2019 Men's Basketball Recruiting

[superdave]

2019 Big Man Armando Bacot announced this afternoon that he will be making his college announcement on Thursday, August 16th at 5 p.m. Eastern. Looks like it will be a video posted to social media (IG/twitter).

I hope we get him! And if we dont, we never wanted him!

I feel like September - October should have a lot of movement in recruiting before the high school hoops season gets into gear.

[kAzE]

I'm okay with getting just one, and if it's not Bacot, I'll take the high-motor Isaiah Stewart. I think I'd be fine with a center rotation of Stewart and Javin, and call me crazy, but I'd be okay with seeing if the stretch-4 can be covered by a Sr Jack White, So Joey Baker, and Sr Justin Robinson. And if we have to play lane-clogging, awkward, 2-big basketball, let it be Stewart and Javin that is the pairing. Not looking forward to seeing Vernon Carey pretend he's a 4.

Good point. If we only get 1, I would much prefer Stewart or Carey, since those guys are top 5, while Bacot is top 25-ish.

The dream class: Isaiah Stewart, Cole Anthony, Bryan Antoine, Josiah James, Wendell Moore, and Joe Girard.

I think we are the favorites to land each of those guys at the moment, although we're probably only getting 1 of the point guards (Anthony and James), or maybe neither if Tre Jones isn't a OAD.

[proelitedota]

Crystal Ball is trending Cheats on this one. Hopefully we snag Isiah Stewart. He looks to be more in the Brand, Boozer, Sheldon, Wendell mold.

[Pghdukie]

Bacot had an extraordinary summer. He has been a UNC lean for awhile now. Being that he is announcing while Duke is in Canada - it's not looking promising for the dark blue color. But you just never no with 18 yr olds.

[DavidBenAkiva]

Crystal Ball is trending Cheats on this one. Hopefully we snag Isiah Stewart. He looks to be more in the Brand, Boozer, Sheldon, Wendell mold.

I was mentioning upthread about how the Crystal Ball is a good way to see where the consensus is going with a player. Right now, there is a flood of picks for Bacot to UNC. Good for him. Seems like a good kid. I bet he gets 10-15 minutes a game behind Garrison Brooks and Sterling Manley the next two years.

[DavidBenAkiva]

Top PG prospect Josiah James has announced a final four of Clemson, Duke, Michigan State, and Tennessee. James will be making official visits this fall to his final schools, include Duke in late September.

[jimsumner]

Good point. If we only get 1, I would much prefer Stewart or Carey, since those guys are top 5, while Bacot is top 25-ish.

The dream class: Isaiah Stewart, Cole Anthony, Bryan Antoine, Josiah James, Wendell Moore, and Joe Girard.

I think we are the favorites to land each of those guys at the moment, although we're probably only getting 1 of the point guards (Anthony and James), or maybe neither if Tre Jones isn't a OAD.

I'm not sure Duke is still actively recruiting Girard. He had an underwhelming summer.


And Anthony is anyone's guess.

[devildeac]

So, from all the posters/sources, I guess it's fair to say K may not be bringing home the Bacot on this one.

(I'll turn off the light as I leave tonight. )

[UrinalCake]

Bacot had an extraordinary summer. He has been a UNC lean for awhile now. Being that he is announcing while Duke is in Canada - it's not looking promising for the dark blue color. But you just never no with 18 yr olds.

I think UNC will be in the Bahamas as they play a game there Friday evening. But I agree that all signs point to the CHeats on this one.

[BD80]

Bacot ... is announcing while Duke is in Canada - it's not looking promising for the dark blue color. ...

So, from all the posters/sources, I guess it's fair to say K may not be bringing home the Bacot on this one. ... )

It could have been Canadian Bacot ...

[Indoor66]

So, from all the posters/sources, I guess it's fair to say K may not be bringing home the Bacot on this one.

(I'll turn off the light as I leave tonight. )

Don't wait until tonight on the light!

[Indoor66]

It could have been Canadian Bacot ...

This week the team is getting servings of Canadian Bacot.

[UrinalCake]

I have to say, if he commits to Duke I will laugh my damn fool head off over how K is just selecting whoever he wants. I had the same reaction when Zion committed, but getting to break the hearts of those CHeat fans who are salivating over the prospect of landing a top big man would make it all the more sweeter.

[kAzE]

I'm not sure Duke is still actively recruiting Girard. He had an underwhelming summer.

Wow, I had not heard this. I only saw that Duke made his top 6. Could you elaborate a bit more? What about his summer was underwhelming?

This was one of the guys I was really interested in because of his elite shooting and likely 4 year college career . . .

[JasonEvans]

Wow, I had not heard this. I only saw that Duke made his top 6. Could you elaborate a bit more? What about his summer was underwhelming?

This was one of the guys I was really interested in because of his elite shooting and likely 4 year college career . . .

Yeah, I had not heard that either about him. In fact, playing this summer with a very high level AAU team, Girard was one of the top players on the team and had a teammate that Duke is also recruiting:

Girard plays for the Albany City Rocks. In 16 games with the City Rocks this past summer, Girard averaged 12.2 points per game, which was second only to consensus Top 10 recruit Isaiah Stewart (17.6 ppg). Girard made 40 out of 109 shots (36.7 percent) from 3-point range.

"The kid has never struggled in any sporting event in his life,'' City Rocks coach and founder Jim Hart said. "Even last year in EYBL, he was stellar as a sophomore. This year, though, it all came out about him. He averages 50 points and he beats Lance's record. There's this reputation and everybody knows who he is and this year in EYBL, everybody's geared up to stop him.

"He had moments this summer when he struggled and he wasn't the JG3 50-point show,'' Hart continued. "He was held and grabbed and trapped on every ball screen, but he still had a good year.''

[budwom]

The Girard ship sailed some time ago...not a good summer.

[jimsumner]

Girard is not a good run/jump athlete and struggled to get off shots against ACC-level defenders.

[kAzE]

Girard is not a good run/jump athlete and struggled to get off shots against ACC-level defenders.

Hmm . . . I don't think anybody would be surprised by this, but given his reputation, teams are most likely game planning to stop him in ways that won't be possible if he's playing next to other great players at Duke. Guys who are excellent ball handlers and shooters will always be valuable, especially if they stick around for 4 years.

The kid averaged 50 points. Even if it was against 14 year old kids, it's still incredibly impressive . . .

And even if Duke doesn't get him or is no longer interested in him, I have a hard time imagining that he will fail at the college level.

[Troublemaker]

Hmm . . . I don't think anybody would be surprised by this, but given his reputation, teams are most likely game planning to stop him in ways that won't be possible if he's playing next to other great players at Duke. Guys who are excellent ball handlers and shooters will always be valuable, especially if they stick around for 4 years.

The kid averaged 50 points. Even if it was against 14 year old kids, it's still incredibly impressive . . .

And even if Duke doesn't get him or is no longer interested in him, I have a hard time imagining that he will fail at the college level.

I agree that he won't fail at the college level, but for a Duke program that's trying to compete for national championships, his AAU stats really are somewhat disappointing. If you go through and look, Girard doesn't impact the game in any other way besides shooting. He averaged 1.4 assists, so he's not a point guard but rather a short shooting guard that will probably be a defensive liability in the ACC. He only averaged 0.6 steals per game and 2.1 rebounds per game. 72% of his shot attempts were threes, and he only hit 37% from out there. I think he would've needed to shoot closer to 50% to maintain interest since he's so one-dimensional.

I think he'll be a good college player somewhere and I think he might even have been a rotation player at Duke eventually, but I don't think we're missing out on a 3-4 year college stud. The Villanova type 3-4 year college studs are more versatile than Joe Girard.

[kAzE]

I agree that he won't fail at the college level, but for a Duke program that's trying to compete for national championships, his AAU stats really are somewhat disappointing. If you go through and look, Girard doesn't impact the game in any other way besides shooting. He averaged 1.4 assists, so he's not a point guard but rather a short shooting guard that will probably be a defensive liability in the ACC. He only averaged 0.6 steals per game and 2.1 rebounds per game. 72% of his shot attempts were threes, and he only hit 37% from out there. I think he would've needed to shoot closer to 50% to maintain interest since he's so one-dimensional.

I think he'll be a good college player somewhere and I think he might even have been a rotation player at Duke eventually, but I don't think we're missing out on a 3-4 year college stud. The Villanova type 3-4 year college studs are more versatile than Joe Girard.

Yeah, I agree with your assessment. These are fair points.

There's a good chance he lands at Syracuse or Notre Dame, so we'll be seeing plenty of Mr. Girard for a long time, even if Duke is no longer interested.