Duke Basketball: Big-Time UNC Recruit Still Hearing From Blue Devils

One 2025 guard has been on a Duke basketball visit but grew up rooting for rival UNC.

On the same weekend in late September last year, Wasatch Academy (Utah) shooting guard Isiah Harwell visited the UNC and Duke basketball programs. He picked up an offer from the Tar Heels that weekend. And at the time, he told On3's Jamie Shaw that Blue Devil head coach Jon Scheyer and his staff "might be close" to entering the mix.

RELATED: List of Every Recruit Holding a Blue Devil Offer

Fast forward 10 months. Harwell, No. 8 overall and No. 2 at his position on the 247Sports 2025 Composite, still hasn't appeared on Scheyer's official wishlist.

Perhaps it's as simple as his admitted adoration of all things Tar Heel acting as a natural deterrent to the Duke basketball recruiters, in that they might not like their odds to land his commitment.

"That's been my dream school growing up," the 6-foot-5, 200-pound athletic three-level scorer said about UNC during his most recent chat with Shaw this month. "I took an unofficial visit there. I love Coach Hubert [Davis]; talking with him, we've built a good relationship. He's a nice guy and wants the best for me."

Still, Isiah Harwell, now boasting about 20 offers, hasn't counted out the possibility of receiving an offer from the Blue Devils, along with fellow blueblood recruiting powerhouse Kentucky.

"I'm hearing from Duke, USC, and Kentucky, too," Harwell told Shaw. "We'll see what they do."

5⭐️ Isiah Harwell SHOWS OUT at the @Sportradar Showdown! pic.twitter.com/dCJrZDlxP7

— Nate Buss Hoop Talk (@n8buss) July 20, 2023

The 2025 Duke basketball offer sheet hasn't yielded a commitment yet (UNC's hasn't either). But Scheyer looks like a contender for four heralded guards in the class: Cayden Boozer, son of Blue Devil national champ Carlos Boozer, along with more recent offer recipients Meleek Thomas, Brayden Burries, and Jalen Haralson.

All four of those Duke targets rank inside the top 30. Thomas and Haralson sit around fellow five-star Harwell in the bottom half of the top 10.

So some may doubt the Blue Devils ever join the Isiah Harwell sweepstakes.

Regardless, there appears to be a relatively strong chance that Duke basketball fans will get to know him as a rival a few seasons from now. And on that note, Harwell once explained to Shaw that the emotion of the Duke-UNC rivalry drew him to the Tar Heels in the first place.

"It's just the way they played and just their rivalry with Duke," he recounted. "My two older brothers had a thing for Duke, so I was all for UNC."

Would an offer from Scheyer change that? We may or may not find out.

Stay tuned to Blue Devil Country on SI.com for more Duke basketball recruiting news.