Duke Basketball Assistant in Attendance for Prime UNC Target

Although there have been no reports of significant Duke basketball interest in Harvard-Westlake School (Calif.) rising senior Nikolas Khamenia, the national buzz surrounding the 6-foot-8, 210-pound four-star stretch-four has been loud of late. Since landing on the UNC basketball recruiting wishlist in late May, he’s reported offers from Arizona, Notre Dame, Purdue, Louisville, Michigan, and Oregon.

Meanwhile, he’s held offers from Kansas and UCLA for over a year. Now, Kentucky and Jon Scheyer’s Blue Devils are the only bluebloods absent from Khamenia’s list of suitors.

And on that note, Kentucky head coach Mark Pope recently began talking to the 17-year-old, a stock-riser who has climbed 30 spots since this time last year to No. 30 overall on the 247Sports 2025 Composite following his wide-ranging production for the USA Basketball U18 National Team at the FIBA U18 AmeriCup in Buenos Aires earlier this month.