looked to be in a strong position after Page’s official visit to Chapel Hill during alumni weekend. That trip seemed to leave North Carolina in good shape, with momentum building toward the possibility of the home-state standout ending up in Chapel Hill next season.
But Page’s recruitment took a turn after his next stop.
A week after visiting UNC, Page traveled to Storrs to see Dan Hurley and UConn, and that visit appears to have shifted the race. Now, a prominent basketball analyst has put in a Crystal Ball prediction for Page to land with the Huskies.
Travis Branham of 247Sports made the pick and gave it a 7 grade, a sign of real confidence in where this recruitment is trending. Branham has been highly accurate overall, hitting on just under 95% of the 367 predictions he has made. Still, recruiting moves fast, and a Crystal Ball forecast is not a done deal.
There is also room for UNC to keep swinging. Page has not made his decision yet, and Michael Malone and his staff are expected to keep pressing until the final call is made. If the prediction holds and Page goes to UConn, North Carolina already has a plan to pivot elsewhere on the recruiting trail.
For the Tar Heels, the home-state angle still gives them something to work with. Hurley and UConn clearly have appeal, but the chance to play college basketball close to home could still matter enough to keep UNC in the mix for one last push.
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For the Tar Heels, Brizzis addition is less about splash than about fit, because a player who has seen that many programs usually brings a sense of pace, adaptability and perspective. His final college stop gives North Carolina another layer of insurance and another voice in a guard group that will need to absorb Malones system fast. The bigger question now is how that experience translates once the games begin and where Brizzi fits in a rotation that is still taking shape. [Read more 🡒]
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The bigger question for UNC is how the touches and minutes will actually be divided once the season starts. Able and Brown both have their own paths into the rotation, but Avdalas enters the picture with the profile of someone who could alter the pecking order if his playmaking translates quickly enough, making this one of the more intriguing lineup debates around the Tar Heels heading into the year. [Read more 🡒]