2020 Duke men's basketball recruiting

[frb]

CB for Ziaire Williams to USC from Andrew Slater (41 for 44 accuracy).

[English]

Mark Williams announced a final 3 of Duke, Michigan, and UCLA. He's moved up his visits and will be OV'ing to Duke this month.

While a commit from Ziaire Williams to USC would be unfortunate in a it's-not-Duke sense, it could be worse if he committed to, I don't know, an arch rival. Still not giving up all hope he sees the royal blue light.

[ChillinDuke]

Mark Williams announced a final 3 of Duke, Michigan, and UCLA. He's moved up his visits and will be OV'ing to Duke this month.

While a commit from Ziaire Williams to USC would be unfortunate in a it's-not-Duke sense, it could be worse if he committed to, I don't know, an arch rival. Still not giving up all hope he sees the royal blue light.

Very good.

Can you name three schools that are geographically farther apart than those three? My goodness.

Oh wait, it's DBR, no one answer that...

- Chillin

[budwom]

Losing Z. Williams wouldn't be much of a loss if Jonathan Kuminga were lurking in the reclassification shadows, which I suspect he may well be.

As far as M. Williams is concerned, Michigan and LA are pretty long drives for mom and pop to make for home games...

[JasonEvans]

As far as M. Williams is concerned, Michigan and LA are pretty long drives for mom and pop to make for home games...

Well, Williams' family is from Norfolk, VA and he is playing his high school ball this season at IMG in Florida, so being away from home is clearly not a big deal for the family. That said, Durham and many ACC venues are a fairly easy drive from Norfolk and I suspect every Michigan and UCLA game would require a flight for the family if they wanted to attend.

By the way, the 247 Crystal Ball is a funny animal. Andrew Slater of the Devil's Den still has a pick registered for Stanford for MWilliams (the only non Duke pick for him) even though the Cardinal were eliminated by Williams when he cut his list to 3 teams.

-Jason "I feel very good about this one. I'm sure his big sister is telling him which school to pick "Evans

[BD80]

...

-Jason "I feel very good about this one. I'm sure his big sister is telling him which school to pick "Evans

She was beyond awesome for Duke, on and off the court. Were her relationships with the WBB coaching staff on good terms?

[DavidBenAkiva]

This is an interesting development. According to his own twitter feed, top 50 PF Jaemyn Brakefield has received an offer from Duke. If I recall correctly, Duke was kicking the tires on asking Brakefield to reclassify to the Class of 2019 up until Matthew Hurt committed. Hurt is now wearing #21 for Duke and it seemed things cooled between the two sides.

The bouncy lefty has a bit of stretch-4 game and can hit the boards as well as make a jumper. He played his AAU games for Phenom University, which featured Duke commit Jalen Johnson and top Class of 2021 target Patrick Baldwin, Jr. That was a heck of a frontcourt for an AAU team.

It's not clear if this is a reaction to Ziaire Williams or something else going on. At any rate, one to watch.

[907bluedevils]

Duke, not originally in Dickinson's top 7, makes the cut for top 4.

https://twitter.com/H_Dickinson24/st...94285585600518

[MarkD83]

With talk of players reclassifying and the possibility of the NBA changing the OAD rule...I need a refresher.

What recruiting class could be the class where players may NOT have to go to college?
Which draft would then be the "stacked" draft full of OADs and HS players?

I am trying to sort this out to figure out how many scholarships Duke will have open in the next few years.

On my favorite site to figure this out.

http://verbalcommits.com/schools/duke

Duke officially has 0 scholarships left for 2020, but of course 1, 2 or 3 players could go pro.

After that when would Duke need to recruit multi-year players because there will be OADs leaving and HS players not available.

[MarkD83]

Well, Williams' family is from Norfolk, VA and he is playing his high school ball this season at IMG in Florida, so being away from home is clearly not a big deal for the family. That said, Durham and many ACC venues are a fairly easy drive from Norfolk and I suspect every Michigan and UCLA game would require a flight for the family if they wanted to attend.

By the way, the 247 Crystal Ball is a funny animal. Andrew Slater of the Devil's Den still has a pick registered for Stanford for MWilliams (the only non Duke pick for him) even though the Cardinal were eliminated by Williams when he cut his list to 3 teams.

-Jason "I feel very good about this one. I'm sure his big sister is telling him which school to pick "Evans

MWilliams is a lock for Stanford. The crystal ball has stanford's chances at 12%. He's a lock because the same crystal ball as Jeremy Roach at 17% for Duke and Walker Kessler at 18% for unc.

[jimsumner]

Were her relationships with the WBB coaching staff on good terms?

Not when she left. But things have been patched up. She came back to Duke to have her jersey retired and told me that her concerns had been addressed.

I do not expect this to be an issue in the recruitment of her brother.

And this is a family that does more than pay lip service to academics. They value it.

[JasonEvans]

With talk of players reclassifying and the possibility of the NBA changing the OAD rule...I need a refresher.

What recruiting class could be the class where players may NOT have to go to college?
Which draft would then be the "stacked" draft full of OADs and HS players?

I am trying to sort this out to figure out how many scholarships Duke will have open in the next few years.

On my favorite site to figure this out.

http://verbalcommits.com/schools/duke

Duke officially has 0 scholarships left for 2020, but of course 1, 2 or 3 players could go pro.

After that when would Duke need to recruit multi-year players because there will be OADs leaving and HS players not available.

To be clear, all of this is speculation because the NBA and the PA have not worked out the new draft rules yet.

That said, most folks expect OAD to end in 2022. In that year, we would have a loaded draft of high schoolers as well as guys from the class of 2021 who will be the last class forced to go to school for a year before heading to the pros. I mentioned this a few months ago but I think members of the high school class of 2021 would be wise to reclass to 2020 if they can or they may find themselves stuck in the most loaded draft in a long time. Additionally, you have seen NBA teams very, very reluctant to deal 2022 draft picks. A mid-late first round pick will likely be able to get you a lottery level talent in that year.

What none of us know is if the NBA will also institute some kind of baseball-like rule whereby players can go direct out of high school or they must commit to 2 or 3 years in college. There has been some talk about that, but I suspect the NBA will not implement it. If they did, the class of 2023 draft could be one of the weakest in history (it would contain untested high schoolers but not any kids who go to college and break out as freshmen).

Regardless, the end of OAD will likely mean more players staying multiple years. There will still be some guys who play so well in college that they are clear lottery picks after one year (Trae Young comes to mind as a dude who would never have been a draft pick out of high school but who exploded into a high lottery pick after his freshman campaign), but I suspect we will see most of the top 20 players declare right out of high school and the next tier of guys largely staying in school for 2 or more seasons.

-Jason "like most of you, I welcome this change and think it will be good for college basketball... though it will be sad to not get to know Zion and others for a year" Evans

[frb]

This is an interesting development. According to his own twitter feed, top 50 PF Jaemyn Brakefield has received an offer from Duke. If I recall correctly, Duke was kicking the tires on asking Brakefield to reclassify to the Class of 2019 up until Matthew Hurt committed. Hurt is now wearing #21 for Duke and it seemed things cooled between the two sides.

The bouncy lefty has a bit of stretch-4 game and can hit the boards as well as make a jumper. He played his AAU games for Phenom University, which featured Duke commit Jalen Johnson and top Class of 2021 target Patrick Baldwin, Jr. That was a heck of a frontcourt for an AAU team.

It's not clear if this is a reaction to Ziaire Williams or something else going on. At any rate, one to watch.

I don't have a source because I saw it on IG but supposedly Kentucky is no longer recruiting Brakefield. He was linked with them for a while. Maybe why his dad is talking up Duke now?

[UrinalCake]

That said, most folks expect OAD to end in 2022.

I think people USED to think that, earlier in the spring when Silver made some public comments about the change. But nothing has happened since then, so the general belief IMO is that it will be later. 2022 is not that far away in terms of making a huge change like this. The current CBA runs through the 2023-2024 season so it kind of makes sense to me that a change would happen the following season.

[frb]

anyone else getting the feeling we get either Dickinson or Williams? Not both.

[proelitedota]

Evan Daniels with a surprise pick for us for a 4* recruit:

https://247sports.com/PlayerInstitut...rtPredictions/

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

Evan Daniels with a surprise pick for us for a 4* recruit:

https://247sports.com/PlayerInstitut...rtPredictions/

Nice. DBA noted this new offer in his post above. Good to see Evan Daniels log his pick for Duke. A positive indicator to be sure.

[arnie]

I think people USED to think that, earlier in the spring when Silver made some public comments about the change. But nothing has happened since then, so the general belief IMO is that it will be later. 2022 is not that far away in terms of making a huge change like this. The current CBA runs through the 2023-2024 season so it kind of makes sense to me that a change would happen the following season.

Agree with this, Silver was talking but that’s about it. I suspect he found an early change would be difficult and quietly backed away.

Also, by the time 2024 rolls around, college b-ball may look much different and a new CBA doesn’t think an age rules change necessary. We just don’t know.

[wsb3]

What none of us know is if the NBA will also institute some kind of baseball-like rule whereby players can go direct out of high school or they must commit to 2 or 3 years in college. There has been some talk about that, but I suspect the NBA will not implement it. If they did, the class of 2023 draft could be one of the weakest in history (it would contain untested high schoolers but not any kids who go to college and break out as freshmen).

-Jason "like most of you, I welcome this change and think it will be good for college basketball... though it will be sad to not get to know Zion and others for a year" Evans

This is the part that concerns me the most. And will there be any protection (I doubt but hope to be wrong) for players signing to go to school and then deciding in May that they are going straight to the NBA. I am not going to rail against OAD & I do think they should be able to go straight out of high school to the league but I sure wish there could be something like the baseball rule and bring back a little bit of stability to college basketball.

[Troublemaker]

anyone else getting the feeling we get either Dickinson or Williams? Not both.

Sure, but purely because we are considered the heavy favorite for Williams and an underdog for Dickinson, having gotten in late on his recruitment.

I haven't examined the rosters of Duke's competition in recruiting these two kids, but it really wouldn't surprise me if Duke had one of the better situations for immediate playing time. In either case -- Williams or Dickinson -- he would only need to beat out the other, an incoming freshman ranked around #30, in order to start, and if he loses that battle then backup center minutes would default to him. And that's only if we land the other of Dickinson or Williams first. Otherwise, you default into a starting position.