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UNC Basketball: Rival showing more interest in Tar Heels’ target

By Zack Pearson

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 10: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils reacts during the first half of their second round game against the Louisville Cardinals in the ACC Men's Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum on March 10, 2021 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 10: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils reacts during the first half of their second round game against the Louisville Cardinals in the ACC Men's Basketball Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum on March 10, 2021 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
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The UNC Basketball program is starting to identify their top targets in the 2022 recruiting class as they get set for a big month of June in terms of official visits. As it stands now, Hubert Davis and his staff will host three recruiting targets during the month with the potential to add more.

But one target that the Tar Heels have been in on since last Summer is four-star shooting guard Nick Smith.

The Sherwood, Arkansas native is ranked No. 26 overall, No. 2 shooting guard and the No. 1 player in the state per the 247Sports composite rankings. He officially earned an offer from Roy Williams back in December but since then, UNC has continued to show interest in him. Smith doesn’t have a visit lined up to UNC for June just yet and that could be bad news for the Tar Heels.

To make things worse, Duke has started to show interest in the recruit over the past week and it appears as if things are starting to pick up on that front.

On Thursday, Smith talked to Jake Weingarten of Stockrisers about his recruitment and where things stand. He was asked about which teams are involved, mentioning UNC, but also noted that Duke has been in contact with him recently:

"“Honestly, pretty much everyone is still involved. Oklahoma, Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke’s starting to talk to me more, Kansas, Alabama, Georgetown. Pretty much everybody that has been recruiting me since last June.”"

The Tar Heels did make Smith’s top 10 earlier this year which was good news for them in the recruitment at the time. But now UNC appears to have tough competition with both Duke and Kentucky being involved.

The Wildcats do own the early crystal ball prediction on 247Sports to land Smith but it’s just one prediction and there is a long ways to go in this recruitment, especially with visits being lined up for June. The key for UNC is to get him on campus this Summer for an official or an unofficial and try to make up some ground.

Next. UNC is standing out to this 4-star recruit. dark

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