UNC Basketball Season Preview: Zayden High

happened I think Zayden has a little bit of a forgotten guy so I want to ask you what does success look like for him this year so I'll do a recap of his recruitment real quick for maybe those who haven't listened but essentially uh you UNC had a power forward uh committed in 2023 which was GG Jackson um the weekend before he committed UNC wise Dayton high it was probably the best highest played maybe in his high school career he was phenomenal and so UNC showed interest obviously when Jackson committed they didn't have any more interest because that spot was full Fast Forward four or five months later Jackson decommits they called two people immediately TJ power who ultimately committed to Duke inside and high uh UNC gets back in with high he has an official visit scheduled we think he's not going to make it because of a hurricane but he does make it uh he enjoys the official visit he commits soon thereafter so that's kind of how it is his recruitment went as far as what to expect this year I think success for him looks like just taking advantage of your opportunities because I think the way UNC is structured and you know I'm sure this will be a conversation for later but we only have the two years of Hubert days to go by and and right now if you're not one of those major you know top rotation guys you're not going to get a ton of playing time that could change this year but we're just judging by what we've seen so for him it'll be much like Jalen Washington last year against UVA uh Steph Trimble for a couple games when Nance was out uh when you get that opportunity you have to seize upon it so if he gets those has those two or three games if he can win North Carolina game just by you know get grabbing a couple rebounds and getting it put back I think that's a successful season as he builds his body and gets used to playing kind of against bigger grown men in the ACC if he can do that I think that's a successful season and we're really having prime to to be a contributor should he stay as a sophomore so I don't ask you with regard to Zayden High what do you think fans can count on from him for the coming season the main the main thing will be offensive rebounding in terms of when he does get in the game what you know he's going to be able to do he was really aggressive in eybl as well as the high school season uh whether he's in the paint going after offensive rebounder if he's stationed on the perimeter uh he will go attack the glass and I think that is uh not really something that can be taught in all situations so I think he has that aggressiveness in him uh we know Carolina's history and in general and Armando in terms of how well he's done so I think offensive rebounding uh and to an extent defensive rebounding will be what you can count on um in terms of what I say one other skill set I don't think you can count on it because you you look at his three-point shooting numbers from AAU and and high school and they're pretty pretty poor but I think we've talked a lot about uh the types of shots he was taking in these situations a lot of them were deep NBA threes uh so I wouldn't expect him to come in and just be a three-point bomber but I would expect him uh you know if he can take the right shots that he should be able to show some proficiency from from the outside but not something I think offensive rebounding is something you could put in a box and say hey if he's in the game for two minutes five minutes he's gonna attack uh shooting would be something you know secondarily to look out for