John Watts signs LOI and will be a Tar Heel

As all of you that follow North Carolina sports will know, Alex Stepheson left the program and that opened up a scholarship. It didn't stay open too long though, because as of today Justin Watts (out of Durham, N.C.), a 6'5" 200 pound wing, has signed his letter of intent to play for UNC. And while most people think that this is not a "Carolina standard" type of player, and it is a panic move because coach Williams knows that Lawson and Ellington are not coming back, I think of this as a good move to shore up what needs to be shored up and to have as good a season as possible next year.



Watts, in my humble and non professional opinion, is a role player. He can play his game and isn't a threat to anyone, be it the three that are thinking of moving on or the ones that are coming in for the `09 and `10 seasons. This commitment brings in a hard working kid who dreamed of playing for the Heels and will most likely spend four years at Chapel Hill getting some minutes here and there but will not threaten anyone that is coming in thinking "why was someone else brought in at my spot".

In the world of one and done's you are going to need role players to fill in around them in order to have some type of consistency. There is no way anyone is going to have a new team (or the starting five) be one and done's and think they can win. You need the players like Watts and those before him that played at Carolina as contributers while not being the stars. But most importantly, and one thing that I feel a lot of fans do forget, we have a Hall of Famer as our head coach and one that knows and sees talent. I don't think that HC Williams would just give a scholly for the heck of it, he saw something in the player and went with it.

This move makes the 2008 class four strong, instead of three. It also gives an extra player in the guard rotation, something that could be very thin if two out of the three players that are in Orlando, Florida right now decide to stay in the draft, and most of all it brings an in-state player that has the tools to play at the Division I level and will show to all players in North Carolina that you can be from the state and play for the Heels. Because in my mind there is no better way to build a program (like Dean Smith did) than with local talent.

So from this Tar Heel and humble blogger "Welcome to Chapel Hill Justin Watts!"