Roy Williams’ luck is already starting to change. Alabama transfer Justin Knox is committing to North Carolina, less than three weeks after David and Travis Wear announced their departure from UNC and when it was beginning to seem as if the Tar Heels would be in for another long season.
The 6-foot-9, 240-pound forward will be coming to North Carolina next year to provide immediate help in the low post, filling a “big man” void that is essential to Williams’ style of play.
Also on Tuesday, the Wear twins’ father, David, announced they have committed to play at UCLA. The Bruins had previously recruited the California natives before they chose UNC. He gave no insight as to why his sons left North Carolina.
“I’m not going to go down that pathway,” Wear said in this ESPN.com story. “They had their year at Carolina and at the end of that year they felt they didn’t want to return.”
Knox played three seasons at Alabama, but decided to leave after playing a year under the Crimson Tide’s new head coach, Anthony Grant. After averaging 6.3 points and 3.7 rebounds in nearly 20 minutes of play per game last season, Knox felt he didn’t mesh into Grant’s new system.
Knox, who plans to graduate from Alabama this summer, will be immediately eligible to play for North Carolina under the NCAA graduate student waiver program if he enrolls in a graduate program at UNC that Alabama does not offer.
Before committing to the Tar Heels, Knox was also being recruited by conference opponent Georgia Tech. Knox is expected to make an official announcement of his commitment on Tuesday.
