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Five-star junior recaps Duke/UNC visit

Kevin Knox
Kevin Knox

By taking second visits in a month to both Duke and North Carolina over the weekend, five-star junior Kevin Knox has created a buzz.

Could the 6-foot-8 small forward from Tampa (Fla.) Catholic be close to making a decision? The No. 7 ranked player in the class of 2017 spoke with Rivals.com about his weekend and plans for his recruitment.

IN HIS OWN WORDS:

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Coming off a strong junior season, Knox talked about his growth as a player and why people need to be careful not to read too much into his closely timed visits.

“(My season) went great. It started off real well and I think I ended up finishing averaging 30 and 11 and for my state I got 4A player of the year. My team went real far and my team did a great job of getting me the ball and I proved that I can help my team.

"After AAU and USA Baksetball there was a huge target on my back, especially after I got a bunch of big offers at the Peach Jam. I knew that there was going o be a target on my back and that people would come and see me play so I had to perform in front of them.”

“I felt like as a recruit you should always go to a school’s rivalry games so that's why I wanted to go to Duke and North Carolina. My dad played football at Florida State and he went to the Florida/Florida State game as a recruit. I also got to see my grandfather up there so it worked out just right for me to go up there again.”

“It was crazy the whole game at Duke. It was crazy the whole way through and the student section was jumping. It was really great and they tried to get me close with the players.”

“(North Carolina) is a really good school. Their coaches love me. I talked to a lot of coaches and they took me around to the dorms and showed me campus. Their coaches are a little older than the Duke assistants so they had a different way to recruit me which was good.”

“I’m real wide open right now. Just because I visited both schools doesn’t mean that they are my top two right now. I’m not cutting down my list until after the EYBL season and that’s something I’m going to be pretty firm with. It just worked out for me to go up to see the schools and for my family to see my grandfather."

RIVALS' REACTION:

From the outside looking in, Knox's recruitment was one that we had thought to be close to coming to a conclusion and there were behind the scenes whispers that he was close to pulling the trigger on a decision.

However, Knox was pretty clear that he's not in any hurry to make a decision and that he won't cut down his list and set up official visits until later this summer. Other programs he mentioned include Florida State, Miami, Florida, Villanova, Maryland, Syracuse and USC.

WHAT'S NEXT?:

Rivals.com will be paying close attention to see which coaches target Knox the most heavily when they can watch him with his summer team Each 1 Teach 1 in Nike's Elite Youth Basketball League during April's live period.

Though he says he's wide open, the visits to Duke and North Carolina can't have hurt and he's got ties to Florida State because of his dad playing football there. It will be interesting to see which other teams can make a push for serious consideration.

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