CHAPEL HILL - The 2020-2021 North Carolina basketball season is fast approaching, and six true freshmen preparing for their first official taste of playing for one of the most prestigious programs in college basketball.
The likes of Caleb Love, RJ Davis, Puff Johnson, Kerwin Walton, Day’Ron Sharpe and Walker Kessler all come to Chapel Hill as highly touted recruits in what is one of the Tar Heels’ best classes in recent memory. And, despite being only a handful of practices into the new season, expectations are undoubtedly high for the group as a whole.
So, what do UNC Coach Roy Williams and the upperclassmen think about the newest crop of freshmen? Here’s what they had to say:
The Bigs
Roy Williams
“The (freshmen) big guys can get to the board and rebound the ball and defend around the rim and score.”
“We’ve got two big freshmen in Walker Kessler and Day’Ron Sharpe. They're bigger, when they're in the game with Garrison (Brooks), they would be (the) five.”
Garrison Brooks
“I’m impressed with both those young men (Kessler and Sharpe), they work really hard and they’re both adapting really well and catching on the speed right now. And coach is impressed with it and I think it’s great because it’s gonna help our team get a lot better every day.”
On Sharpe:
“He shoots the ball really well. I joke around with him a lot, I call him Joel Embiid because I think he has a really good skill set, similar to Joel Embiid.”
The Perimeter
Roy Williams
“I think our (freshmen) perimeter players can score, too. And, needless to say, the way we had a difficult time putting the ball in the basket last year is something we cannot repeat.”
On Love:
“I would say he’s a scoring point guard after six practices… he is a big-time scorer. He is an attacker. I do believe that he looks to pass and understands that’s a part of the role. But, if I had to put him in a Kendall Marshall or Ty Lawson category of being more aggressive scoring the ball, that’s who he would be.”
Garrison Brooks
On Love:
Caleb Love is a really good player, very athletic. I think he scores the ball really well in transition and is really shooting the ball well from outside.”
On Davis:
“RJ’s been great. He’s adapted really well, pushing the ball really well, playing how coach Williams expects his guards to play and it’s just been phenomenal seeing him out there. He can get out there and score the ball the best of anybody.”
“I’m impressed with all the guys, but I think I like RJ the most because of course he’s a guard and plays really good.”
Leaky Black
On Love:
“Caleb's really explosive. I'm pretty sure you guys are familiar with his tape.”
On Davis:
“RJ, he’s been surprising me a lot this year, the way he pushes the ball. He really can shoot the outside jumper, but he's really good at getting down hill and getting to the cup and finishing over seven-footers like Walker and Day’Ron. He's just a lot of different weapons.”
On Johnson:
“With Puff, he can guard. I feel like he’s more physical than Cam (Johnson) is. He’s just as big, longer, bigger hands and he’s just a left-handed Cam almost. I don’t want to say he’s better than Cam or anything, but for him to be a freshman and for him to do the things we see him do in practice is pretty promising.”
“Puff is a big guy, he can guard one through four. He can really shoot the ball.”
Andrew Platek
On Sharpe:
“I’ve been really impressed by Day’Ron. I think we’ve kind of fallen off our rebounding train the past year, and that was a big reason why we weren’t successful. But, Day’Ron’s one of the best rebounding bigs I’ve seen in my time here, and that’s with all the good bigs we’ve had, like Garrison and Luke (Maye). He just has a knack for the ball and he’s been really impressive so far in practice.”
