The Duke basketball coaches have been hard at work on the recruiting trail this week making in-home visits to many of the program’s top targets.

Last weekend kicked off an open period of recruiting where schools could schedule visits with players, and the Blue Devils took advantage of the opportunity to check in on the guys they’re recruiting for the 2017 and 2018 classes.

This week’s recruiting roundup recaps many of the players Mike Krzyzewski and his staff visited with this past week, as well as some stories about other schools those players are considering.

Duke Won’t Have to Worry About Football Programs Recruiting Kevin Knox

In addition to being a Top 10 player in the class of 2017, 5-star small forward Kevin Knox was also receiving interest from many of the top football programs in the country until recently, according to a story by Jason Jordan of USA Today. Knox was a promising, dual-threat quarterback as a sophomore before deciding to focus on basketball. The 6’8” wing trimmed his list to five finalists recently, meaning Duke will only have to worry about the basketball programs at North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky, and Florida State as the competition to land him.

New Blog Post from Gary Trent Jr.

It’s been a crazy summer for 5-star shooting guard Gary Trent Jr., who will be spending his senior year at Prolific Prep in California after spending a brief period at Findlay Prep in Nevada. Trent had played at Apple Valley High School in Minnesota but made the decision to attend a prep school to help improve his game and face tougher competition. Trent discusses why he made the decision to switch schools in his latest blog post on USA Today, and also indicates he’s working on scheduling recruiting visits to check out Arizona, Duke, Michigan State, UCLA and Kentucky.

On a related note, Trent’s father told Ben Roberts of the Lexington Herald-Leader that they haven’t been contacted by the Kentucky coaches in “a very long time.”

Duke Coaches Make Multiple In-Home Visits

According to multiple reports by the team at 247Sports, the Duke coaches were racking up the frequent flyer miles this week with visits to various targets. Multiple members of the staff were in Atlanta on Sunday to see 2017 5-star power forward Wendell Carter, which earned a tweet from Carter’s mom. They followed up that visit with a trip to Florida to see elite small forward Kevin Knox. Duke assistant coach Jon Scheyer was also on the road to spend time with 2018 5-star guard Quentin Grimes, 2018 point guard Darius Garland, and 2019 power forward James Wiseman. Duke also checked in on 2017 point guard prospect Matt Coleman, according to Corey Evans.

Is Mohamed Bamba Leaning Toward Kentucky?

A new post on the Kentucky SB Nation site, A Sea of Blue, makes the case that John Calipari and the Wildcats could be taking the lead in the recruitment of 2017 5-star post player Mohamed Bamba. With Duke appearing to be the well-established leader for Wendell Carter and other top frontcourt players already committed elsewhere, Bamba has become a major priority for Kentucky in its 2017 recruiting class. There also could be the issue of Duke having a potentially crowded frontcourt if it already features upperclassman Chase Jeter, a possible sophomore Marques Bolden, and incoming freshman Wendell Carter. However, as we’ve seen over the past couple years, even if it looks like things are starting to swing in favor of Kentucky in regards to a recruit, Duke has a way of making up ground. This recruitment could take a while to unfold.

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Thanks for checking out this week’s Duke basketball recruiting roundup. Give us a follow at @DukeReport on Twitter to keep up with more coverage of the Blue Devils.