The reason Coach Davis is no longer looking for a big high school class is basically due to diminishing returns. He knows we may have as many as 8 or 9 scholarships to fill before the '25-'26 season starts. He knows we'll need several immediate impact players. That's why he offered half the recruits in the top 30. But as time has passed it has become more and more likely that we won't land any of those immediate impact recruits who could start or carry a huge load as freshmen. So then a decision has to be made. Do we continue offering lower ranked kids, or do we bet the house on finding most of what we need in the transfer portal? This is where Coach Davis has learned a lesson from guys like Dunn, Styles, Nickel, Shaver, and High. These lower ranked recruits are unlikely to play much as underclassmen, and there's a strong possibility they won't even be on our roster by the time they are upperclassmen. So what's really the point of spending time recruiting guys ranked that low?
Of course the big issue still remains NIL. That's why we struck out on the transfer market this summer. That's why we're striking out on elite recruits in the class of 2025. Something major has to change with our NIL if we're going to succeed in filling out our roster with elite transfer options next summer.
What I find most interesting is we appear to have completely given up on pursuing a center in the high school class of 2025. We offered 7-footers Malachi Moreno and Eric Reibe, tried to recruit them, and even got Moreno to schedule a visit. But since both passed on UNC, we don't appear to even be seriously looking at any other 2025 centers. We also recruited Julius Halaifonua and would have taken him in the 2024 or 2025 class depending on his reclass decision. So the staff has definitely reset their recruiting goals and are going all-in on the transfer portal to deliver a UNC caliber team in '25-'26.