In the midst of putting together one of its top recruiting classes in recent memory, the North Carolina men’s basketball team suffered a rare loss on the 2014 recruiting trail on Friday afternoon, as guard Robert Johnson announced his commitment to Indiana.
Johnson — a 6-foot-3 sharpshooter from Richmond, Va. — chose Indiana over offers from UNC, Virginia and Florida State. The choice comes as a small surprise, as most industry experts pegged Johnson to commit to Roy Williams and the Tar Heels.
After a breakout summer with the famed Boo Williams AAU squad, Johnson has recently seen his name shoot up national rankings lists. The Benedictine (Va.) senior is considered a Top-50 prospect by most national recruiting services and is ranked as highly as No. 42 in the nation by Rivals.
The Tar Heels’ 2014 recruiting class is currently ranked as the consensus No. 1 class in the country, with commitments from consensus Top-25 prospects Justin Jackson (Houston, Texas), Theo Pinson (Greensboro) and Joel Berry (Orlando, Fla.).
With Johnson off the board, where does UNC go from here? Based on the offers they have doled out, Williams and his staff will look to complete their 2014 class with another wing commitment.
Rashad Vaughn (New Hope, Minn.) holds an offer and will officially visit Chapel Hill from September 27-29th. Former Indiana pledge James Blackmon (Marion, Ind.) and Australian star Dante Exum (Canberra, Australia) also hold offers, although neither has scheduled an official visit at this point in time.
Stay with The Daily Tar Heel for more as this story develops.
To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.
