Aside from March Madness, transfer portal season is the most wild, hectic and exciting time of college hoops.

In this new age of NIL, there are more moving parts than ever before on college basketball rosters. Not only are players looking for a coach, system and teammates that fit their needs, but players are also often searching for the biggest payday they can land.

This sport we deem as amateur, feels more professional, business-like and transactional than ever before. But love or hate the portal — or fall somewhere in between — anyone who isn’t utilizing the portal to its fullest is falling behind.

With Elliot Cadeau entering the transfer portal, RJ Davis aging out, Ian Jackson potentially testing the NBA evaluation waters and Seth Trimble’s return to UNC still up in the air, securing a lead guard is right up there for UNC’s biggest need. Also, considering the lack of size on this past season’s team — and even more so with Jalen Washington hitting the portal — landing a traditional big still remains one of UNC’s biggest priorities.

But following not too far behind a lead guard and true big on UNC’s wishlist is shooting — and 3-point shooting in particular. Insert North Carolina’s latest portal interest: Jonathan Powell, freshman guard from West Virginia.

As reported by The Portal Report, North Carolina is among 15 schools listed in the tweet above, who are interested in Powell. Powell has great positional size, standing at 6-foot-6 and 190-pounds, while primarily playing shooting guard and small forward. After teammate Tucker DeVries went down for the season, Powell was the third leading scorer for the Mountaineers this past season. The freshman averaged 8.3 points and 3.1 rebounds, while playing 30 minutes per game and logging 23 starts out of his 32 games played. That’s a very respectable freshmen campaign.

Powell is a highly sought after portal target, currently ranked as the No. 45 transfer, according to 247 Sports. The fact that Powell has up to three years of eligibility remaining is certainly taken into account for his ranking. But regardless, the freshman has skyrocketed his stock. Powell came out of high school as just a three-star recruit, but now, as seen above, Power 4 teams are flocking to land him. Powell let his game do the talking, and his potential is rising.

Now, Powell did only shoot 38% from the field this season. This certainly less-than-ideal percentage is a little bit of a red flag. However, for a freshman featured in a big role, on a respectable bubble Big-12 squad, this isn’t the end of the world. Not to mention, this percentage is a little misleading considering how strong of a 3-point shooter Powell is. Powell knocked down the deep ball at a 35% clip, on high volume, too. The freshman put up over five threes a game, while making two per game. To put this in perspective, Powell shot and made more threes than UNC’s freshman phenom Ian Jackson, while only slightly trailing RJ Davis in 3-point volume, who made 2.3 threes per game. It’s safe to say, Powell is a reliable shooter from beyond the arc and even a bit of a 3-point specialist.

Powell has a smooth jumper and solid bounce. If he can keep working on his all-around offense, and bring up his other percentages, he’ll take his game to the next level. The notorious “sophomore year leap” is in the cards for Powell.

Now, if the Tar Heels can land him, how would Powell fit on UNC’s roster next season? Well ironically enough, Jonathan Powell provides great Drake Powell insurance. In the case that Drake heads to the NBA, Jonathan could make sense as a replacement. However, in the more likely scenario that Drake returns to Chapel Hill, Jonathan could be an awesome depth piece off the bench, serving as the main substitute for Drake. Or, Head Coach Hubert Davis could even play around with some lineups featuring Powell and Powell side-by-side at the 2 and 3 spots. A lineup with two 6-foot-6 guys at the shooting guard and small forward positions provides very interesting size, length and athleticism.

Jonathan isn’t the elite defender that Drake is, but he’s still respectable. Drake isn’t the high-volume 3-point shooter that Jonathan is, but he’s still accurate (38% on one made three per game). The two would complement each other incredibly well. Could Powell and Powell both be key parts of North Carolina’s roster next season? Stay tuned Tar Heel Nation.