Recruiting blog: Late Night With Roy welcomed top men's basketball recruits

As the 2017 NCAA national championship banner dropped in the Smith Center on Friday during Late Night with Roy, the North Carolina men's basketball season officially set into motion. Not only were fans watching, but so were top recruits. 

Just before the event, the NCAA announced there would be no sanctions imposed on UNC in the athletic-academic scandal — a development recruits were definitely paying attention to.

An exciting recruit in attendance for the Tar Heels was five-star shooting guard Romeo Langford. A 6-foot-5 wing from New Albany High School in Indiana, Langford is the No. 1 ranked shooting guard in the nation — not to mention the No. 5 overall player in his 2018 class. Langford chose to attend Late Night With Roy at UNC instead of the University of Kentucky’s Big Blue Madness event, a positive sign for Tar Heel fans.

Saturday was Langford’s official visit to UNC, and his second time in Chapel Hill after his unofficial visit last year. He hasn't had an official visit with Kentucky, although he has visited both Vanderbilt and UCLA and plans to visit the Indiana University and the University of Kansas later in October. 

Langford has said he intends to narrow down his top schools following his official visits and commit in the spring. His top schools are reportedly Indiana and Kansas, but he is a coveted prospect for head coach Roy Williams, who has stayed consistent in recruiting him.

Since Zion Williamson is no longer a likely commit for the Tar Heels, Langford is now the star focus for the 2018 class.

Another big name at Late Night was Wendell Moore, a five-star prospect for the class of 2019. The 6-foot-5 small forward from Cox Mill High School in Concord, N.C., currently has 11 offers, including a new offer from Duke University on Friday — the same day as Late Night. 

This was Moore’s second time visiting UNC in the past two months.

Moore's recruitment would be a big in-state recruit for Williams, who has made Moore a recruitment priority since Moore's first year in high school. As of now, Williams has only one verbal commit for the class of 2019.

Moore plans to make a decision very soon, around the end of November or early December, per Scout’s Sean Moran. It has been rumored that UNC is currently Moore’s top choice, but the recent offer from Duke could change that.

Rechon Black was also at Late Night for an official visit — Moore’s high school teammate and 2018 commit. The 6-foot-7 wing has been helping to recruit others like Langford and Moore. Black is a versatile player who can play multiple positions and could prove to be a useful addition to the team.

6-foot-4 combo guard Coby White, a top-25 player and commit for the 2018 class, also attended Late Night for his official visit. The Wilson, N.C., native could be a McDonald’s All-American with a successful senior season. Over the summer, White climbed into 247Sports' 5-star range.

Williams is hoping to snag both Langford and Moore to add to his list of commits, but if nobody on the 2017-18 team enters the NBA draft early, there is not an open scholarship for Langford or for Simisola Shittu — a 2018 power forward who was not at Late Night With Roy, but is a top recruit who plans to visit on Nov. 10.

Time will tell what Williams does if Langford and Moore decide to commit to the Tar Heels. Nonetheless, worrying about welcoming too much talent into the 2018 class is a good problem to have.

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