As Ed Singler stood on the sidelines of a basketball scrimmage at Duke University this past weekend, tempers flared out on the court.

Play stopped. The Blue Devils' three team captains briefly met at one end of the court, then huddled with the other players. And the conflict was resolved.

Although head coach Mike Krzyzewski wasn't in the gym, his influence certainly was present. Playing the game right — even if it's a pick-up game — and resolving the inevitable disputes that come with it are important to Krzyzewski, considered by many to be the nation's top college basketball coach.

Singler noticed something else as his son, Kyle, ran up and down the court with the Blue Devils during an official visit to the Durham, N.C., campus: each player was going all-out on every possession.

"You don't necessarily see that at other schools," Ed Singler said. "But it's part of the culture at Duke. You can see and feel the pride that those kids have."

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Kyle Singler, a 6-foot-9, 220-pound senior forward who's among the top high school players in the nation, is in the middle of all-expenses-paid recruiting visits to top-tier college programs. He was at the University of Arizona Sept. 15-17 and he'll journey to the University of Kansas Oct. 14-15.

This past weekend he was at Duke, where three national championship banners decorate the gym wall. The campus is relatively small — the school has only 6,000 undergraduate students — but that's part of the appeal.

"I know Kyle felt very comfortable with the visit," Ed Singler said. "The campus had a very good feel to it, the athletic facilities were first-class and the coaches were great people. Coach 'K' was there the whole time."

The younger Singler has narrowed his choices to Duke, Arizona, Kansas and UCLA, where he took an unofficial visit last year and may revisit in October. He recently ruled out Washington, even though he very much likes Husky coach Lorenzo Romar, who coached him on a national youth team this past summer.

If distance isn't an issue — and it doesn't seem to be — then Duke almost would seem like a slam dunk. If there's a crown jewel in college basketball it's the Blue Devils, and Krzyewski has made it clear to Kyle Singler how badly he wants him. Krzyewski, whose Duke teams have won 680 of 871 games and made 22 NCAA Tournament appearances in his 26 seasons at the school, has made four trips to Medford and has told Kyle he has the potential to become a college All-American.

But the younger Singler wants to keep an open mind.

"The recruiting process has been very hectic, and it would be easy to just get it over with, but Kyle wants to give everybody a fair shake and also to thoroughly analyze all the schools he's considering," said Ed Singler.

Krzyewski, UCLA coach Ben Howland and Kansas coach Bill Self made their official visits to the Singler home earlier this month and Arizona coach Lute Olson was scheduled to fly in Monday night.

Kyle Singler will make his decision in late October or early November, depending on whether he takes an official visit to UCLA.

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THE RECRUITING PROCESS is considerably different for Kyle Singler than it was for his father, who was a standout quarterback at Medford High in the late 1970s and went on to Oregon State, where he became a three-year starter.

Ed Singler was sought by mostly Pac-10 schools — Washington, UCLA, Oregon and Oregon State. Kyle Singler has been wooed by colleges all over the country.

"Cell phones and the Internet have really changed things," Ed Singler said. "The Internet sites aren't regulated by the NCAA, and even though Kyle has tried to be careful about who he gives his (cell) number to, a lot of coaches have it. They're constantly text-messaging him.

"As a parent it's been challenging, because he still has his schoolwork and other responsibilities."

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MOST PEOPLE THINK Kyle Singler is forgoing football this fall because of the risk of injury, but Ed Singler said it has more to do with his son wanting to spend as much time as possible fine-tuning his hoop skills.

None of the college basketball coaches asked Kyle not to play football, Ed Singler adds.

"Kyle doesn't want to be an average or even a good college player — he wants to be better than that," Ed Singler said. "He agonized over this decision because in a sense he feels like he let his school down, and he's the ultimate team player. But he feels like he made the right decision and he's moved on."