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University of Kansas basketball recruiting

The recruitment for Class of 2019 forward Matthew Hurt is starting to heat up and this weekend it will invade the five-star senior’s Rochester, Minn., home.

According to reports, the 6-foot-9, do-it-all forward ranked No. 5 in his class by Rivals.com, will host a trio of Hall of Fame coaches in his living room on Sunday, the first day of the open contact period.

Kansas coach Bill Self, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Kentucky’s John Calipari all are expected to be in Minnesota to spend time with Hurt and his family during their in-home visits.

Hurt, who has made a couple of unofficial visits to KU in the past, including for Late Night a couple of years ago, has yet to announce the dates and locations of his five official visits for this year, but those three programs, along with North Carolina and Memphis or Minnesota are expected to get the five visits.

Memphis, Minnesota and UNC are expected to conduct in-home visits with Hurt and his family sometime next week.

The timing of the in-home visits is important in these situations, but, by now, Hurt is well aware of his status as one of the most coveted players in the class. And, in many ways, he is sitting on the brink of having his pick of whichever blue blood program he wants to attend.

Several national recruiting analysts currently view KU as having at least a slight lead in the race to land Hurt — in large part because of how long the KU staff has been recruiting him and made him a priority — but there remains a long way to go and this weekend is yet another crucial step in getting to the finish line.

During our latest episode of “The Recruiting Trail’ on our KU Sports Hour podcast, KUsports.com recruiting insider Matt Scott discussed, among other things, what he thinks Hurt might do with his official visits.

“Matt Hurt, I think, will more likely come to a game,” Scott said. “But I wouldn’t rule him out of just popping in at some point, maybe for Late Night. I think he’s more likely to come for a game, but you never know, when you have a coach visit like that, what can happen.”

While in the neighborhood this weekend, KU also is expected to conduct an in-home visit with Hurt’s AAU teammate, 6-foot-11 center Zeke Nnaji.

According to Marcus Fuller, of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Self and Calipari are expected to visit Nnaji’s home in Lakeville, Minn., on Sunday, as well, with the fast-rising center also scheduling in-home visits this month with Minnesota, Georgetown, Baylor, Arizona, Purdue and UCLA.

Nnaji is currently rated as a four-star prospect and is ranked No. 34 overall in the 2019 class by Rivals.com.

Both players, who are close friends and whose families are close, as well, remain in the process of narrowing down their lists and setting up official visits for the coming weeks.

What happens this weekend, with these in-home visits, could go a long way toward bringing some clarity to the recruitment of both talented big men.