UNC Basketball: Will Tar Heels be battling rival for this four-star recruit?

Things have been going well for the UNC Basketball program on the recruiting trail, landing transfer Dawson Garcia on Thursday and then five-star 2022 center Jalen Washington on Friday afternoon.

Hubert Davis and his staff are off to a great start with that 2022 class, holding three commitments with four-star Seth Trimble and three-star Will Shaver in addition to Washington in their class. But it doesn’t appear as if Davis plans on slowing down anytime soon as he has his eyes on a few more recruits in the class.

Among them is four-star forward Tyler Nickel, a prospect that UNC has kept an eye on but waited until recently to offer. Nickel earned his offer back in June from UNC as they became a big player in his recruitment. Since then, UNC has kept tabs on him and even watched him over this past weekend at a live evaluation event.

However, it appears as if UNC’s biggest rival Duke is getting into the picture with Nickel.

Jason Jordan of Sports Illustrated All-American caught up with Nickel over the weekend to get the latest on his recruitment. The four-star recruit told Jordan that UNC, Virginia Tech, Iowa, Butler, N.C. State, LSU, West Virginia and Indiana are keeping the closest tabs on him. But a new team is showing more interest: Duke.

"Duke has also upped its interest in Nickel over the last couple of weeks and has remained in constant contact.“I’m growing my relationship with them now too,” Nickel said of Duke. “They’re watching while I’m in Alabama like the other schools. I’m just gonna see what comes after the live periods and go from there. I’m just staying open.”"

Nickel has admitted that UNC was his favorite team growing up which should be an advantage for the Tar Heels. But in the past, that hasn’t been the case with a few key recruits. As for this recruitment, Nickel said he won’t lean on that to make a decision:

"“I just loved watching them play and a lot of my friends were fans of UNC too,” Nickel said. “Getting that offer was probably the most surreal moment in my recruitment so far. Now, I’m mature enough to know that can’t be it. That doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the best place for me. I’m 100% gonna choose the best place for me.”"

The Tar Heels appear to be in a good position for Nickel and should get an official visit from the prospect when he starts taking them. From there, he will get a better feel of where each team stands in his recruitment.

But right now, we could be heading for a showdown between Duke and UNC in terms of landing Nickel when he’s set to commit.

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