Top hoops recruit Barnes to announce Friday

Let the anticipation build.

Fans of Duke, North Carolina and four other schools that remain finalists for the services of top-ranked recruit Harrison Barnes of Ames, Iowa, will learn his decision Friday.

Shirley Barnes, the player's mother, said in an e-mail that Barnes will announce his school choice Friday. No decision has been made on a possible broadcast of the announcement.

Barnes spent the final weekend before his announcement on an unofficial visit to his hometown school, Iowa State, his mother said. Shirley Barnes works in the music department at Iowa State.

A 6-foot-6 forward, Barnes is rated the top recruit in the nation by scout.com. In alphabetical order, his finalists are Duke, Iowa State, Kansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma and UCLA.

If Barnes has any preferences, he has hidden them from the public in a recruiting process that's been expertly and carefully guided by his mother. The competition for his services has been so intense that earlier this fall Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and North Carolina coach Roy Williams visited his home on the same day.

By announcing Friday, Barnes will adhere to a schedule he set long ago, when he told Ames High coach Vance Downs that he wanted the decision made by the time his high school team begins practice Nov. 16.

"The process for him has been very methodical," Downs said before Barnes visited Duke in October. "He's just very patient, takes his time, looks at all his options and then will eventually find the right fit for him."