By R.L. Bynum

Since entering the transfer portal, former Wake Forest guard Juke Harris has spent time wearing maize and blue at Michigan’s national championship celebration and with the North Carolina coaches for brunch at a Salisbury restaurant.

The 6–7 star has become the transfer portal’s most coveted perimeter scorer, with multiple reports indicating he will likely transfer to either UNC, Michigan or Tennessee. He’s No. 1 on On3’s list of top transfer portal players.

Michigan looked like the early favorite, and even Harris acknowledged what the scene in Ann Arbor, Mich., felt like.

“Yeah, it’s been super chaotic, but it’s been fun,” Harris told the Detroit Free Press.

When Harris met with Coach Michael Malone, and assistants Sean May and Chuck Martin at The Palm Cafe in Salisbury, Harris’ hometown, on Sunday morning, UNC made its pitch.

Tennessee was reported to have had an in-home visit with Harris on Sunday night.

Image via Harris’ Instagram account.

“[I’m looking for] a winning program and somewhere I can continue to play my game — that’s about it,” Harris told the Free Press. “Whatever they need me to do. Whatever gets the team to win.”

There are reports of huge financial offers for Harris to weigh.

Harris became a star last season as a sophomore, averaging 21.4 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals, while shooting 44.4% from the floor, numbers that placed him among the most productive wings in college basketball.

Harris has scored at least 10 points in 35 consecutive games and earned the ACC Most Improved Player award and second-team All-ACC selection. That jump came after only starting one game as a freshman, and averaging 6.1 points and 19 minutes per game.

Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes described the transformation in December, as it was unfolding.

“I think he’s one of the most improved players in all of college basketball from his freshman to sophomore year,” Forbes said.

That combination of size, scoring gravity, and willingness to take a lesser role at a bigger program is why he is so sought-after.

At Salisbury High School, he was a four-star prospect who scored 2,113 career points, Rowan County’s all-time leading scorer.

He scored a career-high 38 points with six 3-pointers in a 68–67 loss Feb. 25 at Boston College. Harris scored at least three 3-pointers 15 times last season, hit at least five six times and scored seven when he netted 28 points on Dec. 6 in a 76–66 victory over West Virginia.

May undoubtedly remembers when UNC beat Wake Forest 87–84 on Jan. 10 despite Harris’s 28 points, six rebounds and five 3-pointers.

Harris is coveted because he scores like a guard and rebounds like a forward. After Wake Forest’s ACC tournament loss to Clemson, Harris explained a rebounding breakdown with the kind of blunt self-accountability coaches value.

“I think the difference was we just weren’t boxing out,” Harris said. “There was a lot of long rebounds, so, of course, our big guys down there were fighting down with their big guys, and it was our job as guards to come down and clean it up, and I feel like we didn’t do that enough.”

When Wake Forest’s season ended in the NIT, Harris talked about the importance of relationships on a team.

“It’s a great group of guys,” Harris said. “Teams like us that really didn’t have the season we wanted to, those teams would fall apart. [There would] be guys fussing and fighting all the time, but if you come into our locker room, even with the season we had, even just now, the chemistry … I feel like I’ll talk to these guys years on from now.”

Harris declared for the NBA draft in addition to entering the transfer portal, a dual-track plan that gives him time, feedback and negotiating power.

UNC can sell home-state familiarity and the promise of being the foundation of Malone’s rebuild.

Harris has not said publicly that he is on anyone’s timetable. In Ann Arbor, he made that part clear, too. “I don’t have a timeline right now,” he said.

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Roster assuming all players with eligibility other than Caleb Wilson, Luka Bogavac, Isaiah Denis, Derek Dixon, Kyan Evans, Jonathan Powell, James Brown and Zayden High return and the players in the incoming freshman class hold in their commitment (Dylan Mingo has reopened his recruitment), which would put UNC six under the 15-player limit. The class for next season is listed.

No./ Stars	Class	Player	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt
5 star	Freshman	Maximo Adams	SF	6–7	205
4 star	Freshman	Malloy Smith	CG	6–5	190
	Sophomore	Neoklis Avdalas — X	G	6–5	215
40	Junior	Ivan Matlekovic	5	7–0	255
4	Senior	Jaydon Young	G	6–4	200
13	RS senior	Henri Veesaar	5	7–0	225
15	Senior	Jarin Stevenson	4	6–10	215
		Walk-ons
25	Junior	John Holbrook	4	6–8	230
32	Senior	Evan Smith	2	6–1	195

X — Virginia Tech transfer

In transfer portal

Player	Class next season	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt	Next school
Luka Bogavac	Senior	W	6–6	215	Oklahoma State
James Brown	Senior	C	6–10	240
Isaiah Denis	Sophomore	G	6–4	180
Derek Dixon	Sophomore	G	6–5	200	Arizona
Kyan Evans	Senior	G	6–2	175
Zayden High	Junior	C	6–10	230
Jonathan Powell	Junior	G	6–6	190	Pittsburgh

Key offseason dates

Last Tuesday — Transfer portal opened
Thursday — Deadline to request evaluation from the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee
11:59 p.m. April 21 — Transfer portal closes
11:59 p.m. April 26 — NBA early-entry deadline
May 8–10 — G-League Combine in Chicago
May 10 — NBA Draft Lottery
May 10–17 — NBA Draft Combine in Chicago
May 27 (11:59 p.m.) — NCAA early-entry withdrawal deadline
Week of June 22 (date to be determined) — NBA Draft

Photo via godeacs.com