North Carolina made a second strike late Sunday in putting together its 2011 basketball-recruiting class by receiving a commitment from James McAdoo, one of the nation's top junior players.
McAdoo is a 6-8, 210-pound forward who attends Norfolk (Va.) Christian School. Dave Telep, the national basketball recruiting director for Scout.com, ranks McAdoo the No. 2 junior nationally and the No. 1 power forward in the 2011 class.
Duke and Virginia were also under consideration by McAdoo but many recruiting analysts, Telep included, thought that the three-way race had one leader.
"I think that North Carolina was the clubhouse behind-the-scenes leader for a while," Telep said.
McAdoo can sign the binding national letter of intent in November 2010, in his senior high-school year, when the NCAA's early basketball signing period will begin.
He visited UNC last weekend and attended an alumni game, built around an appearance by Michael Jordan, a former UNC All-America, to begin a school celebration of 100 years of basketball. He talked to Coach Roy Williams while he was there and made his decision.
"When you can string together a weekend like that, you'd be surprised if they didn't get a commitment," Telep said. "Obviously it's a very unique setting. And there probably isn't another place that could pull it off at that level when you build it around Michael Jordan.
"Obviously the best player on the planet was in the building. Nobody else can claim that. And centering it around that guy, you can do a lot of damage when Michael Jordan starts showing up around campus."
McAdoo averaged 25.2 points and 11 rebounds as a sophomore. The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk named him All-Tidewater first team. He underwent surgery recently to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder but expects to be fully recovered by December.
Telep said that McAdoo is committed to developing as an inside player but can also play on the outside.
"To me, he's got this Tim Duncan-esqe demeanor," Telep said, referencing Wake Forest's former All-America in the late 1990s. "He just kind of goes about his business. He's never going to be the flashiest or the guy who draws the attention to himself.
"He just goes out and gets numbers. He has a big-time versatile game. He's a skilled guy. And he just produces."
He joins the other commitment in UNC's 2011 class, P.J. Hairston, a 6-6 forward from Greensboro Dudley High School.
■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com
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