Our way too early rankings of 2021 recruiting class for UNC.
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00:00 Welcome, well I'm just doing multiple podcasts in a week and I'm super excited about it.
00:06 I have someone who I extremely trust, especially North Carolina Hoops, Jamie Shaw, and he is
00:14 going to give us a complete rundown of UNC's 2021 recruiting class.
00:21 UNC just offered DeMarco Dunn earlier this week and he's from my hometown, Fava, North
00:27 Carolina, attending Westover High.
00:30 And Jamie had an exclusive interview with him and as soon as he announced, Jamie just
00:35 dropped the interview at the sky like, "Bam!"
00:37 We got it, we already know the information, here's what you need to know about DeMarco
00:41 Dunn.
00:42 So, Jamie, what makes DeMarco special?
00:48 He's got a high basketball IQ.
00:50 When you look at him, you see a clearly defined skill set for what he is as a shooting guard.
00:56 Physically, he's about 6'4", he's got great length and he's got good athleticism.
01:00 But what really pops off the page with him is his skill set and his IQ.
01:04 He's incredibly efficient.
01:06 This past year, everybody knows the shooting, he shot 45% from three, scoring 20 points
01:10 per game, but he also had 60 assists, only 10 turnovers throughout the year.
01:15 His team went 30-0, they're the co-state champions this year.
01:21 But when you watch him play, it's the efficiency that really pops off the page at you.
01:25 Nothing's ever rushed, nothing's ever kind of out of pocket.
01:29 He always has a plan for stuff.
01:30 If the defense is giving him the open three, he'll pull up.
01:34 But if they put a smaller guy on to guard him further out, he'll go into the paint,
01:37 he can post up, he can shoot it from the mid-range, he can do true dribble pull-ups off the sloppy
01:40 post.
01:45 He's got the full gamut of the IQ, he can pass the ball, move it around a little bit.
01:49 He's just an incredibly efficient player that doesn't play a loud game.
01:54 In the interview that I had with him, he said that he likens himself to a Ray Allen.
01:57 Now Ray Allen's obviously a Hall of Famer, he's an all-star, all that kind of stuff.
02:01 The thing about it is, though, is that archetype of player is very real.
02:05 He's got a very true feel kind of along that line of player, with the efficiency, with
02:10 the ability to shoot the ball, but being more than just a shooter.
02:13 Right.
02:14 And so can you tell us, I'm sure you know, kind of what Coach Williams looks for.
02:18 So when Coach Williams saw him, what do you think made him pop out the book like, "We
02:22 have to offer him"?
02:24 Well, in talking with the staff, they really like, obviously, his ability to not only make
02:31 shots, really the shooting.
02:33 So the shooting will pop off the page at him.
02:34 The 45 percent and all that kind of stuff caught their eye.
02:37 But when you watch him and his ability to make plays, now I don't mean his ability to
02:42 dribble, touch the paint, dish it out, make all, but just make basketball plays really
02:47 is what kind of won him over.
02:49 If you look at players in the past, they've always had kind of a guy like this, kind of
02:54 a Kenny Williams, kind of a Brandon Robinson along that line of player.
02:59 So it only makes sense, you know, DeMarco being an hour away down in Westover, hour
03:03 and a half away, you know, that they offer this guy.
03:06 He doesn't necessarily have the national ranking yet.
03:08 He kind of just popped off the page.
03:11 But his shooting is what caught their eye, but his ability to make plays is what kind
03:16 of won them over.
03:17 All right.
03:18 Awesome.
03:19 And just looking over Carolina's 2021 commits, let's head over to Kinston.
03:26 Dontrez Styles, what is your observance of him and how does he fit into Carolina's game?
03:32 I think the ultimate word to describe Dontrez is productive.
03:37 It's kind of one of those things you're not able to put him in a box.
03:40 He doesn't necessarily have a traditional position.
03:44 But what he does is he produces at an incredibly high level.
03:47 And it's almost so much so that you can't ignore it.
03:50 You know, if you're sitting here trying to say, what does he do?
03:53 What position is he?
03:54 What is he this?
03:55 That's not Dontrez Styles for you.
03:56 But if you even go back to last year on the EYBL when he was playing up on 17s with CP3,
04:02 he was incredibly productive.
04:04 This year with Kinston, he started to shoot the ball well.
04:06 So he's continuing to work and grind and add to his game, all the while being productive.
04:12 I think he, I think he, what, I don't think he averaged, I don't think he got under 10
04:16 rebounds at all at any point in time at any game this year.
04:19 He, at least 10 rebounds every single game.
04:21 He shot the ball at an efficient clip from three.
04:25 It might have even been 40%.
04:27 And then he went in over 20 points in over half of his games he played this year.
04:32 So in over half his games, he went for 20 and 10 and shot the ball 40% for three.
04:36 Six foot seven, incredibly strong.
04:38 He's got, you know, elbow above the rim athleticism and stuff.
04:41 He's the type of guy who traditionally 10 years ago, you would have said, well, is he
04:43 a three?
04:44 Is he a four?
04:45 But now with how fluid everything is, just a producer that you want on your team and
04:49 you don't want to go against.
04:50 Right.
04:51 So kind of sidetrack you a little bit.
04:53 What makes Kinston so special?
04:56 Well, the, so they have a ton of athletes that come through there.
05:01 But what it is, is that they pour into their youth from an early age in basketball.
05:07 I know that the rec center there, they have, you know, nighttime runs, midnight runs, and
05:12 all that kind of stuff that are epic that I've even heard of that, you know, from kids
05:18 all the way back, the people come back who have succeeded from there, they come back
05:22 and help out.
05:23 I know Stackhouse is a big presence there still to this day.
05:28 You know, so it's the people who have been there pour back into the youth.
05:32 They have adults there who pour into the youth to build it at an early age.
05:37 You know, you go into other areas, maybe it's baseball, maybe it's football, maybe it's
05:42 whatever the case, well, Kinston is basketball.
05:44 They have the talent, they have the athleticism, and they have all that, and then they're able
05:49 to kind of mold that and groom that.
05:51 And tradition, you know, it's cool to be good at basketball in Kinston.
05:56 And kids like to do the cool thing.
05:58 Right.
05:59 Okay, so let's head on up to Fairfax, Virginia and talk Trevor Kiels.
06:04 Trevor Kiels is a, he's an, he's just an efficient, smooth type of player.
06:10 Anything that he does pops off the page at you, but you see that he does it at a high
06:14 level time after time.
06:15 Playing at Paul VI, they're always the top ten team in the country.
06:18 Playing for Team Takeover, they're always one of the top teams on the EYBL.
06:22 He was groomed to play at a high level, and he's always kind of produced across the board.
06:28 He's another one kind of like a Don Trestiles, in between positions, he's comfortable on
06:32 the ball, he's comfortable making plays for others, he's comfortable scoring himself and
06:35 finishing in the basket.
06:37 He's not overly explosive, he's not overly a great shooter, he's not all this kind of
06:41 stuff, but he's just good across the board.
06:46 And it seems like Roy Williams has always had success with guys who fall just under
06:49 that five star tier, and are three or so year guys who can do a lot of things across the
06:55 board.
06:56 And Kiels kind of falls within that, you know, within that scope.
06:58 All right, now what do we think about Kennedy Chandler out of Memphis, Tennessee?
07:04 He's electric.
07:06 He's in the conversation as being one of the top point guards in the country.
07:09 You know, he's just electricity.
07:12 He's just full of electricity in his game.
07:14 The quickness, the shot making, the ability to see the floor, and excitement.
07:22 And I'm trying to keep it where we have a little flow here, but let's just go to Chet
07:26 Holgrim out of Minnesota.
07:30 Chet's unique.
07:32 He's every bit of seven foot one, and he is able to put the ball on the floor, he's
07:37 able to shoot the ball off of movement.
07:39 He's able to create for himself from the wing.
07:41 He's able to put his heels on the baseline and play from the dunk spots.
07:47 You know, he's just got a ton of uniqueness.
07:52 People knew his name, but he kind of broke out last year whenever he doubled behind the
07:55 back against Steph Curry, when he dunked on him at Steph Curry's camp and stuff.
07:59 And the legend's kind of grown from there.
08:01 He's a top three player in the class.
08:02 I think the interesting thing about Chet will be will he decide to go to college or possibly
08:06 the pro route.
08:07 You know, he's going to have those opportunities.
08:11 I don't know where his mindset is necessarily when it comes to that type of stuff, but he's
08:15 going to have the opportunity to go both ways.
08:19 And he's a high level player.
08:20 It's going to be interesting to see how much weight he puts on.
08:23 But skill set wise, toughness wise, he has the full package.
08:29 And last but definitely not least, Patrick Baldwin Jr.
08:34 Patrick Baldwin Jr. is smooth.
08:36 I mean, he's kind of today's prototypical six foot nine wing forward.
08:42 He's the type of guy who goes to college and plays the four but goes to the pro ranks and
08:46 is the three.
08:47 He's able to create off the bounce.
08:50 His dad's the head coach at University of Milwaukee, I believe.
08:55 And he's just got that smooth feel, that smooth overall game at six foot nine.
09:00 He can shoot, he can create, he can initiate, he rebounds and pushes the break.
09:05 He's just that overall kind of player, almost a little bit like Jalen Johnson coming to
09:09 Duke this year.
09:11 Just that positional size and skill set and fluidity within his game.
09:16 Now just a quick overview.
09:19 What is your analysis of Carolina's recent class, their 2020 class?
09:23 And just how do all of these recruits mesh?
09:27 And does Coach Williams have a good problem on his hands?
09:31 Yeah, no, it's a great problem to have.
09:35 It'll be interesting to see how kind of everything flows with it.
09:39 I think that this class in its own right, the six players all fit together themselves.
09:46 You can put five on the floor of these guys that all kind of go together.
09:50 It'll be interesting to see how they mesh with the older guys.
09:54 How it comes in with the Armando Baycocks and the Anthony Harris's and the Garrison
09:58 Brooks and the Leaky Blacks and all that kind of stuff.
10:01 How the experience meshes with the young talent.
10:04 But yeah, it's a great thing to have.
10:06 Roy gets to go back to his roots of having two bigs, playing the two big system.
10:12 He's got some skilled bigs in there, but he's also got some shot making guards.
10:15 I'm sure I think you saw that they sorely needed shooting.
10:18 Yeah.
10:19 So they've added shooting in this class.
10:21 They still have some playmaking.
10:22 They have the ability with the wings able to create and let the guards kind of play
10:28 off the ball a little bit.
10:29 They have fast guards coming in with Love and RJ Davis.
10:34 It's going to be a full team and practices are going to be very fun to see who differentiates
10:38 themselves to be able to start.
10:40 So if you could have this to kind of wrap this up, and I know you have a busy day ahead
10:44 of you.
10:45 If you have a few World Winners right now, what does your lineup look like for 2020?
10:52 Gosh, I would probably say I think the real questions are going to come with the four
11:00 and five.
11:01 I feel like.
11:02 Yeah.
11:03 Love will start.
11:12 I feel like RJ Davis possibly will start at the two.
11:16 Leakey at the three.
11:18 Garrison Brooks at the four.
11:19 And then we'll see between Baycott and Daron.
11:23 And Walker Kessler.
11:24 Yeah.
11:25 I mean, Walker Kessler will be in there too.
11:26 I don't think he'll start this year.
11:27 I don't think he'll surpass Daron or Armando.
11:30 Okay.
11:31 But, you know, he has a different dynamic with his ability to really, really shoot the
11:35 ball.
11:36 Yeah.
11:37 Yeah.
11:38 You know, so it'll be interesting to see.
11:39 I think with the five between Daron and Armando, who wins that out.
11:43 Garrison Brooks I think is guaranteed a spot.
11:44 I think Caleb Love is guaranteed a spot.
11:47 And then, you know, we'll see how the off guard plays out.
11:50 I think RJ Davis, I really think that he's an underrated player in the overall scheme
11:55 of things.
11:56 And he can really score the ball too.
11:58 You know, he's got an exciting problem on his hand.
12:01 It'll be interesting to see too if Anthony Harris, how he comes back from injury and
12:05 if he's able to - if he gives up his slot as easily to Cam Love.
12:10 Yeah.
12:11 I'm excited about that.
12:12 Yeah.
12:13 I think Carolina in competition this year is going to be fantastic to see these boys kind
12:17 of battle that for that starting five.
12:19 So if I'm not excited by anything, I'm excited about practices and who's going to like, this
12:24 is mine.
12:25 Yeah.
12:26 I mean, I don't know.
12:27 No, competition breeds excellence.
12:29 So we definitely have that this year.
12:32 You know, gone are the days of people questioning if Roy Williams can recruit.
12:35 So.
12:36 Awesome.
12:37 All right, James.
12:38 So how can we find you on social media?
12:41 So on social media, my Twitter is @jamieshaw5.
12:45 My Instagram is @jamie_shaw5.
12:49 I'm on my podcast, Absolute Basketball Podcast.
12:53 It's on iTunes and all that kind of stuff or Apple, I guess it is now.
12:58 And then on YouTube is Absolute Basketball Experience with Jamie Shaw.
13:01 So.
13:02 Awesome.
13:03 Well, thank you so much for hanging out with us.
13:05 Is there anything else that we should know about you or what you're doing next?
13:10 If you have a project you're about to drop?
13:12 I know you just did DeMarco Dunn's interview.
13:16 So of course, we want people to check that out.
13:18 But is there anything else you can look forward to?
13:20 Yeah, sure.
13:21 So I'm putting out podcasts daily, Absolute Basketball Podcast.
13:24 So interviews with head coaches.
13:27 So getting like Eric Musselman and Mike Rhodes of VCU and Dave Paulson coming up, LaVell
13:34 Moten, all that kind of stuff.
13:36 So daily podcasts coming out, the interviews.
13:38 The player interviews go up on my YouTube page.
13:40 So I have one with Eric Van Der Huijzen coming up today.
13:44 And I have other ones coming out throughout, four stars throughout the country, five stars
13:48 throughout the country and everything too.
13:50 So the player interviews and the player analysis, do player breakdowns and stuff, all that's
13:54 going on YouTube.
13:55 The coaches and all the scouting stuff's going out on the podcast.
13:58 So make sure that y'all check both of those out because it's a ton of content and it's
14:02 very informative.
14:03 Awesome.
14:04 Well, thank you so much.
14:05 That is a wrap for us here at All-Tar Heels and we will talk to you next time.
14:09 Thank you very much.
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