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Carolina doesn’t have enough to buy back Lubin?
We all know the transfer portal is nuts, but this makes no sense at all: Ven-Allen-Lubin, who stayed in the portal long enough to flip from Carolina to N.C. State. Huh?
Dontrez Styles did that a couple of years ago, but he was a deep reserve in Chapel Hill. You mean Lubin is good enough to get more minutes from the Wolfpack’s new coach Will Wade than from Hubert Davis?
So it must be about money, right?
Greg Barnes of Inside Carolina published a story this week that reported UNC has about $14 million in its basketball bank account heading into revenue sharing from the infamous lawsuit about to be approved. And NIL is still part of recruiting.
Will Lubin get more playing time at State than he would by resuming the great finish he had last season when he wound up the Tar Heels leading rebounder with 5.5 boards a game?
Yes, the Heels have signed 6-foot-11 transfers Henri Veesaar from Arizona and Jaren Stevenson from Alabama. Neither played the minutes, averaged the points or grabbed the rebounds Lubin did. Incoming freshman Caleb Wilson is a 5-star, 6-foot-9 forward with über talent but he was not to be Lubin’s competition in the post.
The Tar Heels have two returning lettermen in starter Seth Trimble and reserve center James Brown, plus maybe Zayden High if he rejoins the team after his suspension. Would Lubin, at worst, not be the third postman besides Veesaar and Stevenson?
Lubin said he was entering the transfer portal with the intention of returning to UNC for his senior year and maybe to check out what might be available in revenue sharing. Whatever Hubert and Jim Tanner offered him to come back, it wasn’t enough to play for a totally rebuilding program in Raleigh.
Most of all, it looks bad. Lubin was a favorite of Tar Heel fans, who played bigger than his 6-foot-8 size and established himself as a low post and pick and roll scorer as last season developed. Did he succumb to making considerably more money from the smooth-talking Wade who has promised a “reckoning” with his new program and mostly signed transfers outside of the top 100?
What hurts most is Carolina letting Lubin go without fighting for his return. With the reported $14 million, there had to be enough in the coffers to keep him and rotate with the two new bigs, especially since Stevenson loves shooting the three-ball.
And with so many newcomers, Carolina needs more than Trimble to be the team leader and help familiarize the new guys with the program and the system. For that reason alone, the Tar Heels needed to pay Lubin whatever would have allowed him to keep his promise to return.
I am happy for him for one reason. State does not play this season at the Smith Center, where the “welcome back” from Carolina fans to Lubin would have been brutal.
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Featured image by Todd Melet/Chapel Hill Media Group.
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
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