North Carolina forward James Okonkwo enters NCAA Transfer Portal
North Carolina Tar Heels forward James Okonkwo has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, On3 has learned.
James Okonkwo played high school basketball at Beckley Prep Academy (WV), where he was a four-star prospect. He was the No. 119 overall recruit in the 2021 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.
To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire.
The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.
Cormac Ryan goes on lengthy rant defending RJ Davis, Armando Bacot after Alabama loss
Moreover, No. 1 seed North Carolina fell in heartbreaking fashion in the Sweet 16, narrowly losing an epic back-and-forth battle with No. 4 seed Alabama. 2023-24 was a special group for Hubert Davis and the Tar Heels, with longtime program stalwarts Armando Bacot and RJ Davis leading the charge, flanked by a mostly-older surrounding core of pieces that fit perfectly together. The loss marked the end of an era.
Davis was clearly upset with himself after the loss and harped on his poor shooting performance. “I mean, I just wasn’t good enough today,” he said in the postgame. “Missed a lot of easy shots I normally make.”
But fellow veteran and sixth-year senior Cormac Ryan interjected to take up for Davis despite the missed shots.
“I’ve got to chime in here,” said Ryan. “You guys can write whatever you want about tonight’s game. You could talk about RJ you could talk about the stats. You could talk about whatever.”
But, says Cormac Ryan, there’s two guys who are particularly responsible for this terrific season.
“We would not be in this position today without RJ Davis and Armando Bacot. Carolina wouldn’t be in this position today without these two guys. And so say what you want, there’s just not a true fiber in your being that could actually believe that anything that happened tonight could be the result of something RJ did wrong, because RJ’s done something incredible for this team.”
A tough loss to swallow, but careers worth celebrating when it comes to RJ Davis and Armando Bacot.
On3’s Alex Weber contributed to this article.