UNC Recruiting Week in Review, Part I: Basketball

Posted Aug 27, 2012
There's just too much recruiting news this week to pack into one article, so we're splitting into two parts. Up first, basketball:

The big news of the week is that 2015 center Karl Towns, the top-rated player in the 2015 recruiting class visited UNC, NC State, and Duke last week.

Towns spent time with Roy Williams on Wednesday. Then he visited NC State on Thursday where he received a scholarship offer from coach Mark Gottfried. After his visit at State, Towns headed back to Chapel Hill for some pickup ball with current Tar Heels and professional players. Towns capped off his hectic week with a visit to Duke, where he spoke very highly of coach Mike Krzyzewski.

And if that wasn't enough excitement for one week, Towns returned home to New Jersey where he found out he'll be profiled in Sports Illustrated for Kids. Overall, it appears that Towns enjoyed each visit immensely, but his return trip to UNC to play pickup shows that he definitely thinks highly of the UNC program.

2014 point guard Tyus Jones may be the next big-time visitor to UNC's campus. He's planning on visiting UNC in October along with visits to Duke and Kentucky.

One recruit who won't be visiting, however, is 2013 small forward Nick King from Memphis. King will announce his decision on Monday between Memphis, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, and Texas. Memphis appears to be his likely destination, according to most recruiting pundits.

And speaking of visits, small forward Jabari Parker, the top-rated player in the 2013 class, made his second trip to Stanford last week. His recruitment appears to be wide open at this point, although there isn't much information coming out of the Parker camp.

Next, 2014 small forward Andrew Wiggins, the #1 recruit in the country regardless of class, remains wide open. His father sets the record straight, saying that most of the rumors floating around are just that: rumors.

It appears that top-rated 2013 power forward Julius Randle is also a fan of Wiggins and would consider playing alongside him at Kentucky. Randle, who won this weekend's Elite 24 dunk contest, visited Oklahoma State last week and enjoyed his time there. He should be planning additional visits soon.

On the injury front, 2014 shooting guard Theo Pinson had surgery last week to repair a broken bone in his foot. All went well, and he should be ready for the start of the season.

Finally, here's a quick look at some former UNC recruits who went elsewhere and at some of UNC's rivals on the recruiting trail:

The NCAA is looking into last year's recruitment of Shabazz Muhammad, who will be a freshman at UCLA this season. Muhammad's recruitment was recently voted by college coaches as the "dirtiest" recruitment of the past decade.

The NCAA is also inquiring into the recruitment of Kentucky freshman Nerlens Noel regarding his financing of unofficial visits.

Also, prized NC State freshman Rodney Purvis has been deemed ineligible by the NCAA to play his freshman year. However, Purvis may still practice with the team. NC State is appealing the NCAA's ruling.

UNC Recruiting Week in Review, Part II: Football