Hope he has more game than TJ Power showed in his first year. Spencer Hubbard came from Harvard WestlakeJoe Tipton posts that Nikolas Khamenia has 5 finalists, including Duke. The other 4 are Arizona, Gonzaga, UCLA, and UNC. (Two ACC schools and three West Coast schools, but neither of the ACC schools on the West Coast. According to Verbal Commits, he did have offers from Cal and Stanford.)
There's also an On3 article that's not behind a paywall. He's scheduled some official visits, including Duke in mid-September:
Top-30 recruit Nikolas Khamenia names final 5 schools
Four-star small forward Nikolas Khamenia is down to five schools: Arizona, Duke, Gonzaga, North Carolina, and UCLA.www.on3.com
2025 Men's Basketball Recruiting
- Thread starter DavidBenAkiva
- Start date
JasonEvans
Host, The Duke Basketball Roundup
Rising junior would be class of 2026. The only player in the 247 Top 150 for 2026 who is from Colorado is Aliou Dioum. Dioum, who is ranked #122 by 247, already has offers from at least 5 power conference schools. I find it a little hard to believe that a rising junior anywhere near the top 100 nationally would only have an offer from Northern Colorado at this time.
Is it possible your buddy meant the top 100 players in the state of Colorado?
brevity
Member
I tried a bit of reverse engineering and started with the school. Verbal Commits says that Northern Colorado's only 2026 offer is to 6-3 point guard Jeremiah Hammond, out of Denver. The offer date was August 14, and it's also the first for Hammond, which fits the story. (I feel okay with disclosing his name because both he and Verbal Commits went public with their social media posts here.)
Hammond is listed by Verbal Commits as a 2.5-star player; he does not appear in the 247 Sports or On3 databases at this time, and everyone in their top 100 rankings is at least a 3-star player.
Not offering any opinion about his ranking, or trying to diminish the young man's accomplishments. The important thing is that the story has a happy ending; he won't end up in Chapel Hill.
MartyClark
Member
I thought he meant top 100 nationally, I could be mistaken.
JasonEvans
Host, The Duke Basketball Roundup
In no way was I trying to put down the accomplishments of this young man or saying that anyone was telling a fib. I was merely doing like Brevity and trying to figure out who it might be 
Daughter of good friends of ours just graduated from the Colorado UNC. It's a good thing for me because her mom, who we really like, would be frequently making positive posts about UNC. These would be bring on very bad feelings towards her for a few moments until I remembered she meant Northern Colorado. Shouldn't be seeing any more of those posts now that she graduated.
MartyClark
Member
No problem. My enthusiasm for this young guy's prospects led me to make the wrong assumption.In no way was I trying to put down the accomplishments of this young man or saying that anyone was telling a fib. I was merely doing like Brevity and trying to figure out who it might be
brevity
Member
Congratulations to Nikolas Khamenia for being named to the USA Basketball U18 3x3 team.
2024 USA 3x3 U18 National Teams Announced - USA Basketball
USA Basketball announced today the rosters for the 2024 USA 3x3 U18 National Teams, which will compete at the 2024 FIBA 3x3 U18 World Cup in Debrecen, Hungary, from Aug. 26-30, 2024.
www.usab.com
brevity
Member
I had not realized that Jalen Haralson had named 9 finalists way back in March, and that Duke was one of them. The others are Auburn, Gonzaga, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan State, Missouri, Notre Dame, and Purdue.
Anyway, I saw this somewhat alarmist article from SI and felt it needed a response.
Duke Basketball May Be Losing Steam for Five-Star Forward
Duke basketball didn't host Jalen Haralson last year, and it doesn't look as though the Blue Devils will get a chance this year either.
Keep in mind that Countdown to Craziness is October 4, which fits nicely in that big gap between his visits to Purdue and Kansas. Should we be concerned that no firm plans have been made? I don't know, but I do feel that we should chip in and buy the author, Matt Giles, some Office Space merchandise:
JasonEvans
Host, The Duke Basketball Roundup
I believe that Duke is in very, very good shape for Nate Ament, a forward who is more highly regarded than Jalen Haralson. Though some folks consider Ament a PF, he projects more as a combo F who can play on the wing. He is 6-9 and would fit the Scheyer profile of being bigger than expected for his position.
DBKilby
Member
I think Ament will be better than Dybantsa and Boozer in 5 yrs but those 2 will be way more productive as FR in college. I still want him though obviously.
MarkD83
Member
So, I have just started to breath after the Olympics, Little League Baseball, GT v FSU......
What is the big picture rundown of 2025 recruiting. I see on Verbal Commits 13 offers
and then on here several players who don't have Duke on their final lists.
Can some one give a quick synopsis? Thanks.
What is the big picture rundown of 2025 recruiting. I see on Verbal Commits 13 offers
and then on here several players who don't have Duke on their final lists.
Can some one give a quick synopsis? Thanks.
DukieTiger
Member
Haiku!!!
SkyBrickey
Member
In this offseason, no news is......well, just no news.
We've been conditioned to these 5-6 man recruiting classes for so long, it's worth pointing out that with Cooper and Khaman going pro, the following guys would all have eligibility and potentially return next year. Proctor, Foster, Harris, K2, Evans, Brown, Ngongba.
It could be a small recruiting class of 2-3 coupled with 1-2 transfers and maybe 5-6 returnees to get us to 10 scholarship guys. This is essentially the mix Jon described to Bilas in their summer interview...
I really hope this works out next year. Scheyer is going to have to work overtime to make this happen.
DBKilby
Member
Henderson is pretty much a lock and is a Winslow level 3 man. His AAU team JL3 (John Lucas) in Texas. I think Boozer amd Ament are exclusive. If we land Cameron then we get his brother which eliminates a lead guard which is a bonus. If Kon is as advertised then we will need a high level SG to replace him. I think it comes down us and UConn for Mullins whos arguably a top 10ish prospect. Mullins and Henderson are visiting for CTC. I think we will have a 4 man class to combine with 5 or so returnees and 1-2 transfers.
SkyBrickey
Member
It's a good take. I think Acaden Lewis, CG, and Nikolas Khamenia, SF, are also still very much in play. We've had great success with these top 30 recruit offers in the past.
brevity
Member
In addition to what's been written above, I think we can issue a statement of "Don't Panic" because while Duke hasn't yet received a commitment from the 2025 class, most other schools haven't either.
Click over to post #774 in this thread to see the status of the top 50 players as of 10 days ago. They include all 13 players that Duke has offered, and a couple more (Dwayne Aristode, Hudson Greer) who have mentioned an interest in Duke but have yet to receive an offer.
Only 9 of the top 50 have committed so far, and they chose 9 different schools. If you expand it to the top 100 (where 15 more players ranked #51-100 have committed), a few schools have 2 players: Butler, Ole Miss, Providence. Not exactly a murderers' row of NIL dominance.
DBKilby
Member
I was kind of hopeful for Lewis but I think it is UConn. UConn was the favorite for Maleek Thomas for what seemed like awhile but I think Calipari has changed that. Khamenia has only visited Gonzaga and Arizona started to go hard at him after Tommy Lloyd coached him in FIBA. My gut tells me he stays out west.