UNC Basketball: What will Kennedy Meeks’ role be next year?

It’s a bad time to be a big man at UNC. The Carolina Tar Heels will enter next season with six players that measure at 6’8 or taller. UNC will be welcoming to highly regarded big men in Isaiah Hicks and Kennedy Meeks, and with many expecting Hicks to immediately receive a lot of playing time as a freshman, it is unclear just how much of an impact Meeks will have next season. Kennedy Meeks is a 6’8, 290 pound center out of West Charlotte High School. Meeks has soft hands and is an extremely effective rebounder. He also has a surprisingly soft touch around that basket and can shoot face up jump shots. In high school, Meeks talents were apparent. His height and wide frame coupled with his incredible basketball acumen led to many impressive nights for the 18 year-old freshmen out of Charlotte.  Be that as it may, there were many nights were the star UNC recruit didn’t dominate for what many would call a lack of effort. With the position battle that Meeks currently finds himself in at UNC it will be important that the young center does not take games or even plays off if he wants to become a fixture in the UNC lineup. At 290 pounds Meeks will struggle to keep up with the pace of division 1 basketball, so expect to see a lighter version of Meeks when he takes the court this November. It will however be a long battle for Meeks to get to an appropriate weight and this may limit his playing time in his freshman campaign. Though Meeks may not get time as a freshman, he has the potential to be a very special player for UNC. Extensive scouting reports have stated that his basketball IQ is off the charts and that he plays like a point-center. If everything that’s been reported about Meeks is true he may be bringing a very rare combination of skills to UNC that college basketball hasn’t seen in a very long time.