Five-star forward breaks Kentucky’s heart with late-night commitment to North Carolina

Mark Pope and Kentucky were the favorites to land five-star forward Caleb Wilson for much of his commitment. But, in the week leading up to his late-night announcement on TNT’s Inside the NBA, the tide began to turn towards North Carolina, and late Thursday night that speculation was confirmed. 

The 6-foot-9 Atlanta native officially committed to the Tar Heels in front of North Carolina grab Kenny Smith with plenty of confetti and a shoutout to Bill Belichick, the new head football coach in Chapel Hill. 

Wilson is the No. 6 ranked player in the country according to 247Sports Composite rankings and his commitment vaults Hubert Davis’s 2025 class to No. 7 in the country as Wilson joins four-stars Isaiah Denis and Derek Dixon. The Tar Heels are still one spot behind Kentucky’s three-player class which is headlined by the 18th-ranked player in the high school class, Jasper Johnson. 

While he’s a one-and-done candidate who may not be in Chapel Hill for long, Wilson fills a desperate need for Davis who has struggled to replace five-year veteran Armando Bacot who expended his final year of eligibility last year. 6-foot-10 junior Jalen Washington currently leads a thin frontcourt, scoring just 6.3 points a game and pulling down just five rebounds. Struggling the control the paint, North Carolina is 139th in the country in rebounding rate and 82nd in opponent two-point field goal percentage, while primarily playing a four-guard lineup. 

Kentucky could have also used his services with transfers Andrew Carr, Amari Williams, and Ansley Almonor all out of eligibility after this season in Lexington, but Big Blue Nation can take solace in Pope’s transfer portal success last offseason which allowed him to construct a top-10 team from scratch without much of a high school recruiting class. 

Wilson was a bigger get for UNC than he was a loss for Kentucky, but that doesn’t mean his last-minute change of heart didn’t break theirs.