Duke basketball rival returning to North Carolina for fifth year of eligibility

The Duke basketball team and North Carolina Tar Heels will be returning its starting point guards from this season to bolster its roster next year.

Tyrese Proctor announced shortly after the Blue Devils season ended that he would be returning to Durham for his junior season while RJ Davis' future was still unknown.

Signs pointed at a return to Chapel Hill, despite the Heels' incoming recruiting class and retention of guard Elliot Cadeu, since Davis doesn't project to be an NBA player and a transfer was unlikely. Everything came together on Tuesday evening for the future of North Carolina.

After Seth Trimble, a role player last season, announced he was withdrawing his name from the transfer portal and returning to Chapel Hill, CBS Sports insider Matt Norlander reported that RJ Davis "is on board to return as well."

An announcement on his return is expected within the week, according to the report.

Davis was the ACC Player of the Year and a consensus First Team All-American this season after averaging 21.2 points per game. Similar to Jeremy Roach, he still has an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID impacted season of 2020-21.

The New York native struggled from the field against Duke this season, shooting just 34.6-percent from the field (9-for-26), but still averaged 13.0 points per contest in North Carolina's two victories over the Blue Devils.

He's averaged 12.1 points per game in his career (nine games) against Duke, shooting 38.8-percent.

Duke will have an entirely new roster with the exception of Caleb Foster and Proctor, but the Blue Devils will be very talented with its loaded freshmen class, led by top ranked recruit Cooper Flagg, and its transfer portal additions.

North Carolina will look to replace Armando Bacot, who exhausted all of his eligibility this season, and has been very active in the transfer portal despite not landing a prospect yet.

Despite all the change in college basketball this offseason, there still will be consistent pieces in the rivalry between Duke and North Carolina.