The focus for Tar Heel fans, just like almost every college basketball fan, is the NCAA Tournament, as we’re two days removed from Selection Sunday, and the First Four tips off tonight, to officially kick off the NCAA Tournament. With that in mind, you might not know that the transfer portal is open, and players are already flooding it. We all know how important transfers Cormac Ryan and Harrison Ingram have been to this team, and with Carolina set to potentially lose three starters from this year’s team, the transfer portal will be a way for Hubert Davis to reload his roster for the 2024-25 season. And two players entered the portal yesterday, that Carolina should be interested in, even though they are getting prepared for their first-round game on Thursday in Charlotte.
Michigan didn’t have the season that they wanted to have, going 8-24, and in the process, they fired Juwan Howard, a member of their Fab Five teams in the 1990s. A bright spot for the Wolverines in a lost season was guard Dug McDaniel, who averaged over 16 points per game and shot close to 37% from behind the arc. Now some people might be scared off McDaniel after he was suspended for six road games, but a change of scenery would be welcomed, and being in a better environment, would hold him accountable. It’s unknown if R.J. Davis will return for his super senior season, but if not Carolina will need to find a way to replace his scoring. Seth Trimble and Elliot Cadeau would make for a solid defensive backcourt, but they’d lack the scoring punch, the game requires from the guard position. McDaniel is no stranger to scoring the ball, as he had multiple 30-point games, and feels like he’d be a fit in Hubert Davis’s system, and a player capable of lessing the drop off in production if Davis leaves.
Cormac Ryan transferred in from Notre Dame, and along with Jae’Lyn Withers, they became the first ACC players to transfer into UNC. Well, when looking for Ryan’s replacement, Carolina shouldn’t look any further than outside the ACC, and go to Syracuse transfer, Quadir Copeland, who is looking for a new home, after leaving the Orange, Copeland is a 6-6 guard, who averaged 9.6 points per game for Adrian Autry last year, along with 4.6 rebounds, and 2.8 assists. In Syracuse’s win over UNC in February, Copeland scored 8 points, on 3-6 shooting. Copeland could bring much-needed size to Carolina’s backcourt, which is small with Davis and Cadeau, and even Cormac Ryan, who is 6-5. Copeland’s perimeter shooting leaves a lot to be desired, as he shot just 25% from deep, but his overall size, to go with his rebounding ability, along with his ability to be a facilitator, makes him an intriguing prospect to land in Chapel Hill for the 2024-25 season.
There will obviously be more players that will transfer away this off-season, especially as the team’s seasons come to an end in the NCAA Tournament. But managing your roster is an everyday headache these days, and these are two players that Carolina should keep an eye on early in the portal madness.
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