Starting this thread because I was curious about the recruiting profiles of past UNC greats. I've felt people were getting a little too carried away thinking we win with 3 and 4 star players, but the results were even more staggering than I thought. I decided to look at McDonald's All-American teams, because that history goes back much longer than other recruiting sources and roughly corresponds with being a 5 star player. Each year 24 people are selected as McD AA's, and there are 25-30 5-star recruits. The correlations aren't perfect, but the vast majority of these players are ranked as 5 stars. The results:
The McDonald's All-American game started in 1977. Since 1977 UNC has honored 28 players by hanging their jerseys in the Dean Dome rafters. Of those 28 players, every single one was selected as a McDonald's All-American in high school. Literally, every last one of them.
Of course no team has won more championships than us during those last 40 years, and during that entire period every player that had an incredible season for us was also incredibly highly touted out of high school. We don't win with three stars, we don't even win with fours stars really, we've won with the absolute premium high school players.
Since the recruiting services started ranking guys in the early 2000's we've had 12 players honored (including Berry). Of those, nine of them were 5 stars, while Brice, Marcus, and Joel were high 4 stars. Of note though is that those three were still in the top 50, with the lowest being Brice ranked at #45 (and still a McD AA obviously). Luke has a chance to be the first UNC player in at least 40 years to get his jersey up there without being considered a dominant player out of high school.
I don't think it's a coincidence that the two teams with the most McDonald's All-Americans all-time, UNC and Duke, have also been the most successful programs of the last 40 years. The one-and-done rule has ironically probably made the top 10 or so recruits less important, because they rarely ever play more than a year, but getting a handful of high caliber guys is still paramount.
The McDonald's All-American game started in 1977. Since 1977 UNC has honored 28 players by hanging their jerseys in the Dean Dome rafters. Of those 28 players, every single one was selected as a McDonald's All-American in high school. Literally, every last one of them.
Of course no team has won more championships than us during those last 40 years, and during that entire period every player that had an incredible season for us was also incredibly highly touted out of high school. We don't win with three stars, we don't even win with fours stars really, we've won with the absolute premium high school players.
Since the recruiting services started ranking guys in the early 2000's we've had 12 players honored (including Berry). Of those, nine of them were 5 stars, while Brice, Marcus, and Joel were high 4 stars. Of note though is that those three were still in the top 50, with the lowest being Brice ranked at #45 (and still a McD AA obviously). Luke has a chance to be the first UNC player in at least 40 years to get his jersey up there without being considered a dominant player out of high school.
I don't think it's a coincidence that the two teams with the most McDonald's All-Americans all-time, UNC and Duke, have also been the most successful programs of the last 40 years. The one-and-done rule has ironically probably made the top 10 or so recruits less important, because they rarely ever play more than a year, but getting a handful of high caliber guys is still paramount.
