2018 Basketball Recruiting Thread

[Olympic Fan]

Did I overlook the Duke careers of Darius Garland and Cameron Reddish?

Oops, substitute targets for products ...

I watched a little of the game, but Garland was the only Duke target I saw play.

[miltk]

I am not doubting what you have said. It just makes me wonder why Duke has gone so hard at Bagley if he is such a strong lean towards staying out west? It makes sense since he lives out west; and has played a lot of summer ball in the SoCal area over the past few years.

If Duke doesn't get Bagley, i won't be that upset because I like the make-up and chemistry of this year's team; and I've always wondered how the team would respond to a great player as a late edition. There are only so many minutes a player could have in a loaded frontcourt like Duke's. With that being said, I would be ecstatic if Bagley ended up choosing Duke.

I'll reply to all in just this one. If the opportunity is there you always go the #1 regardless - don't cost nuttin'. As an elite school it's almost an obligation to do so.

Sc/Enfield will MAKE room for Bagley, schollie availability or not...it's sc.

I'm not the type to say I told you so, so just remember me when the time comes

[Spanarkel]

Duke went on an offer binge last night, which included 2018 6'7" SF Nassir Little of Orlando Christian Prep. Little is a top 25 player in his class and appears to have strong interest in Arizona, Duke, Florida, UNC, and others. I haven't read too much on Little, but he is among a number of small forward recruits Duke is pursuing in the Class of 2018.

In addition to Little, Duke has previously extended an offer to R.J. Barrett, Jarius Hamilton, Cameron Reddish, and Zion Williamson. My guess is that Little would be a 2+ year player (can never predict how long they'll last these days) while one ore more of Barrett, Reddish, and (less likely) Williamson fill the starting wing/forward roles during the 2018-19 season.

Emmitt Williams(6'8"/200/'18)as well.

[mailman2927]

Tre Jones to announce Sunday per his twitter account.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Tre Jones to announce Sunday per his twitter account.

Has there ever been a recruit where DBR had this much confidence that he'd choose Duke?

Hate to say it, but I could see a scenario where Tre chooses another school BECAUSE everyone is convinced that he's going to Duke.

[brevity]

Has there ever been a recruit where DBR had this much confidence that he'd choose Duke?

Marshall Plumlee?

Hate to say it, but I could see a scenario where Tre chooses another school BECAUSE everyone is convinced that he's going to Duke.

So could I, but choosing a college should be based on reasons better than "proving the prognosticators wrong".

[Olympic Fan]

Nothing is 100 percent in recruiting, but I think the early decision is a very good sign.

If this had dragged into fall, I could see more threat of a surprise pick. This early, it almost has to be Duke.

Will the widespread assumption that Tre will pick Duke cause him to do something else just to surprise everybody? That seems a very immature reason to pick a school -- and from everything I've read, Tre is a very mature young man.

Oh well, we'll know Sunday ... hopefully, he'll be the first members of the Duke Class of 2018 and he can start working on Garland and Reddish (two prospects he's very close to). If not, well, that gives us time to start working on Plan B.

[Olympic Fan]

I just saw that Arizona landed the No. 3 PG and No. 16 player overall from the Class of 2018 -- Jahvan Quinerly. He joined Shareef O'Neal (No. 19 in the ESPN rankings) to give Sean Miller a quick head start in the 2018 recruiting race.

That got me thinking about the recruiting superpowers. I did a quick search of the RSCI archives and found five schools that have dominated recruiting since the start of the one-and done era (which I say starts with Calipari's first class at Kentucky -- the 2009 class that produced three NBA first rounders in 2010). Using that as a start point, I ranked the recruiting winners this way:

1. Kentucky -- 22 top 10 prospects (according to the RSCI) and 35 top 25 prospects
2. Duke -- 10 top 10 prospects and 21 top 25 prospects (11 and 22 if Bagley comes)
3. Kansas -- seven top 10 prospects and 12 top 25 prospects
4. Arizona -- four top 10 prospects and 14 top 25 prospects
5. UNC -- four top 10 and 12 top 25 prospects

Nobody else is close. North Carolina's strength is mostly early in the decade -- Justin Jackson is the only top 10 prospect Roy has signed since James McAdoo in 2011. Between 2005 and 2011, Roy probably ranked as the top recruiter in the nation -- he signed eight top 10 prospects in that span.

Sean Miller is the coach who has improved the most -- he signed just one top 25 prospect in his first three years, but has added 13 top 35 guys (four of them top 10) in the last six classes. That doesn't count Quinerly or O'Neal in the Class of 2018.

[JasonEvans]

Has there ever been a recruit where DBR had this much confidence that he'd choose Duke?

Not just the DBR. The 247 Crystal Ball is 100% to Duke. Even the Minnesota gurus are all picking the Blue Devils.

-Jason "I agree with Oly that it is a good sign that this is happening early. A longer wait would have me more nervous" Evans

[JasonEvans]

Not just the DBR. The 247 Crystal Ball is 100% to Duke. Even the Minnesota gurus are all picking the Blue Devils.

-Jason "I agree with Oly that it is a good sign that this is happening early. A longer wait would have me more nervous" Evans

By the way, there were a couple Minnesota predictions a day or so ago... but they flipped to Duke in the hours since Tre announced he would make his decision known this weekend.

[Olympic Fan]

Take it FWIW, but I was told tonight by a very good source that Jones is coming ... and could be followed very soon by Reddish.

The same source said we might be having a problem with big men -- it's not looking great for McCormick.

[Spanarkel]

Take it FWIW, but I was told tonight by a very good source that Jones is coming ... and could be followed very soon by Reddish.

The same source said we might be having a problem with big men -- it's not looking great for McCormick.

McCormack

[BD80]

McCormack

If he doesn't come, it doesn't matter. MacCornmix

[chriso]

Take it FWIW, but I was told tonight by a very good source that Jones is coming ... and could be followed very soon by Reddish.

The same source said we might be having a problem with big men -- it's not looking great for McCormick.

Wow we get those two and this guy in skipping to work Monday morning.

[Troublemaker]

Take it FWIW, but I was told tonight by a very good source that Jones is coming ...

That would be excellent. Another season (or two) with a true point guard, one that is reported to have similar intangibles to his brother.

[flyingdutchdevil]

That would be excellent. Another season (or two) with a true point guard, one that is reported to have similar intangibles to his brother.

And with Reddish, we'll have our Winslow as well (likely better offense, worse defense. I mean, this is Winslow we're talking about!).

We just won't have a lot of returning talent, as I'm expecting our starting 5 to not be there next year. So it'll be hard to find another Cook (but DeLaurier can be the next Amile. And Tucker could be the next Jones).

Okay - if we get Reddish and Jones, time to find a big dude.

[DavidBenAkiva]

And with Reddish, we'll have our Winslow as well (likely better offense, worse defense. I mean, this is Winslow we're talking about!).

We just won't have a lot of returning talent, as I'm expecting our starting 5 to not be there next year. So it'll be hard to find another Cook (but DeLaurier can be the next Amile. And Tucker could be the next Jones).

Okay - if we get Reddish and Jones, time to find a big dude.

If we are going with the 2015 references, Vrankovic = MP3 and DeLaurier = Jefferson. Those are rough estimates as neither player is an exact fit for their predecessor in terms of recruiting or physical profile.

The Tre Jones announcement, should it go well for Duke, would be big for the 2018-19 season. I agree with flyingdutchdevil that the starting 5 of Duke will likely be gone after this upcoming season (Allen to graduation/NBA and Bolden, Carter, Duval and Trent to the NBA - Bagley, too if he does reclassify). That will leave a lot of potential rotation players but few obvious starters: Vrankovic, DeLaurier, White, Goldiwre, O'Connell, and Tucker. From that group, I could see either of DeLaurier or Vrankovic (most like the former) earning a starting position with the other providing serious bench minutes. Losing out on McCormack, a recruit outside of the Top 25 according to most recruiting sites, wouldn't jeopardize the frontcourt depth a whole lot for 2018-19 (but causes problems after that). This assumes someone like Cameron Reddish can step in and play solid stretch 4 minutes.

That could result in a starting unit of Garland, Jones, Tucker, Reddish, and DeLaurier. Not a bad starting point. I would feel a lot better about this group if Duke could somehow get a commitment from R.J. Barrett, who could fill that other wing role opposite Reddish. Barrett, for those that haven't seen, is a potential #1 NBA draft pick. He's shown excellent all-around game, outside of consistent 3-point shooting. He is a great rebounding wing/guard. Having both of Barret and Reddish in the lineup would compensate for the lack of a high-caliber center. Tre Jones, for that matter, has also shown promise as a good rebounding guard.

At any rate, it's not clear that Duke needs a big man in the 2018-19 roster so much as they'll need one for the future. I wouldn't be surprised to see a new name or new focus on Emmitt Williams emerge if McCormack is truly cooling on Duke.

[Class of '94]

Take it FWIW, but I was told tonight by a very good source that Jones is coming ... and could be followed very soon by Reddish.

The same source said we might be having a problem with big men -- it's not looking great for McCormick.

Do you or anyone else have any ideas on why Duke could have problems with getting big men from the class of 2018? I know it's way too earlier but could the old perception that Duke can't develop big men be creeping back in based on the transfer of a 5* big man in Chase Jeter and Bolden (initially projected as a first round to lottery pick last year) had his stock go down and needed to stay in college for at least one more year. I don't subscribe to any of this nonsense; but still curious as to why getting big men from the class of 2018 might be challenging. Maybe guys are concerned that they might have to play behind Javin next year (or even Vrank the tank)??

[Kedsy]

Do you or anyone else have any ideas on why Duke could have problems with getting big men from the class of 2018? I know it's way too earlier but could the old perception that Duke can't develop big men be creeping back in based on the transfer of a 5* big man in Chase Jeter and Bolden (initially projected as a first round to lottery pick last year) had his stock go down and needed to stay in college for at least one more year. I don't subscribe to any of this nonsense; but still curious as to why getting big men from the class of 2018 might be challenging. Maybe guys are concerned that they might have to play behind Javin next year (or even Vrank the tank)??

More likely it's because there are only 6 guys in ESPN's top 30 who are 6'10" or taller, and one of them is Marvin Bagley (who probably won't play in college in 2018-19) and one of them (#30) has already committed to Auburn, and the other four just might not be good fits at Duke. With such a small population of big men available, there doesn't really have to be an overarching "reason," does there?

[Olympic Fan]

More likely it's because there are only 6 guys in ESPN's top 30 who are 6'10" or taller, and one of them is Marvin Bagley (who probably won't play in college in 2018-19) and one of them (#30) has already committed to Auburn, and the other four just might not be good fits at Duke. With such a small population of big men available, there doesn't really have to be an overarching "reason," does there?

This is absolutely the reason -- the Class of 2018 is short of top-flight big man and the few that are there are just not a good fit for Duke.

Bagley is the exception -- if he comes a year early, it does enhance Duke's chances of winning the 2018 title ... but it would be better for the continuity of the program if he'd wait and come with Jones, Garland, Reddish ...

Oh well, it doesn't matter -- he's almost certainly coming out now, so no need to waste time wondering about it.