It was reported last week that North Carolina and five-star guard Dylan Mingo were splitting ways. Mingo, the No. 1 point guard recruit in the country according to my services, is now back on the market, with the college basketball offseason not too far away.
A lot of top recruits will be heading down to school in the summer, so Mingo will have to get his commitment set in the near future for things to go well. Regardless, that isn't the biggest deal for North Carolina any longer, as it doesn't have to worry about him, but there are certainly still some questions about why things happened. According to the latest, there are a few different factors as to why this went the way it did.
“North Carolina made the surprising decision to part ways with incoming five-star point guard Dylan Mingo despite navigating major turnover in its backcourt this offseason. Seth Trimble exhausted his eligibility. Luka Bogavac, Derek Dixon, Kyan Evans and Jonathan Powell entered the transfer portal. Bogavac committed to Oklahoma State, and Dixon committed to Arizona.
“Given the lack of returning experience, why would new coach Michael Malone move on from a touted freshman? The answer, according to program insiders, comes down to injury concerns, shooting questions and a revamped approach to name, image and likeness licensing spending,” Grant Chachere wrote.
There's a lot to unpack here, but I did find it a bit interesting that his shooting questions all of a sudden became a problem.
On the flip side, Hubert Davis recruited him, not Michael Malone, so if Malone and his new coaching staff didn't see something they loved in Mingo, that's not unfair for them to go in that direction. The other stuff is also a possibility, as NIL money is likely being allocated in different ways now due to a new coaching staff.