Aug. 16—Gonzaga is one of class of 2025 standout Nikolas Khamenia’s final five.
Khamenia on Friday announced his finalists are GU, Arizona, Duke, North Carolina and UCLA.
The 6-foot-8, 210-pound forward has attended Gonzaga’s Kraziness in the Kennel the last two Octobers, one on an official visit and one an unofficial visit. Khamenia has only taken one official visit so far, but he’s scheduled to visit Arizona on Aug. 31, North Carolina on Sept. 6 and Duke on Sept. 13.
Khamenia has been on Gonzaga’s recruiting radar for a long time.
“Have a relationship with the (Gonzaga coaching) staff for quite a while as they been recruiting me since I was a sophomore,” Khamenia told On3.com. “Another program that has a very good feel for the way I play my game and see me as a guy that could help their program out a ton.
“They do a really good job in their development as well and continue to help guys get better. Another place that values culture and winning like the others which is why these schools have really made my list.”
Khamenia has steadily moved up recruiting rankings. He had a strong junior season at Harvard-Westlake in Studio City, California, and was solid for the U.S. U18 squad that won gold at the FIBA AmeriCup this summer. That team was coached by Tommy Lloyd, the former longtime Gonzaga assistant coach who is entering his fourth season at Arizona.
Khamenia ranked No. 63 by On3.com last October, before helping Harvard-Westlake win the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Open Division championship. He scored a team-high 18 points in the title game.
Khamenia started all six games and averaged 7.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 19.4 minutes as the U.S. went 6-0 at the FIBA AmeriCup.
The rising senior is currently ranked No. 34 by On3.com, No. 30 by ESPN and No. 27 by 247sports. On3.com’s recruiting predication machine (RPM) listed Arizona as a slight favorite at 27%, followed by Gonzaga at 24%, North Carolina at 20% and Duke at 17%.
Trent Perry, Khamenia’s teammate at Harvard-Westlake, had the Zags in his final six and visited GU last October before committing to USC. Perry decommitted when Trojans coach Andy Enfield took the SMU job and signed with UCLA.
