2022 Men's Basketball Recruiting

[jaywilliams22]

2 recent Crystal Ball picks for Mark Mitchell to Duke within the last 2 days. In total, that's 3 picks for Duke with "7" confidence ratings. Have to like that!


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

[DavidBenAkiva]

Adam Zagoria has a brief update on top big man target Dereck Lively III, who will be hosting some of his final 7 schools this week. The visitors include Kentucky and Penn State this Thursday, Michigan this Friday, and Duke on Saturday. Of note, Lively's mother is a marketing director at Penn State. Lively also told Zagoria that he has no specific timeline for a commitment and that he'll decide when he feels like he is certain.

https://www.zagsblog.com/2021/09/08/...ols-this-week/

[Jaks19]

Seems like news is about to break on Mitchell. He keeps getting CB picks, up to 5 now and all for Duke

[jaywilliams22]

Looks like we'll get Mitchell's last official visit the weekend of C2C. Seems likely he'd commit after that - so mid to late October.

[DavidBenAkiva]

According to Andrew Slater, Jon Scheyer is visiting La Lumiere Academy in La Porte, Indiana this morning. "LaLu" is home to J.J. Starling.

Today is the first day of the open period for recruiting. We should see a number of visits to open practices and such.

https://twitter.com/Andrew__Slater/s...64327001948170

[Steven43]

I have to admit I’m surprised that Duke is still getting high-level recruits though it doesn’t appear that any local businesses or Duke boosters are paying them $1 million-plus to attend.

Fingers crossed that pattern doesn’t change anytime soon, though I kind of expect it will.

[907bluedevils]

JJ Starling is down to 5 schools. Duke made the cut, along with Syracuse, Notre Dame, Stanford and Northwestern.

https://twitter.com/TiptonEdits/stat...159819776?s=20

The article listed on the tweet goes into a little further breakdown.

https://www.on3.com/news/jj-starling...uts-list-to-5/

[DoubleBlue]

JJ Starling is down to 5 schools. Duke made the cut, along with Syracuse, Notre Dame, Stanford and Northwestern.

https://twitter.com/TiptonEdits/stat...159819776?s=20

The article listed on the tweet goes into a little further breakdown.

https://www.on3.com/news/jj-starling...uts-list-to-5/

Here's the money quote from the above article:

Are any current players/commits recruiting Starling?

“I’ve heard from every school, whether it’s guys on the team or the commits but I’m not gonna lie, the most I’ve heard from is Duke,” Starling said. “I’m cool with Kyle (Filipowski), I’m cool with Dariq (Whitehead). We’ve been playing against each other for so long. We see each other all the time. We just saw each other at the Slam thing, you know and there always going to be like ‘come to Duke, come to Duke, come team up’ and stuff like that. So yeah, I’d definitely say the Duke commits.”

[DavidBenAkiva]

I was wondering if Starling was going to remain a priority after Jaden Schutt committed. Not only is he still a priority, there is also momentum for him towards Duke. One of the Duke insiders on 247sports, John Watson, put in a pick for Starling to Duke. It was just a 5 on the confidence level, but it's still encouraging to see that and then the quote above.

From what I've read and seen, Starling and Schutt are considering two of the best, if not the best 2, shooters in the Class of 2022. They both have good size for the off ball position at 6'4" and 6'5", respectively. With the number of backcourt players in the mix for next season, I wondered if Starling was going to be a luxury recruit. It's still not clear if Jeremy Roach is going to be a 2, 3, or 4-year player. Trevor Keels has an NBA skillset and good size at 6'5" but lacks that quick-twitch explosive athleticism that so many NBA teams want from the position. He can make up for it with shooting and defense, though. He could be a one-and-done or multi-year player. I guess it is best to assume a 5*/McDonald's All-American is going to be one-and-done unless told otherwise. And then there's Wendell Moore. Again, he has good size and a good skill level for the 2 or 3. If he figures out his jump shot, he could be a 2nd rounder or even late 1st rounder depending upon on the development he has this year. He's still very young for his class and has ideal size and length for the wing. There are players like him - Josh Hart and Mikael Bridges come to mind - that are coveted by NBA teams. Of course, that all depends on how he sees himself. Matthew Hurt and DJ Steward went pro without an NBA draft guarantee. Sometimes, the player just wants to go pro. Joey Baker is another player that could remain, could transfer, or could go pro. It's clear he loves being at Duke. Then again, it's clear that his path to starting is going to be non-existent at Duke. Does that matter to him?

If Duke somehow snags Starling and holds onto one of Keels and Moore (I'll guess Keels here) without losing Jaylen Blakes, the backcourt is going to look pretty deep next season:

PG: Roach, Blakes, Savarino
SG: Keels, Starling, Schutt
SF: Whitehead, Baker (or Mitchell, splitting time at both forward spots)
PF: Mitchell, Filipowski
C: Filipowski (or Lively)/(Grad Transfer would be my guess if they miss on Lively)

That might be one of the best shooting teams Duke has had in a long, long time. Maybe ever.

[FerryFor50]

I was wondering if Starling was going to remain a priority after Jaden Schutt committed. Not only is he still a priority, there is also momentum for him towards Duke. One of the Duke insiders on 247sports, John Watson, put in a pick for Starling to Duke. It was just a 5 on the confidence level, but it's still encouraging to see that and then the quote above.

From what I've read and seen, Starling and Schutt are considering two of the best, if not the best 2, shooters in the Class of 2022. They both have good size for the off ball position at 6'4" and 6'5", respectively. With the number of backcourt players in the mix for next season, I wondered if Starling was going to be a luxury recruit. It's still not clear if Jeremy Roach is going to be a 2, 3, or 4-year player. Trevor Keels has an NBA skillset and good size at 6'5" but lacks that quick-twitch explosive athleticism that so many NBA teams want from the position. He can make up for it with shooting and defense, though. He could be a one-and-done or multi-year player. I guess it is best to assume a 5*/McDonald's All-American is going to be one-and-done unless told otherwise. And then there's Wendell Moore. Again, he has good size and a good skill level for the 2 or 3. If he figures out his jump shot, he could be a 2nd rounder or even late 1st rounder depending upon on the development he has this year. He's still very young for his class and has ideal size and length for the wing. There are players like him - Josh Hart and Mikael Bridges come to mind - that are coveted by NBA teams. Of course, that all depends on how he sees himself. Matthew Hurt and DJ Steward went pro without an NBA draft guarantee. Sometimes, the player just wants to go pro. Joey Baker is another player that could remain, could transfer, or could go pro. It's clear he loves being at Duke. Then again, it's clear that his path to starting is going to be non-existent at Duke. Does that matter to him?

If Duke somehow snags Starling and holds onto one of Keels and Moore (I'll guess Keels here) without losing Jaylen Blakes, the backcourt is going to look pretty deep next season:

PG: Roach, Blakes, Savarino
SG: Keels, Starling, Schutt
SF: Whitehead, Baker (or Mitchell, splitting time at both forward spots)
PF: Mitchell, Filipowski
C: Filipowski (or Lively)/(Grad Transfer would be my guess if they miss on Lively)

That might be one of the best shooting teams Duke has had in a long, long time. Maybe ever.

I've seen posts that say this is likely Baker's last year, regardless of if he wants to keep playing or not. He might be a 5th year transfer guy.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I've seen posts that say this is likely Baker's last year, regardless of if he wants to keep playing or not. He might be a 5th year transfer guy.

So, we've come full circle from "K made a massive mistake by burning Baker's redshirt" to "Baker doesn't have a roster spot after this year." Those Super Hot Takes are sometimes a wee bit off, aren't they...

[Phredd3]

I've seen posts that say this is likely Baker's last year, regardless of if he wants to keep playing or not. He might be a 5th year transfer guy.

I thought those posts mostly said that *Baker* has said it is likely his last year, regardless, not that he wasn't welcome. I imagine the coaching transition, though, would help him reach that conclusion. Not that he has anything against Scheyer, but it would just add to the sense of closure, I'd think.

[CDu]

So, we've come full circle from "K made a massive mistake by burning Baker's redshirt" to "Baker doesn't have a roster spot after this year." Those Super Hot Takes are sometimes a wee bit off, aren't they...

To be fair, I don't know that this is a fair summary. I'm not sure that "massive mistake" was ever the claim. Just "unnecessarily wasteful". At least that was my thinking at the time, and I know some others as well.

And I'd STILL say that. Clearly they knew he wasn't going to make any real impact on that team, as evidenced by how little run he got right away. And unless they had massive clairvoyant foresight it would seem that the possible value of him having a 5th year (when he'd be clearly better than he was as a true freshman and perhaps on a team that needed him more) was more worthwhile.

[DavidBenAkiva]

I've seen posts that say this is likely Baker's last year, regardless of if he wants to keep playing or not. He might be a 5th year transfer guy.

I don't think anyone knows for sure. Maybe Baker doesn't, either. I haven't seen anything that definitely says this is his last year at Duke or that he is for sure going to stay.

[JasonEvans]

I don't think anyone knows for sure. Maybe Baker doesn't, either. I haven't seen anything that definitely says this is his last year at Duke or that he is for sure going to stay.

If only there was someone here who had, you know, actually spoken to Joey about it.

Oh wait... I'm here!

I've asked him about it twice and he gives me the impression that he truly has not decided anything. He seems (rightly) focused on this season and not really thinking about what comes next.

And I think one reason Joey is not decided is that he does not know how he will feel after this season is done. Factors that could play into his decision --

1) His fellow senior classmates will be mostly graduating and moving on. Does Joey want to stick around when many of his friends are gone? Even among his Duke teammates, it is likely that only small handful of the guys currently on the team will be returning, and they will most likely be guys younger than Joey like Blakes, Keels, and Roach.

2) What will his playing time look like this year? I don't think anyone expects Joey to start, but if he shoots the way we know he is capable of shooting it is not impossible to imagine him having a significant role off the bench at the 3 and even as a small-ball 4.

3) What will his playing time look like next year? Duke is likely to have freshmen contending for Joey's preferred positions next year. If he has a good year this year and breaks out a bit, it is not at all unfathomable that Joey projects as a starter next season.

4) How does Joey feel about the coaching change? Does the prospect of being Scheyer's first captain appeal to him?

5) What does Joey want to do next in life? Does he want to play pro ball somewhere? Does he want to maybe move into coaching? Does he want to pursue a career that has nothing to do with hoops?

It is easy to see why Joey would be undecided and we likely won't even have an inkling of the above answers for several months, at least.

[dukelifer]

If only there was someone here who had, you know, actually spoken to Joey about it.

Oh wait... I'm here!

I've asked him about it twice and he gives me the impression that he truly has not decided anything. He seems (rightly) focused on this season and not really thinking about what comes next.

And I think one reason Joey is not decided is that he does not know how he will feel after this season is done. Factors that could play into his decision --

1) His fellow senior classmates will be mostly graduating and moving on. Does Joey want to stick around when many of his friends are gone? Even among his Duke teammates, it is likely that only small handful of the guys currently on the team will be returning, and they will most likely be guys younger than Joey like Blakes, Keels, and Roach.

2) What will his playing time look like this year? I don't think anyone expects Joey to start, but if he shoots the way we know he is capable of shooting it is not impossible to imagine him having a significant role off the bench at the 3 and even as a small-ball 4.

3) What will his playing time look like next year? Duke is likely to have freshmen contending for Joey's preferred positions next year. If he has a good year this year and breaks out a bit, it is not at all unfathomable that Joey projects as a starter next season.

4) How does Joey feel about the coaching change? Does the prospect of being Scheyer's first captain appeal to him?

5) What does Joey want to do next in life? Does he want to play pro ball somewhere? Does he want to maybe move into coaching? Does he want to pursue a career that has nothing to do with hoops?

It is easy to see why Joey would be undecided and we likely won't even have an inkling of the above answers for several months, at least.

Joey is going to have a good season. The kid is due.

[budwom]

Seems to me that Joey is entitled to have this year before he states anything about next year. Not sure what the point is in asking him now, unless one happens to know how this season will go for him.

[TruBlu]

Joey’s staying depends on whether he wants to win one or two national championships.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

To be fair, I don't know that this is a fair summary. I'm not sure that "massive mistake" was ever the claim. Just "unnecessarily wasteful". At least that was my thinking at the time, and I know some others as well.

And I'd STILL say that. Clearly they knew he wasn't going to make any real impact on that team, as evidenced by how little run he got right away. And unless they had massive clairvoyant foresight it would seem that the possible value of him having a 5th year (when he'd be clearly better than he was as a true freshman and perhaps on a team that needed him more) was more worthwhile.

There were many many posters here bemoaning that decision. I don't believe I am over-stating it.

My only point was that it seemed incredibly silly to call it a mistake until the entire thing plays out. If Baker ends up leaving with a year of eligibility still on the table - perhaps it wasn't as big a mistake as folks made it out to be. There's other permutations I would say also qualify, but this seems the most likely at this particular juncture.

[Phredd3]

Joey’s staying depends on whether he wants to win one or two national championships.

And this, of course, is the correct answer.