The alumni basketball game played a week ago to kick off the 100-year anniversary of basketball at the University of North Carolina did more than bring together a remarkable collection of former players and a pack a building with adoring fans.

The game has already helped to assure Carolina will continue to win big and compete at the highest level of college basketball. And, before all is said and done, it could produce the upset of the recruiting season as well.

James McAdoo, a 16-year-old high school junior and the second-ranked player in his class, saw the game and decided on the spot he wanted to join this unique family called Carolina basketball. He orally committed to sign a letter-of-intent and eventually play for Coach Roy Williams.

"It was a once and a life time opportunity that I will never forget," McAdoo said.

McAdoo is a powerful 6 feet 8, 205 pounds and getting stronger. He has a long reach and is good at blocking shots.

But McAdoo's decision to attend UNC was no surprise. Had he picked another school, it would have caught everyone off guard, but then one can never be sure in recruiting, which brings us to another young man who sat at courtside for the alumni game.

Harrison Barnes is the top-ranked player in the current senior class. He's from Iowa. He's highly intelligent, a tremendous talent and seemingly a lock for Duke in most people's minds for a long, long time.

But the folks who wrote Carolina off as having any chance with Barnes underestimate the best recruiter in America, who happens to be Williams.

Williams stood on the lawn of Barnes' home two days after UNC won the 2009 national championship back in April, waiting for the clock to hit the legal time he could knock on the door and speak with Barnes and his family.

He told Barnes at the time he planned to see him and visit with him every time the NCAA allowed him to do it. Williams has been working the young man, too.

Nonetheless, few people have taken UNC's chances seriously. After a camp in Virginia earlier this summer, Barnes visited Chapel Hill and Durham to see Carolina and Duke. Frankly, he had already seen Duke plenty and knew the players.

Those who follow this sort of thing seemed to think that, yes, he looked at Carolina but his real destination was Durham, wanting to see his new buddies at Cameron as quickly as possible.

Barnes is so media savvy, he rarely says anything worth quoting. He speaks words, but he guards the meaning of them carefully.

His three schools of choice are Carolina, Duke and Kansas.

But in a rare moment, he expressed some emotion about his visit last Friday when speaking to CarolinaBlue.com. It's obvious that even the polished, guarded Barnes could not hold back what he felt sitting courtside and witnessing what was a truly remarkable evening for Carolina basketball.

"Just being around the past, present and future of North Carolina," he said, "seeing all of the history and tradition, getting a chance to soak it all up, I just loved being able to experience it all, up close and personal."

These are not the kinds of things Barnes usually says. He said more, too.

He is close friends with Carolina future point guard Kendall Marshall of Virginia. Marshall just happened to be on hand for the game as well, and he gave Barnes a guided tour of campus.

Fortunately for the Tar Heels, Barnes' family came along.

"They just thoroughly enjoyed it," Barnes said. "They had a good time as well. They were just so surprised to see how much Carolina has to offer."

Those are not the words Duke wants to hear.

Neither is the statement that Carolina may have gotten in the race later than the Blue Devils, but the Tar Heels have more than made up any ground that separated the two.

Barnes may still attend Duke, but if he picks Carolina it will be a gut-wrenching blow to the Blue Devils, who are already struggling to keep pace with the hottest program in America.

Carolina basketball has enjoyed 99 of the finest years of any school in America when it comes to men's basketball, but, amazingly enough, the Tar Heels are still riding the high point of their history at the moment, with two national titles in five seasons, a roster full of unbelievable talent and plenty more on the way.

They'll survive if Barnes does not pick Carolina, but they may just win another national title or two if he does, while dealing their arch-rivals a bitter, bitter blow in the process.