Four big questions for Duke

BCH recruiting director Clint Jackson offers his take on four looming basketball recruiting questions for Duke this season.

Mackenzie Mgbako official visit photo.

Jon Scheyer and the Duke staff have great momentum on the recruiting trail going into the college basketball season. They’ve already locked up four incredible commitments for the 2022 class, and have secured an elite, pass-first point guard in the class of 2023 in Caleb Foster. But here are some lingering recruiting questions that loom as the season is about to begin.

Will Caleb Foster potentially reclassify?

Rumors have been circulating for months about the 6-foot-5 point guard at Oak Hill Academy on whether he’d potentially reclass up and come in with Dereck Lively II, Kyle Filipowski, Dariq Whitehead and Jaden Schutt. But when we spoke to his father, openly and candidly, his father seemed pretty set on letting his son play both years of his final two high school seasons.

So, for now, unless something has changed, I see Foster being the key to the junior class. We do know for a fact that he’s in close contact with some of the other juniors with offers from Duke, such as Mackenzie Mgbako and GG Jackson. And by getting that involved with who he wants to be his classmates in Durham, that sounds like someone pretty locked in.

Can Duke close a Brewster Academy kid from the New England region?

The Blue Devils have recruited from the area before, but they don’t have a particularly great close ratio with the kids from the New England Prep League.

Mitch McGary was a kid that played for Brewster years ago that Duke went hard after, but the 6-foot-9 power forward eventually chose Michigan.

Alex Murphy was from the region and Coach K earned his commitment, but he eventually left Durham to transfer to Florida.

Generally speaking, Duke doesn’t recruit a ton of kids from the northeast region and when they have, they haven’t had great results. So with the two new offers out to Matas Buzelis and Taylor Bol Bowen, it’s clear that Scheyer has his sights set on the two versatile forwards from Jason Smith’s program. If history has taught us anything, it’s that Duke will need a breakthrough recruit to establish itself in the region.

Chris Carrawell, Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer watch GG Jackson in an open gym last month.

Can Duke win GG Jackson over North Carolina?

This right here is the next UNC versus Duke battle. This one, I have a feeling, will be the next blood bath.

North Carolina REALLY wants Jackson. Duke also REALLY wants Jackson. It may be the first major Hubert Davis versus Jon Scheyer recruiting battle. Move over Harrison Barnes, Zion Williamson and Shane Battier, which were all major Duke/Carolina recruiting battles. This athletic and versatile specimen from the land of mustard-based BBQ could evolve into an explosive recruiting battle for the ages.

UNC hooked Jackson for their midnight event and he’s scheduled official visits to both schools. Certainly South Carolina, NC State, Georgetown and plenty of other power schools in the region will be after the brute forward with perimeter skills and a physical presence on the glass. But this could come down to an old Tobacco Road Slugfest. Pay attention to this one folks.

How many players will Duke sign in the ’23 class?

It’s dang near impossible to give an accurate answer to this question right now, but Duke has offered six guys from the class so far: Foster, Mgbako, Jackson, Buzelis, Bol Bowen and Jared McCain.

Aside from Foster, who is a true point guard, all of the rest are long, versatile guys who can play all over the floor. McCain, from California, is a combo-guard. Based on the fact that they’ll lose some kids early to the NBA and adding a potential variable of a transfer, due to the transfer portal explosion over the last two years, it’s likely that Duke will need at least five from the class.

Check back in with us in a couple of months when we can see how the new freshmen are doing, and we may have to edit that number.