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Even though the transfer portal is packed with players, rosters are still shuffling and the makeup of teams is still uncertain, that hasn’t stopped many outlets from coming out with way-too-early Top 25 men’s basketball rankings. Carolina falls about where you would expect in many of those lists.
On the day Carolina announced it would play in Hawaii in November 2024, Justin McKoy announced he’d head there next season. McKoy, who played two seasons at UNC after transferring from Virginia, announced on social media on Tuesday evening that he is transferring to Hawaii for his fifth college season.
Dontrez Styles, who said Tuesday morning he decided to leave UNC because he wants to play, has narrowed his choices to N.C. State, East Carolina, Georgetown and South Carolina, and hopes to decide by Sunday. He made the comments during the “Tuesdays with Trez” segment on “The Bryan Hanks Show” on WRNS 960 AM in Kinston.
Boston College center Maria Gakdeng has committed to North Carolina, Coach Courtney Banghart announced on Monday. The 6–3 junior will have two years of eligibility.
It’s another example of the transfer portal’s significant impact on college basketball to realize that there might be more former Tar Heels playing for other colleges next season than in the NBA. Potentially, 10 former UNC players could be playing for other colleges next season, and only eight are locks to make NBA rosters next season.
Coby White and Cameron Johnson had big weekend games as their teams make different sorts of playoff pushes heading into the season’s final week, while things continued to go poorly for Reggie Bullock, Theo Pinson and the Dallas Mavericks. While Johnson’s Brooklyn Nets are trying to avoid the Eastern Conference play-in tournament, White’s Chicago Bulls hope to slide into it. White had 11 points, five rebounds and seven assists in Friday’s 121–91 win at Charlotte, then collected 19 points, six rebounds and four assists in Sunday’s 128–107 victory over Memphis.
Seven-year-old Reniya Kelly is in tears after she struggles with a ball-handling drill at an AAU tryout. Kelly keeps crying, embarrassed that she can’t do it better. Kelly sits silently in the back seat during the 20-minute drive home up Interstate 59 until her dad pulls over after they take the Allison-Bonnett Memorial Drive exit southwest of Birmingham, Ala. Even though they are almost home, he wants to stop and ask what’s wrong. “ ‘I need you to show me how to be great,’ ” her dad U.J. Mitchell recalls her saying that day in response. “I knew that comment was different, coming from a child that young.”
Tyler Nickel is going home to Virginia. The 6–7, 220-pound wing who got limited playing time in his freshman season at North Carolina, is transferring to Virginia Tech.
On a night when Harrison Barnes’ Sacramento Kings ended the longest playoff drought in NBA history without one of his best games, the Brooklyn Nets got a much-needed win in Cameron Johnson’s best game of the season. Johnson scored 31 points in 34 minutes, with five 3-pointers, seven rebounds and five assists.
Former Carolina wing Kennedy Todd-Williams committed Wednesday to Ole Miss, six days after entering the transfer portal. Loaded with transfers this past season, the Rebels advanced to the Sweet 16. The 6–0 Todd-Williams made the announcement in a video on social media.
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