The transfer portal has been open for five days, and the Tar Heels have finally got involved with a big man, something that is going to be a priority this transfer portal cycle. One of the things that hindered Carolina this past season, was not having a legitimate big man down low, allowing opponents to overpower UNC in the early part of the season until Ven-Allen Lubin found his footing in Chapel Hill. The player that has gotten Carolina’s attention, is Bucknell transfer, Noah Williamson, who averaged over 17 points per game, and over 7 rebounds last season for the Bison. In his 81 career games, Williamson has averaged 12.1 points per game, and 5.8 rebounds, while shooting 52% from the field, but just 32% from behind the arc. This was reported by Tipton Edits earlier this afternoon. He has earned a lot of honors playing in the Patriot League, as he was named the 2024-25 Patriot League Player of the Year, has been named to the All-Patriot League team twice, in addition to earned All-Patriot League tournament honors twice, and has been named to the Patriot League All-Defensive team as well.
An early trend in this transfer portal cycle is the lack of high-profile big men to have sought a transfer, limiting the pool of talent at the center position. Magoon Gwath, the Defensive Player of the Year at San Diego State is in the portal, but it’s not like last year, where you had the likes of Oumar Ballo, Clifford Omoruyo, Vlad Golden, Danny Wolf, among other big men in the portal, that UNC would miss out on. That is forcing Hubert Davis, and Jim Tanner to look at the mid-major level to find a big man to bolster the frontcourt for 2025-26, after the departure of Jalen Washington to the portal, and there not being an incoming freshman at the center spot.
Even with all his accolades, Tar Heel fans are going to have a hard time getting behind a transfer from the Patriot League, coming to UNC, and being a difference-maker. Whether that’s right or wrong is a different conversation for a different day, but that’s the damage that Justin Pierce, Christian Keeling, and most recently Cade Tyson have done to this fan base, after those players struggled to adjust to the power conference level, after transferring up from the mid-major level.
One of the reasons that Carolina is putting together a front office, is to help evaluate players both at the high school level and in the transfer portal, to identify players that can excel in Carolina’s system, at the ACC level. Suppose the staff and the front office feel confident about Williamson’s ability to transfer and play at this level. In that case, they can’t worry about what the fans have to think, but if they pursue him, and it doesn’t work out, it’ll be another chink in the armor in regards to Hubert’s ability to identify talent, let alone develop it.
Williamson now joins a list of players including Isaac McKneely, Donovan Dent, Nick Dorn, and Jonathan Powell, as early transfer portal targets for UNC so far this off-season. Carolina has had two scholarships open up with the transfers of Washington, and Elliot Cadeau, with the potential of more to come, as players like Ian Jackson, Drake Powell, and Cade Tyson weigh their futures in Chapel Hill.
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