The Carolina Corner with @JustinByerly
It has been another long couple of weeks with the COVID-19 virus making it’s rounds across the United States and other parts of the world.
If you only paid attention to college basketball recruiting news you would never know anything was going on as deadly as this virus has become.
We are now up to 603 transfers in the country. There are 347 Division 1 programs in the country. That math adds up to be about 1.7 transfers per program.
In this week’s Carolina Corner we take a dive into the transfer recruiting for the region and also take a look at some players who have made their decision on where they will play college basketball next season.
UNC-Wilmington’s Siddle Adds Another
Two weeks ago UNC-Wilmington landed the commitment from one of North Carolina’s top unsigned point guards’ JaJuan Carr our of Pender High School. New Head Coach Takayo Siddle picked up another significant commitment this week.
St. John’s big man Ian Steere announced his commitment to The Seahawks. Steere started out his career at NC State before leaving for The Big Apple. He will sit one season and be able to play in 2021-2022. Steere has played limited minutes at St. John’s and only played in one game at NC State before announcing his initial transfer.
Siddle has also spent his short time at the Wilmington campus offering some of the state’s top recruits. He has so far offered Marcus Elliott and Samage Teel at the point guard spot, Jamahri Harvey at the combo guard spot and Silas Mason and Raekwon Horton at the wing. Siddle has also offered some of North Carolina’s top prospects in the 2021 class.
Wichita State Commit Opts Out
Re-classed 2020 scoring wing Ja’Dun Michael from The Burlington School asked out of his letter-of-intent to Wichita State and had it granted yesterday, citing the virus situation and Michael not wanting to be really far from home.
The 6-foot-6 wing told HoopSeen that NC State, Penn State, Alabama, Cincinnati, Iowa State and Virginia Tech have all reached out since his de-commitment. Also rumored to be involved is NC State who already have four of the top recruits in North Carolina with Josh Hall, Cam Hayes, Shakeel Moore and Nick Farrar coming to Raleigh for 2020. Adding Michael would require another player leaving from NC State but those rumors seem to be turning to quite the possibility.
Michael becomes the top recruit in North Carolina that has not committed or signed. He is ranked #6 in our 2020 North Carolina rankings.
McGowens Cuts List
Former Wren (SC) High School standout Trey McGowens averaged 11.5 points and 3.3 rebounds during his two seasons at Pittsburgh. He decided against coming back to Jeff Capel’s team after the season abruptly ended and has released his top-8 teams for next season. After sitting one year, McGowens will suit up for either Arkansas, Seton Hall, Xavier, Ole Miss, Nebraska, TCU or Auburn.
McGowens spent a season at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia after his senior season of high school.
Wertz Narrows List
Former Charlotte (NC) Providence Day standout Trey Wertz has been a hot commodity on the transfer market after announcing he would leave Santa Clara. He recently narrowed his list to eleven, including NC State, Arizona, Butler, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Xavier.
This past season for Santa Clara, Wertz averaged 11.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists. He has two years of eligibility remaining when he makes his decision.
Dubose Coming Home
Houston Baptist’s leading scorer, Ian Dubose is heading to Wake Forest as a grad-transfer for his final season. Dubose averaged 19 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists last season and chose Danny Manning’s Demon Deacons over a host of other high-major programs.
Dubose’s commitment comes at a great time for Wake Forest after losing Brandon Childress to graduation and Sharone Wright Jr., to transfer adding to Wake’s roster some upperclassman scoring that can come in right away.
Murphy Becoming Top-Target
Leading Rice University in scoring this past season at 13.7 points per game while shooting 33% from beyond the three-point line has high-major schools hoping to land former Durham, North Carolina standout Trey Murphy.
We caught up with Trey and his list of schools that have reached out is quite impressive. Arizona, Texas, Xavier, Houston, Stanford, Arkansas, Iowa State, DePaul, Cincinnati, Arizona State, Creighton, UConn, BYU, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Colorado, Alabama, Memphis, Georgia, Auburn, Pittsburgh, Villanova and Northwestern.
North Carolina and South Carolina Transfer List
| Player | Old School | New School |
| Andy Pack | Elon | |
| Alex Caldwell | SE Missouri State | |
| Asanti Price | Georgia Tech | |
| BJ Mack | USF | |
| Blake Harris | NC A&T | |
| Cartier Diarra | Kansas State | Virginia Tech |
| Cam Allen | UC-Bakersfield | |
| Charles Minlend | San Francisco | |
| Chevez Goodwin | Wofford | USC |
| Chris Martin | Presbyterian | |
| Cress Worthy | UNC-Asheville | |
| Damari Paris | Eastern Michigan | |
| DJ Myers | Western Carolina | |
| Dontarius James | Xavier | |
| Dontrell Shuler | Charelston Southern | |
| Gabe Bryant | Gardner-Webb | |
| Gerrale Gates | New Orleans | |
| Harrison Curry | Detroit | |
| Ford Cooper | Missouri State | |
| Ian Dubose | Houston Baptist | Wake Forest |
| Ian Steere | St. John;s | UNC-Wilmington |
| Isaac Suffren | Lafayette | Howard |
| Isaiah Wilkins | Virginia Tech | |
| Jalen Harris | Arkansas | |
| Jalen Johnson | Tennesee | |
| Jairus Hamilton | Boston College | |
| Jamarius Burton | Wichita State | |
| JC Tharrington | App State | |
| Jordan Bruner | Yale | |
| Justyn Hamilton | Temple | |
| Keishawn Brewton | Coastal Carolina | |
| KC Hankton | St. Louis | |
| Kody Shubert | Presbyterian | |
| Madison Monroe | Oakland | |
| Mike Wynn | Wake Forest | |
| Quan McCluney | College of Charleston | |
| Qon Murphy | Houston Baptist | |
| Quentin Jackson | Temple | |
| Raquan Brown | New Orleans | |
| Rayshawn Neal | SC State | |
| Stephen Edoka | UNC-Asheville | |
| Tahj Small | Troy | |
| Trey Wertz | Santa Clara | |
| Trey McGowens | Pittsburgh | |
| Trey Murphy | Rice |
If we missed anyone in this list please email me at JustinByerly@me.com
