Published Mar 10, 2023
Schools taking notice as Nikolas Khamenia comes into his own
circle avatar
Travis Graf Ā ā€¢Ā  Basketball Recruiting
National Basketball Recruiting Analyst
Twitter
@travisgrafhoops

Nikolas Khamenia, a 2025 forward, is a sophomore to keep an eye on heading into the spring. The 6-foot-8 prospect is skilled and already seeing a Power Five recruitment blossom, as he holds offers from Stanford and Nebraska while garnering interest from a group of others.

Khamenia had a terrific game on Tuesday evening against Centennial (Calif.), scoring 20 points while putting on a high-level offensive display and scoring from all over the court in the Open Division regional final. Khamenia wonā€™t be a stranger to the rankings in the next update and is due for a massive bump. He spoke with Rivals the day after his impressive outing.

*****

MORE: New Rivals150 | Top storylines in 2024 rankings | Five-Star Countdown | Biggest questions in 2024 rankings | Meet the four new five-stars

2023 Rankings: Rivals150 | Team | Position

2025 Rankings: Top 80

Transfer Portal: Latest news

*****

IN HIS OWN WORDSĀ 

Stanford: ā€œThey were one of the first schools that really looked out. They saw me at Section 7 and then went to their camp. I met all of the coaches, did pretty good at their camp and they offered. All of the coaches are pretty cool and the campus is really nice.ā€

UCLA: ā€œThe coaches, we have a really good connection. It feels like theyā€™re normal people wearing a UCLA shirt. Coach (Mick) Cronin is a really good dude, coach (Darren) Savino. I met all of the players and I saw the facilities; it was pretty nice.ā€

Gonzaga: ā€œI took a trip up there, met all of the coaches. Coach Mark Few is a really good dude. He talked to my dad a lot. Itā€™s a really good coaching staff, really good players, really good facilities and a really good campus as well. Itā€™s a small, nice community. I saw the Kraziness in the Kennel, so I got to see the whole vibe of the arena. It was nice.ā€

*****

RIVALS' REACTIONĀ 

Stanford is the only school out of the three Khamenia discussed that has offered the sophomore forward. He also holds an offer from Nebraska, and thereā€™s likely to be a lot more schools coming to the table in the next couple of months. He mostly has West Coast interest currently, but this could become a national recruitment in the blink of an eye.