Tar Heels Getting Spurned by Coveted Five-Star Recruit

The North Carolina Tar Heels will have to find three new contributors next season after losing Armando Bacot, Cormac Ryan, and Harrison Ingram to the NBA. That shouldn’t be hard to do as the Tar Heels didn’t have many players leave the program for the transfer portal unlike their long-standing rival, the Duke Blue Devils.

Nonetheless, Tar Heels head coach Hubert Davis is doing what he can to solidify that his hoops program is ready for this season, but for the future too. Speaking of the future, UNC is looking to lock down commitments for its 2025 recruiting class.

Thus far, the Tar Heels have sent offers to some of the top players in the 2025 class such as AJ Dybansta, Cameron Boozer, Cayden Boozer, and Bryson Tiller. However, there’s one player who might be losing interest in the Tar Heels and could be looking to go elsewhere.

Tar Heels Rumors: UNC Potentially Falling Out of Contention for Darryn Patterson

The five-star recruit from Huntingdon Prep received an offer from the Tar Heels in April 2023, but there haven’t been many updates until now.

Rob Cassidy of Rivals.com gave his thoughts on where he thinks Patterson could go to college after his high school career. Cassidy has North Carolina as the fifth-best landing spot for the No. 3 prospect on the 2025 Rivals150.

"There feels like a growing gap between North Carolina and the four programs listed in front of it here, as buzz linking the Tar Heels and Peterson has become muffled in recent weeks, and talk about a possible fall visit seems to have faded. Hubert Davis’ program could shoot up the pecking order at warp speed should that interest reignite and Peterson end up on North Carolina's campus for a visit, however."

According to 247Sports.com, the 6-foot-5 combo guard has only visited the Kansas Jayhawks on Jun. 23 and will visit Ohio State on Aug. 1. Patterson doesn’t have visits set up with three other schools on his list – Arkansas, Baylor, and UNC.

If you are Hubert Davis, this doesn’t bode well as Bill Self is an elite recruiter and Arkansas just got John Calipari, who puts players in the NBA every year, and that won’t change with the Razorbacks.

At the same time, it’s still the summertime, and high school hoops season hasn’t tipped off yet across the country. The Tar Heels can still get back into the race for the five-star recruit, but the first step is setting up an official visit to Chapel Hill, NC.

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