UNC Basketball: Tar Heels Interested In 2020 prospect Walker Kessler

UNC Basketball has not yet finalized their 2019 recruiting class, but coach Roy Williams is already looking ahead to 2020 as they recently offered a scholarship to big man Walker Kessler.

Five-star 2020 prospect Walker Kessler picked up another offer as UNC Basketball officially offered the 7-footer a scholarship on Jan. 30, according to EPI Training.  It is the 23rd scholarship that high school junior has received with some of the schools that have made overtures include Tennessee, Stanford, Florida, Georgia, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Michigan, and Duke.

Williams traveled down to College Park, Georgia, last week to watch Kessler at an early morning practice on Woodward Academy’s campus (Jan. 24) per Sherrell Williams of Inside Carolina. Williams then came back the following night and watched the stretch-five dominate Salem (Conyers, Ga.) by putting up 38 points along with 12 rebounds and seven blocks for his 13th double-double of the campaign.

This past week was not the first time that Williams has seen Kessler play, so it kind of surprising that it took so long for the Tar Heels to make an offer. Williams reportedly watched him during the summer AAU circuit while he played with Game Elite on the Adidas Uprising grassroots circuit. It has been said that Kessler has been regularly in contact with assistant Brad Frederick, who watched him in person on Jan. 11 as Kessler compiled 27 points along with 13 rebounds, seven blocks and four assists in a 62-44 victory over Druid Hills (Ga.) on Jan. 11.

Kessler is an excellent rebounder on both ends of the floor as he has fantastic hands. The very skilled big man possesses good footwork and knows how to play without the ball while also having the ability to set solid screens. Kessler, who runs the floor well, has a soft touch around the basket as well. He is also a strong help-side defender and shot-blocker.

Kessler, however, is not the most agile big man. He also needs to work on his low-post moves, finishing through contact and his ball-handling skills. As well as his conditioning and physical strength.

Through 21 games this year, Kessler is averaging 21.0 points along with 11.6 rebounds (3.4 offensive), 6.2 blocks, 1.8 assists, and 1.0 steal. He is shooting 54 percent from the field and 28 percent (18-for-63) from the three-point line. Kessler shot 44 percent (38-for-87) from long distance in 2017-18.

Kessler is a consensus top-20 player in the class of 2020. 247Sports has him ranked as the 13th-best prospect in the class while 247Sports Composite has him ranked at No. 15.  ESPN has the Fairburn (Ga) native ranked No. 18 while Rivals has him situated at No. 19 in their poll.

There has been talk about Kessler reclassifying to the class of 2019 but a decision on that isn’t expected until after the high school season. To that end, he has already taken official visits to Virginia, Vanderbilt, and Michigan. Kessler was slated to visit Duke on Feb. 1, meaning that he can only take one other official visit. However, as a result of new NCAA rules, if Kessler decides to remain with his current class he will be able to take five additional official visits between the end of his junior year and the Oct. 15th following his high school graduation.

While it currently appears that UNC is a little late to the party, Kessler only had good things to say about the Tar Heels and Williams.

"“I love the program down the there, I love Coach Roy, and I talk to Coach Frederick a lot,” Kessler said. “I’m very excited about North Carolina. I really, really appreciate them recruiting me. It’s a historic program and a blueblood school. Coach Williams is one of the top five coaches in NCAA college history, and that’s enough right there to make anyone want to go there.”"

Before Williams totally turns his attention to next year’s recruiting, he still has some work to fill out his 2019 class. The Tar Heels have already signed four-star point guard Jeremiah Francis and five-star power forward Armando Bacot. But they still have a scholarship left with four open offers to Cole Anthony, Matthew Hurt, Precious Achiuwa and Keion Brooks Jr.

According to Akil Guruparan of Tar Heels Blog, Brooks appears to be the favorite to snatch the last scholarship offer. Although consensus top-four 2019 recruit Anthony Edwards will be making an official visit to Chapel Hill from Feb. 4-6 after canceling his trip to Kansas.

Speaking of 2020, Carolina has already received a verbal commit from four-star center Day’ron Sharpe. Assuming that Sharpe signs with the program, it leaves the Tar Heels with three more scholarships available. They also have offers currently out to five-star prospects Greg Brown III, Isaiah Todd, Jeremy Roach, and Ziaire Williams.