It was already obvious that when North Carolina made the decision to hire Michael Malone, who hadn't been a head coach in college before and hadn't coached at this level in any capacity in 25 years, that Jon Scheyer and Duke were going to have a major advantage with high school recruiting.
That's become even more obvious with Malone's first big decision on the recruiting trail.
The prize of Carolina's 2026 recruiting class was 5-star PG Dylan Mingo, who is ranked as the No. 5 overall player in the class. On Monday, Mingo decided to reopen his recruitment, and that decision was...mutual? UNC beat writers framed it as the Tar Heels "parting ways" with Mingo:
BREAKING: UNC has decided to part ways with 2026 commit Dylan Mingohttps://t.co/SN6ZqO09fW
— Andrew Jones (@AJTarHeel247) April 13, 2026
That decision has, unsurprisingly, brought criticism:
Choosing an inefficient college PG with elite size to run the Tar Heels instead of the blue chip 5-star recruit is the first massive decision of the Michael Malone era at North Carolina.
— Matthew Winick (@matthewwinick) April 13, 2026
Feels like a very "NBA" choice. Will be very curious to see what this roster looks like. https://t.co/bUYZI0zTqe
Winick is talking about Virginia Tech transfer Neoklis Avdalas, who committed to North Carolina on Monday. Avdalas shot 38% from the field and 31% from three as a freshman with the Hokies and seems to be being handed the keys to the Carolina offense over the elite prospect in Mingo.
There's a reason Malone wasn't Carolina's first or second or third or even fourth choice for this job, after all.
Michael Malone's Dylan Mingo decision will have major recruiting ramifications going forward
This decision makes it clear that UNC is going to prioritize the Transfer Portal over high school recruiting going forward. That's music to the ears of Scheyer, who already had a massive, built-in advantage over Malone in high school recruiting. Malone apparently has no interest in even trying to compete with Duke in that department.
UNC has struggled to organically build for years now and hasn't produced a single NBA All-Star in 18 years. Caleb Wilson was far and away the best prospect to come out of Chapel Hill in quite some time, and it looks like he may stand out as an anomaly going forward.
Malone has been on the job for a little over a week, and his first major decision is already under major scrutiny.
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