UNC recruiting update and other stuff

While there's not a whole lot going on with the current members of the UNC Tarheels basketball team, Roy Williams is plenty busy restocking the cupboard. Specifically, Tony Hutch has a bunch of information on who the Heels have their sights on, which players they're making headway with what's on the horizon recruiting-wise. Oh yeah, the 2004-05 schedule has been released too and it looks like William & Mary will get to face the Heels in basketball too.

And while that's all well and good, what's not so hot is the fact that UNC plays 16 ACC games (if I've counted correctly) and they only play Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and NC State once while having to play teams like Miami, Florida State and Clemson twice.

To be honest, I don't even mind playing the FSUs and Clemsons twice -- they've actually been members of the ACC for more than half an hour, even if they're not true rivals. But what kind of sense does it make to kill the home-and-away between three legitimate rivals just to play an ACC neophyte in Miami? Ugh. This is why I hate expansion. I know the conference is concerned with the bottom line, but is it worth it if it means stuff like this happens?

Anyway, here's the recruiting update for 2005 (from Tony Hutch). You can see the 2006 recruiting news here and 2007 here. Also, here's UNC's 2004-05 schedule.

Roy Williams and Joe Holladay braved Hurricane Ivan to travel to Athens, Alabama and make their final sales pitch to Richard Hendrix last night. The visit reportedly went well and lasted over three hours and included a home cooked ham dinner by Mrs. Hendrix. Richard remains torn between North Carolina and Alabama and is still in no hurry to rush to a decision. Alabama may have garnered a very slight advantage but the Tar Heels are certainly still strong in the running. Meanwhile, interest on the Martell Webster front has picked up and Coach Williams is flying to Seattle today for an in-home visit with the former number one prospect from the class of 2005. An injury riddled junior season cost him some positions in the rankings but the 6'6" wing is still in everyone's top ten.

Webster has eliminated UCLA and Oklahoma and is now considering Arizona, UNC, and Washington. Arizona remains the team to beat but the Wildcats are no longer the lock that many people were conceding earlier on. Webster has his only official visit scheduled on September 24 to Arizona but Williams is anticipating that he can lure Martell to Chapel Hill for an official visit as well during his conversation today.

Finally, Danny Green and Andrew Bynum remain firmly in the hunt as both are planning to take official visits to UNC during Midnight Madness on the weekend of October 15.

When the college season ends, you forget that that's when the coaches really start working -- you kind of visualize them sitting in their office, shuffling papers and overseeing the pick-up games as they wait for fall practice to start. Of course that's totally bogus, and it's good to see Roy out there beating the bushes.