Tar Heels Trending as Frontrunner in Five-Star Races

This week, HS Top Recruits posted predictions/favorites for six high-profile 2025 recruiting battles, including four that involve the UNC basketball program. The account views the Tar Heels as the leader for five-star forward Caleb Wilson and in a two-horse race with Gonzaga for five-star guard Isiah Harwell.

However, the forecasts anticipate two UNC targets heading elsewhere: five-star guard Jasper Johnson to Kentucky and five-star guard Darryn Peterson to Kentucky or Kansas.

Even so, none of the four prospects named above have eliminated the Tar Heels from contention, at least not publicly.

And it's worth remembering that Johnson, a 6-foot-4, 170-pound sharpshooter and admitted longtime Tar Heel enthusiast despite growing up in Lexington, Ky., recently visited UNC, attending the team's home win over Duke alongside Wilson. Plus, he's a Link Academy (Mo.) teammate to a 2024 UNC signee, four-star center James Brown.

Meanwhile, HS Top Recruits' look at the Harwell sweepstakes aligns what Rivals' Rob Cassidy noted about Gonzaga and UNC seemingly running well out ahead of his other suitors. Cassidy explained that the 6-foot-6, 200-pound Harwell became a Tar Heel fan as a kid "in a contrarian effort to spite his older brothers, who supported Duke."