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Kinston's Reggie Bullock (35) drives to the basket over South Lenoir's Alex Graham
Janet Sutton / The Free Press
Bullock commits to UNC
Yes, dreams do come true — Kinston High School’s Reggie Bullock can attest to that.
The sophomore wunderkind made a verbal commitment to play basketball at North Caro-lina late Tuesday night. Bullock’s decision came a few days after UNC coach Roy Williams tendered a scholarship offer to Bullock on Friday.
“This is a dream come true,” Bullock said. “Since I started playing basketball, it’s been my dream to play at North Carolina.”
Bullock’s verbal commitment to Carolina isn’t official until he finishes his junior season, when he’ll sign his national letter of intent, per NCAA rules. Bullock’s coach, KHS’ Wells Gulledge, said his star player is excited about heading to Chapel Hill.
“Deep down in his loins, he’s always dreamed of playing at the University of North Caro-lina,” Gulledge said. “When it was offered to him, he slept on it for a night but knew where he wanted to go.”
The 6-6 Bullock — who is the second-ranked shooting guard in the country and a top-10 player overall — said he felt a sense of urgency to commit when Williams began receiving commitments from other blue-chippers from around the country.
In the past two weeks, the Tar Heels have already received verbal commitments from a trio of juniors, including twin power forwards Travis and David Wear of Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei and 6-10 center John Henson from Texas.
Bullock is the second sophomore to commit this season to commit to UNC; 6-3 point guard Kendall Marshall of Arlington, Va., verbally committed to UNC last year.
“I didn’t want this opportunity to slip away from me,” Bullock said. “They had already of-fered so many people scholarships and I didn’t want to lose my shot at playing there.”
Bullock said that he appreciates the history of the Tar Heels program, but that he wants to leave his stamp on the program, too.
“I want to help them win a national championship and to one day have my jersey hanging from the rafters,” Bullock said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun to be part of the history of Caro-lina basketball, where the greatest college basketball is played.”
Entering the season, Bullock had told The Free Press that he wanted to wait until his sen-ior season to make his commitment. But going to Carolina was too much of an opportunity, Bullock and Gulledge said.
The Kinston coach said he was surprised that UNC offered so early. But after Williams saw Bullock perform at the GlaxoSmithKline Holiday Invitational in late December, the offer came a week later.
“I thought Carolina was just going to monitor him, follow him for a little while, and then start recruiting him after they had a chance to get to know each other,” Gulledge said. “Cer-tainly, the case changed when Coach Williams came to the Glaxo and fell in love with him.”
Williams left the Glaxo impressed with Bullock.
“(Williams) tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘I really love this kid,’ ” Gulledge said. “From that moment on, it was like a bass master setting a hook for both Coach Williams and Reggie.”
Due to NCAA rules, Williams couldn’t comment for this report. Bullock said his interac-tion with the Basketball Hall of Famer was positive.
“He told me that great players like me make people like him great coaches,” Bullock said. “He said he could see me in a North Carolina jersey.”
Gulledge said UNC assistant coach Steve Robinson has been keeping up with Bullock’s progress the past two years.
“He’s been on Carolina’s radar for the past couple of years,” Gulledge said. “When Coach Williams saw him at the Glaxo, he said it only took him five minutes to realize that (Bullock) is the type of kid he’d like to coach.”
Indiana and Wake Forest had already offered Bullock a scholarship, while coaches from N.C. State and Texas had visited Kinston. Kansas and Miami had also expressed a lot of interest in Bullock, who is averaging 15.1 points and 9.3 rebounds for the 10-4 Vikings.
Bullock called Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson and Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio on Wednesday to inform them of his decision.
Sampson told Bullock that he understood Bullock’s decision.
“He said he grew up in North Carolina and was a big North Carolina fan when he was growing up, too,” Bullock said. “He told me two of his assistants graduated from North Caro-lina, too.”
Bullock spent Wednesday in Chapel Hill, meeting Williams and other coaches. He also at-tended North Carolina’s 93-81 win against UNC Asheville, sitting in the front row.
“We really felt like he needed to be on campus and walk the halls, so to speak, to really re-assure himself that Chapel Hill is the place,” said Gulledge, who attended the game with Bullock. “I think it was important for him to be face-to-face with Coach Williams.”
Gulledge said that while he thinks this is a great opportunity for Bullock, he also thinks UNC is getting a heck of a player.
“It’s going to be a great relationship,” Gulledge said. “Carolina is getting a big-time qual-ity basketball player and person.”
