Per Watzone, Austin Nichols has been offered by Coach K.
Mark Watson @BlueDevilNation
Follow @a_nichols33 who picked up a #Duke offer after Coach K visited Friday.
I'm not a recruiting insider by any means, but just piecing together from articles I've read and tweets from multiple guys, and based in addition on who our coaches made the effort to watch in the recent evaluation period, it seems that our list of 2013 targets looks something like what I've got below. Our interest may be higher or lower on some guys than others, a few even have offers already, but it appears we've shown interest in the following guys at least somewhat recently. And the "positions" are general - let's not get off on tangents about "this guy is a 3, not a 4" etc. And the guys are listed in no particular order within position. Anyway, here's what I've got, though I'm sure I'm missing some guys because, like I say, I'm not a recruitnik myself:
PF's:
Julius Randle, 6'9" 225 out of Texas
Austin Nichols, 6'8" 200 out of Tennessee
SF's:
Jabari Parker 6'8" 220, Chicago
Andrew Wiggins 6'7" 200 out of Canada, possible to reclassify from 2014. Everyone wants him.
Ish Wainwright 6'5" 220 out of Missouri
Semi Ojeleye 6'6" 220 out of Kansas
Tyrone Outlaw, 6'6", 190, North Carolina
Centers:
BeeJay Anya 6'8" 265 out of DeMatha
PG:
Cat Barber 6'2" 165 out of Hampton
Tyler Ennis 6'2" 180, Canada
SG:
Allerik Freeman 6'3" 195, local kid from North Carolina
I'll try to piece together a partial list of 2014 targets and put it in that thread.
Thanks. Great list. I would move Nichols to the Center category. After some weight gain, he'll have plenty of length and skill to play that position. Duke is hoping to snag both Nichols and Randle and have them play together as C and PF respectively.
I'm in love with Nichols. Length, fluidity, skill, IQ. He'd be Duke's best center since Shelden.
This is high praise. Have you seen him play live? Not questioning your statement - I just would love to hear/see what you have to understand better. I agree that he sounds like he would be a great fit. I will reserve judgement on the best-center-since-Shelden statement until I know more. : )
Well, Scout lists him as a center: http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75...pid=45&yr=2013
It's debatable, sure. I would say he's currently 6'9" 210 with room to get to 230. The key, though, is that he has extremely long arms which will allow him to play center. Ideally he can go back and forth between 4 and 5 if MP3 develops nicely.
But let's say Duke is able to snag both Randle and Nichols (knock on wood). They would play the 4 and 5 respectively. And Duke wants them both.
Any reason to suggest he'll be better than Mason Plumlee and Josh McRoberts (which would be the implication of your statement that he'd be the best Duke center since Shelden Williams)? I'd love it if true, because those guys were/are both pretty darn good. But Nichols is shorter than both, and not nearly as highly rated as either was.
He's getting a lot of recruiting love from Cal and Billy D, as well, so I would imagine that, as is often the case with guys who weren't on the national recruiting radar prior to their junior year and haven't yet gotten to strut their stuff in the summer circuits, Nichols is due for a jump in stock. Kyrie made a similar leap, as he was a much lower rated prospect going into his junior year but after his junior year it was apparent he was one of the top PG prospects. By the end of the summer circuit, he was THE top PG prospect. Obviously, I'm not saying Nichols will take the same leap that Kyrie made, but he's probably significantly better now than he was a year ago or else UK, Florida, and Duke wouldn't be wasting their time.
Per Watzone we are also looking at Marcus Lee. He isn't a top shelf type of guy from the looks of it but he sounds intriguing and could be the type to peak late perhaps.
LINK
I questioned the "center" designation originally, but after researching a bit, it appears some of his strong points include:
good overall length (6'8"+ with long arms)
good hands (large hands where he easily palms with one hand, and seems to catch the ball well)
likes to score inside
jumps well
has a knack for shot blocking
so...center or not, he sounds like an inside player at this point
that plus the positive outlook he's had on Duke....sign him up
There's a vicious rumor going around that Andrew Wiggins is only 14 years old. I would officially like to denounce those rumormongers and state for the record that, while he was the youngest player at the Nike Hoops Summit, Andrew is 17. His dad was an NBA first round draft pick, which is pretty cool.
http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/...-Wiggins-6191/
s.i.
I saw Anya play in-person a few months ago and he is really good. He was clearly the best player on DeMatha in the game I saw - and that DeMatha team had a couple of Top 50 guys in the class of 2012 - Jerami Grant (Syracuse) and James Robinson (Pitt). Shortly after I saw him play, Dave Telep moved Anya into the Top 20 for the class of 2013, so he was on an upward trajectory. He's a huge body, has nice touch around the rim and has extremely long arms. Aggressive rebounder and shot blocker. And he had a little bit of a mean streak, jawing with trash-talking opposing fans a little bit (but stayed in control of himself). Liked what I saw.
As for Semi Ojeleye, he's OK, but I hear his cousin, Full Ojeleye, is twice as good.
"I don't like them when they are eating my azaleas or rhododendrons or pansies." - Coach K