UNC Basketball Recruiting: Hunter Sallis Cuts List to Final Eight; Includes Tar Heels

In addition to Carolina, the class of 2021 combo guard's final eight includes Creighton, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Oregon, and UCLA.

Hunter Sallis, a 6-foot-5, 175-pound combo guard from Omaha, Nebraska, released a list of his final eight schools on Monday afternoon via his personal Twitter and Instagram. As with most five stars, the group is a veritable “Who’s Who” of elite college basketball programs.

Sallis’s final list of eight is as follows:

1. Creighton
2. Gonzaga
3. Iowa State
4. Kansas
5. Kentucky
6. North Carolina
7. Oregon
8. UCLA

Top 8! #AGTG pic.twitter.com/mbG3duedCP

— Hunter $allis (@HunterSallis_) November 16, 2020

On August 23, Sallis released a top 12 list which included the eight remaining schools plus now-no-longer-considered Alabama, Auburn, Louisville, and Michigan.

Sallis is a senior at Millard North High School. In the 247 Sports Composite Rankings, the five-star prospect (according to the 247 Sports Composite) is seventh overall for the class of 2021, second at his position, and first in the state of Nebraska. He had previously been ranked in the low teens for most of the summer but catapulted into the top ten on September 15.

He became a rather important get for the Tar Heels when class of 2021 point guard Kennedy Chandler committed to Tennessee on August 14 and class of 2022 combo guard Skyy Clark committed to Kentucky on October 22. While Sallis is not a pure point guard, as Chandler is, the top tier guard talent is rather thin in the class of 2021 and the Tar Heels will probably need to fill the lead point guard position for the fourth year in a row.

The answer to this question is dependent upon the play of Caleb Love and RJ Davis in 2020-21.

The past two seasons have featured one-and-done talents at the point guard slot for Carolina (Coby White and Cole Anthony) and 2020-21 projects to be a similar outcome with Caleb Love another likely candidate to head to the NBA after his freshman season. Can Sallis fill that void (if he comes to Carolina) or will Coach Williams need to seek out a true point guard? Or will RJ Davis be able to take the reins? Only time will tell.

Roy Williams is typically a stickler for seeing prospects in person before offering a scholarship, but given the COVID-19 complications, the Tar Heel head coach hasn’t had the opportunity. He offered Sallis a scholarship on April 27 after having watched several game films. Assistant Coach Hubert Davis was the first to make contact for Carolina.

Sallis has only been able to visit Gonzaga officially and Creighton, Kansas, and Iowa State unofficially.

Given that Sallis still has eight schools in the mix and that COVID-19 is still hampering typical recruitment processes, expect his decision to be drawn out into the Spring at some point. Hopefully, by then, we will have a clearer understanding of what the sports landscape looks like going forward.

Check out Hunter Sallis highlights:

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