The second ranked recruit in 2014, Myles Turner, finally made his decision to attend Texas on Wednesday. Turner chose his hometown school over many college basketball powers, including Duke and Kansas. A commitment from Myles Turner would have been great for Duke but would have been unexpected. Turner was not a needed piece for Duke but he would have been a great player on this team. With his decision, Texas becomes a much better team, but Duke will be just fine without him.
With Turner's decision, the door has likely closed for Duke to add anyone to the 2014-15 team. The two other potential players for late Duke signings, Michal Cevoksky and Trey Mourning, have both decided to attend other schools. Cevoksky chose to attend Maryland while Mourning has reportedly enrolled at Georgetown, according to Casual Hoya. This leaves Duke with 10 guaranteed scholarship players, as well as Sean Obi and Nick Pagliuca. It also leaves Duke with at least 2 more scholarships in 2015, with likely more coming with potential NBA decisions of Okafor, Winslow and Tyus Jones. I expect Duke to ultimately sign a 3 man class, with Luke Kennard, a big man, and another wing/guard. Chase Jeter and Brandon Ingram appear to be the top options for those two spots.
On Wednesday, Adam Zagoria reported that Duke had made an offer to 2016 big man Thon Maker. Maker is one of the top players in the 2016 class and is being recruited by most big college basketball programs. He, along with Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum and Dennis Smith Jr appear to be Duke's biggest targets in 2016. The 2016 recruiting class is full of elite talents and it will be important for Duke to have a very talented class in 2016. Thon Maker is a player that Duke will be pursuing greatly to be a part of that 2016 class.
The first of the big AAU tournaments began this weekend with EYBL in Sacramento and Adidas Uprising in Dallas. Many Duke recruits greatly impressed and their stats are listed below.
EYBL:
Tyus Battle: 7.5 ppg and 3.0 rpg.
Henry Ellenson: 11.8 ppg, 9.2 rpg and 1.5 bpg.
Harry Giles: DNP (Knee injury).
Luke Kennard: 10.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg and 2.0 apg.
VJ King: 14.2 ppg and 3.0 rpg.
Ivan Rabb: 16.7 ppg, 8.0 rpg and 1.0 bpg.
Jayson Tatum: 21.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 3.0 apg and 2.5 spg.
Adidas Uprising:
Brandon Ingram: 14.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg and 2.8 apg.
Chase Jeter: DNP (Knee injury).
Josh Langford: 16.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg and 3.0 apg.
Thon Maker: 12.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg and 2.4 bpg.
Josh Sharma: 8.6 ppg and 5.8 rpg.
Ray Smith: 14.2 ppg and 4.8 rpg.
Dennis Smith Jr: 19.6 ppg, 7.4 apg, 3.6 spg and 3.2 rpg.
Thanks for reading and I will have another recruiting update coming next week!
