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UNC adds local guard to 2008 class
Justin Watts, a senior at Jordan High School in Durham, has signed a National Letter of Intent to play men’s basketball and attend the University of North Carolina.
Watts played for Coach Kim Annas at Jordan, where he averaged 24.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.0 rebounds per game. Watts, a 6-3, 180-pound guard, had a season-high 34 points against Northern Durham. Also an outstanding student, Watts was the Pac-6 Conference Player of the Year, the District 6 Player of the Year, and three-time all-conference selection and Jordan Most Valuable Player. He made the all-tournament team at the GlaxoSmithKline Tournament last December.
Watts is the fourth member of Carolina’s incoming class. Ed Davis of Richmond, Va., Larry Drew of Encino, Calif., and Tyler Zeller of Washington, Ind., signed Letters of Intent with Carolina in November. - UNC Sports Information
This is a curious move for UNC, mainly because Watts is not the caliber of talent the school normally recruits. The best offers Watts had received up to this date were from George Mason and East Carolina. A few schools, like UNC and Illinois, had jumped in late.
Coach Roy Williams has done this before, bringing in Mike Copeland from Winston-Salem after Raymond Felton, Sean May, Rashad McCants and Marvin Williams bolted in 2005.
But why add a player so late? It seems like Williams knows either Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington or Danny Green will not be back, opening up a scholarship.
Let’s assume all three will leave, a distinct possibility. This is what the UNC roster would look like for game one, assuming Bobby Frasor is healthy and with the knowledge that Copeland will be recovering from knee surgery.
PG - Larry Drew
SG - Frasor
SF - Marcus Ginyard
PF - Deon Thompson
C - Tyler Hansbrough
BENCH: Ed Davis (F), Tyler Zeller (F), Will Graves (G), Watts (G)
Now, let’s look at what happens if Green returns. Lawson is a likely first-round pick, and Ellington looks like he is out of the picture.
PG - Frasor
SG - Ginyard
SF - Green
PF - Thompson
C - Hansbrough
BENCH: Drew, Davis, Zeller, Graves, Watts and (eventually) Copeland
That’s not a great offensive lineup, but it would have a chance to be a very good defensive group. Can it win a national championship? Probably not. Can it win the ACC? As long as Hansbrough is in Chapel Hill, that’s a possibility.
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