UNC Basketball: Matthew Hurt set to announce decision on Friday

UNC basketball target and 5-star power forward Matthew Hurt is set to announce his college decision on Friday afternoon. He’s deciding between Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina.

The long-awaited announcement of 5-star class of 2019 prospect Matthew Hurt is set to take place around 3:15 p.m. CST Friday afternoon at John Marshall Senior High in Rochester, Minnesota.

The 6-foot-9, 215-pound power forward has a final list comprised of college basketball’s blue bloods — Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina. And with the mass turnover in personnel that each of the programs has experienced this offseason, a commitment from Hurt will be a huge addition to one of the four.

Despite being heavily involved in the Hurt recruitment for better than three years, North Carolina appears to be an unlikely landing spot at this point. It was the pair of Minnesota and Kansas that got so much of the buzz surrounding Hurt’s recruitment for much of last couple years, but it’s Duke and Kentucky that have stepped into the forefront in recent months.

Now, though, it’s Duke that appears to be the obvious choice for Hurt, who’s ranked eighth in the nation in the class of 2019 according to the 247Sports Composite. 80 percent of votes on the site are in favor of the Blue Devils landing his commitment, while Kansas still holds the remaining 20 percent of predictions — most of which came nearly three years ago, and hold no weight now.

Site experts Jerry Meyer and Evan Daniels have both predicted that Duke wins his commitment, though one other recruiting analyst has stated that it might not be as big of a lead for the Blue Devils as some seem to think.

"“I’d be surprised if it’s not Duke on Friday,” Rivals recruiting analyst Corey Evans said. “I think Kentucky still has some optimism there. North Carolina is in there, as well. It seems like Kansas is entirely out, which is pretty crazy to me. They were the team to beat for three years, and now they’re one of the last ones out.”"

Nothing is set in stone until the announcement is made, but I’ll call it Duke in a landslide, inching the Blue Devils a bit closer to a possible fifth preseason national championship in the last six seasons.

Stick with Keeping It Heel for more on the Matthew Hurt announcement as the day rolls on.