North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams might have found immediate help in the low post after last week's announcement that forwards David and Travis Wear had surprised the coaching staff and were transferring.
Justin Knox, a rising senior who's transferring from Alabama but has a chance to be eligible immediately, may visit North Carolina as soon as this weekend. His uncle Darien Knox said Wednesday that Williams and Tar Heels assistant coach Steve Robinson talked to him Monday and said Justin might be the best recruit available because of his experience and skill set.
"By him being 6-9, 245 [pounds], post players are hard to find, especially this late in the game," said Darien Knox, who coaches the Team Alabama summer club team.
Justin Knox averaged 6.3 points and 3.7 rebounds in 19.8 minutes per game as a junior, but Darien Knox said his nephew didn't fit well into Crimson Tide coach Anthony Grant's system. The terms of Knox's release from his scholarship were limited. He cannot transfer to:
An SEC school.
Another school in the Alabama university system.
A school on Alabama's 2010-11 schedule.
On Thursday morning, Darien Knox said, Justin will appeal those restrictions with Alabama. But he already has been cleared to talk to North Carolina, which doesn't fall under any of those restrictions.
By this weekend, Darien Knox hopes Justin will be able to visit North Carolina and Georgia Tech. He expects to be eligible immediately under an NCAA graduate student transfer waiver, which is available to players who get their bachelor's degree within three years and who want to study in a graduate program not offered at their current school.
Knox, the SEC men's basketball scholar-athlete of the year as a sophomore, plans to graduate this summer with a degree in business management.
Should he choose the Tar Heels, he would add badly needed depth in the post.
With the Wear twins departing and Ed Davis entering the NBA draft after his sophomore season, North Carolina has only two post players on scholarship - Tyler Zeller and John Henson - for 2010-11.
