UNC Basketball: Blue Blood rival joins race for Tar Heels’ target

UNC Basketball’s biggest rival has joined the race for a top target for the Tar Heels in the 2021 recruiting class.

The UNC Basketball program has been in pursuit of five-star forward Harrison Ingram for months now. Roy Williams and his staff officially extended an offer to the Texas native back in February of 2020 after watching him play a few different times.

Ingram has been a big target for the Tar Heels as they need some help on the wing and the five star could deliver that along with four-star commit Dontrez Styles.

While we sit here in a recruiting dead period, it hasn’t allowed the Tar Heels or any team to evaluate Ingram since this pandemic started. He did cut his list down to 10 schools back in May, including the Tar Heels along with Baylor, Louisville, Michigan, Tennessee, Arkansas, Memphis, Purdue, Stanford, and Texas A&M.

But while the Tar Heels made the Top 10, their hated rival is starting to make some news in his recruitment despite not offering or making that Top 10.

That’s right. The Duke Blue Devils are entering the race for Ingram, showing interest in the recruit as of late and an offer from Coach K could be a game-changer for the recruit.

According to Rivals recruiting analyst Corey Evans, the Blue Devils were Ingram’s dream school growing up and could land him with an official offer:

"“While Duke is not even among Ingram’s final 10, the Blue Devils have begun to pick up interest in him in recent weeks. If an offer is handed out, the Blue Devils might instantly become the favorite. Duke was Ingram’s dream school growing up, and we should know fairly soon Duke’s intent…If the Blue Devils were to actually want him, an offer would then be handed out by the end of the month. If not, it would give his finalists a better chance.”"

Evans wrote that while ranking the Top 5 contenders for Ingram a week ago. That list included the Tar Heels at No. 3 behind Stanford and Purdue. It should also be noted that Duke was listed at No. 5 even without the offer.

A offer from Duke could spell doom for the Tar Heels but if it doesn’t happen, UNC is still in solid shape. But this recruitment really could come down to the wire and change as the days go on.

For more on Ingram and other UNC Basketball recruiting targets, please check back with Keeping It Heel.