Lawson falls to Heels

Tywon Lawson, one of the top point guards in the country, is now off the board. The 5-foot-11, 182-pound floor general from Oak Hill Academy picked North Carolina late Wednesday evening according to his father George. The five-star prospect is the second player to commit to the Tar Heels in the class of 2006. His decision could be the domino that triggers several other decisions in the next couple of weeks for North Carolina as well as some other programs.

After visiting North Carolina and Connecticut in consecutive weeks, Lawson decided to end his recruitment and picked the Tar Heels. Georgia Tech was also in the picture for the No. 19 ranked player in the country. The decision has put the entire Lawson family at ease.

"My shoulders feel a lot lighter right now," Mr. Lawson told Rivals.com in between conversations with friends and family.

"Of all of the schools he was looking at, it just fit the best (at UNC)," Mr. Lawson said. "Tywon wants to go to business school and they have one of the best programs in the country. Mixed with basketball, it's the best opportunity out there for him. It's a great college town and Roy Williams is just a class act."

The Tar Heels were also looking at D.J. Augustin, another five-star point guard, and had plans of hosting the Louisiana native for a visit before or after the Tournament of Champions at the end of the month. Lawson decided to jump on the offer before that visit happened.

"They were honest about everything. He said they were looking at a couple of quality point guards (in 2005) and he was really interested in Tywon but he was also looking at some other guys too and had offered them as well," Mr. Lawson said. "(Tywon) wanted to wait at first but he just knew it was right so he wanted to go ahead and get it over with."

North Carolina is getting a dandy of a player. Lawson is a strong floor general that can shoot it, uses his size to get to the bucket, rebounds very well for a player under six feet tall and loves to push the ball. He should shine in Williams's up-tempo style.

"You look at guys he's had like Jacque Vaughn and Raymond Felton and you can see that he's got a lot of confidence in his point guards. We felt that Tywon fits into that mold he's created," Mr. Lawson said.

Lawson joins William Graves in North Carolina's 2006 recruiting class. Now many wonder if Lawson will bring Kevin Durant, his high school and AAU running mate with him to Chapel Hill.

"They have had a good time playing together so far. I know Tywon enjoys playing with Kevin and vice versa," Mr. Lawson said. "I think Kevin is going to take his time and make the best decision he can."

Now we wait. The first domino has fallen.