North Carolina continued to load up on the nation's top high-school basketball talent for its 2009 recruiting class yesterday, receiving a commitment from Leslie McDonald, a versatile backcourt star from Tennessee.
McDonald is a 6-4 rising senior at Briarcrest Christian High School in Memphis. He visited North Carolina and Duke on his own over the weekend and made his decision after returning home.
He was so certain that he wanted to play for North Carolina that he made the commitment before taking a planned visit on his own to Georgetown in the summer.
"I visited with the coaching staff and I just felt real welcome at North Carolina," McDonald said. "I felt welcome at Duke as well but I had, I don't know, just a gut feeling about North Carolina.
"I told myself, ‘This could be the school that's best for me.' I just had to go with my gut feeling. I was surprised I made the decision now, but at the same time I wasn't. It just amazed me how I had to go with my gut feeling. I had a good perspective of North Carolina after my visit."
McDonald is North Carolina's fifth commitment for the 2009 recruiting class and is a consensus top 50 player. He also considered Memphis, Tennessee, Ohio State and Indiana.
He averaged 21.5 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals as a junior. He helped Briarcrest Christian to a 27-7 record and the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association Division 2 state title for private schools.
McDonald said that Coach Roy Williams didn't recruit him for a specific position. McDonald said that Williams told him that he could play point guard, shooting guard or small forward.
"I'm just a ballplayer," McDonald said. "I can play all positions."
Coach John Harrington of Briarcrest Christian played McDonald on the perimeter last season. Harrington said that he thinks McDonald's best position going into college will be shooting guard, but that McDonald could be a point guard by the time he's finished in Chapel Hill.
"He's a very good shooter," Harrington said. "He has a good mid-range jump shot from 15 to 16 feet. I think he'll be a great 3-point shooter. He's never had to do it for us.
"He can go inside and score on you if he has to. He can get to wherever he wants in high school but I think in college he's going to be a pretty good spot-up shooter."
Williams told McDonald earlier this spring that he considered McDonald the final piece for a recruiting class that analysts have ranked No. 1 for 2009.
The Tar Heels previously landed John Henson, a 6-10 forward from Round Rock, Texas; David and Travis Wear, 6-9 forward twins from Santa Ana, Calif., and Dexter Strickland, a 6-3 guard from Elizabeth, N.J.
■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.
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