Five-star Nassir Little commits to North Carolina basketball

On Wednesday evening, 2018 five-star recruit Nassir Little committed to play basketball at North Carolina.

Little announced his decision on his personal Twitter account. Little is the No. 2 overall player in Florida, the No. 4 small forward in country and the No. 9 overall player in the country, according to 247Sports. Standing at 6-foot-7 and weighing 205 pounds, Little has great size for his position and is an explosive athlete.

His mixtape is filled with powerful dunks and impressive blocks. While those are great for the highlight reel, Little also shows a lot of promise an all-around type of player. He has a good sized frame and shows effort on defense. Little has also shown the ability to hit outside shots. He has solid shooting mechanics, so he could add a consistent jumper to his arsenal.

Little, who attends Orlando Christian Prep in Florida, only had two official visits — UNC on Sept. 8 and Georgia Tech on Aug. 26. Arizona was considered a favorite to land him, but one of its assistant coaches, Emanuel "Book" Richardson, was charged in the recent NCAA pay-for-play scandal.

After this news broke, Little tweeted that he was reopening his recruitment before deleting the tweet later.

UNC had consistently struck out with top 25 recruits since 2014, a class that saw No. 9 Justin Jackson, No. 15 Theo Pinson, and No. 30 Joel Berry II. The highest recruit since that class was No. 25 Tony Bradley in 2016.

Little is now the third commitment for UNC in the 2018 class, as he joins a strong pair of guards in Rechon "Leaky" Black and Coby White. And this could only be the start for the Tar Heels, as they are in the running for several uncommitted players. Names like Simisola Shittu and Romeo Langford have expressed interest in bringing their talents to Chapel Hill.

Little’s decision is a good sign for UNC. Though the team has found plenty of success in the last few years without top recruits, it will need players like Little to take the torch from seniors like Berry and Pinson.

@YonaDagalosi

sports@dailytarheel.com