UNC Basketball: Could the Tar Heels Land Andrew Wiggins?

With Andrew Wiggins’s recent reclassification into the 2013 recruiting class, the UNC Tar Heels are now better positioned to secure his commitment. While Kentucky and Florida State appear to be the front-runners to land Wiggins, don’t count the Tar Heels out of the race just yet.

Wiggins’s high school coach, Rob Fulford, recently said, “[UNC] called quite a bit. They call and check on him. Coach Williams was set to come in early in the period. Obviously, he has health issues so this is just the first chance he’s had to come out. But they were planning on coming anyway.”

Despite his recent health problems, Roy Williams did in fact visit Wiggins at Huntington Prep.

UNC’s consistent involvement was only made more beneficial by the recent commitment of shooting-guard James Young. Young’s commitment to Kentucky could open up the competition for Wiggins.

According to Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog, Fulford recently discussed this with SNY.tv:

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Obviously, with James Young right now as a kid that’s already committed to Kentucky in that ’13 class, maybe some of these schools feel a little bit more confident now.

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Fulford could be hinting that Wiggins is wary of losing playtime on a team as talented as Kentucky.

The Wildcats roster for 2014 already features three of the ESPN’s Top 100 ranked recruits: the Harrison twins and James Young. 

The commitment of Young has could cause the most concern for Wiggins. While Young is listed as a shooting guard, his style of play also lends itself to that of a small-forward.

The Harrison twins and Young are all talented enough for starting positions. Where then would Wiggins fit in this Kentucky team? He would likely start over Young, but he would also have to share minutes with the talented wing.

While Wiggins is easily more talented than any of Kentucky’s commits, he would certainly get more playtime on a UNC team that will not have as much competition as the extremely-talented Kentucky Wildcats.

If Kentucky is weakened by this extra-competition, the only front-runner remaining would be Florida State. 

Mitchell Wiggins, Andrew’s father, was a star at FSU. In his two years as a Seminole, he averaged 23 points a game.

Historically, though, Roy Williams has had success in recruiting battles with FSU.

Joel James, a Florida native, recently chose to commit to play at Chapel Hill over Florida State.

Roy Williams’s experience in recruiting and the prestige he has acquired as a coach at one of the nation’s most elite programs could give him an edge over the Seminoles.

With all of this in mind, it is not hard to believe that UNC has a great chance to land a player in Wiggins that would make them a favorite to win in March.