Tag: duke basketball recruiting

Duke basketball makes the top eight for 2025 guard Acaden Lewis

Lewis, a four-star combo guard from the Class of 2025, will decide between Duke and seven other schools for his commitment.

Duke basketball remains in the mix for 2025 guard Acaden Lewis.

The four-star combo guard released his top eight schools on Wednesday morning, and the Blue Devils kept themselves in the race for his commitment.

Head coach Jon Scheyer will need to beat out some stiff competition for the Washington, D.C., native, however. Lewis also included North Carolina, Connecticut, Kentucky, Syracuse, Michigan, Tennessee, and Auburn among his finalists.

According to the Wednesday report from 247Sports’ Dushawn London, Lewis plans to visit each of these eight schools before making a decision in November around the early signing period.

London’s report also made Lewis’s top priority very clear.

“I want to play,” Lewis said. “I’m not there to sit behind a bunch of people they have at the guard spot…NIL is cool but my main focus is playing and being somewhere where I think I’ll be comfortable, where I belong.”

Lewis said his relationship with the head coach will also be a point of emphasis in his recruiting as well.

As of Wednesday afternoon, 247Sports ranks Lewis as the 31st-ranked prospect in the class. He stands 6-foot-2 and weighs in at 170 pounds.

Duke offers 2025 CG Acaden Lewis

Duke offers 2025 CG Acaden Lewis.

2025 will be a massive year for Jon Scheyer, no matter what happens for him and his program in 2024. The hope is that, by this time next year, the Blue Devils will be figuring out how to repeat as national champions if we work under the assumption that their efforts to surround generational prospect Cooper Flagg with a championship-caliber team were indeed successful.

Even without that assumption, we know a few almost undoubtedly true things. Duke will lose at least four players from this year’s roster. Five, considering this will likely be junior Tyrese Proctor’s last year as a Duke Blue Devil.

With the departure of key players, Duke will again face a significant challenge in rebuilding the team to maintain its competitive edge next year.

Assuming Proctor leaves alongside Sion James, who only has one year of eligibility remaining, Duke will need actual ball handlers on next year’s team. It’s too far out to know who will be available via the transfer portal, so it makes sense why Duke recently offered 2025 combo guard Acaden Lewis.

Lewis is ranked as the 34th-best prospect in 247Sports player rankings for the class of 2025. He’s ranked nationally as the sixth-best combo guard and the number-one player from Washington, D.C.

 

In the film, you see a 6-foot-3 guard who thrives on using ball screens to get downhill, where he can finish with either hand. He is quite proficient in using mid-range jump shots or floaters to score. He uses pace to make defenders uneasy.

He has an effortless release and range. He also showcased the ability to be a proficient spot-up shooter. He has the versatility that Scheyer covets and could be a fit either playing on or off the ball in Durham.

He is being recruited heavily by UNC, Maryland, Georgetown, Kentucky, and Virginia Tech.

2025 Duke basketball target Shelton Henderson schedules Duke official visit, per report

Shelton Henderson, a top-30 prospect in the Class of 2025, will reportedly take a visit with the Duke basketball program in September.

The Duke basketball program will host one of its 2025 targets this fall.

According to a Thursday report from League Ready’s Sam Kayser, Shelton Henderson will take an official visit with the Blue Devils from September 27-29.

Henderson, the 19th-ranked recruit in the class in 247Sports’ rankings and a top-five small forward in his year, posted through social media that the Blue Devils offered him on June 11. The 6-foot-6 Texas native has earned praise for his athleticism and ceiling, and 247Sports recruiting analyst Brandon Jenkins wrote that he “arguably has the best long-term tools in the national class” in his scouting report.

Henderson will also take a visit with Louisville, another ACC power that is undergoing a coaching change after a disastrous 2023-24 season, about a month earlier. His offer list also includes LSU, Texas, Houston, Texas A&M, and DePaul.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer just welcomed his six freshmen from the 2024 recruiting class to Durham earlier this week, but the Blue Devils don’t have a 2025 commit on the board yet.

Duke basketball reportedly reaches out to 2026 Paul VI star

After landing two commitments from Paul VI in the 2024 recruiting class, Jon Scheyer is reportedly talking to a 2026 star from the school.

Duke basketball might pursue yet another basketball star from Paul VI Catholic High School in Virginia.

According to a Saturday report from Colby Giacubeno, the Blue Devils reached out to Jordan Smith Jr. from the Class of 2026.

Smith, a shooting guard, is a five-star prospect in the 247Sports Composite Ranking. One of the top 15 players in his year, the 6-foot-3 guard is the third-ranked player at his position in the class.

Duke coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] already has roots at Paul VI in just a few short years. Duke’s vaunted 2024 recruiting class features two of Smith’s former teammates, center [autotag]Patrick Ngongba II[/autotag] and guard [autotag]Darren Harris[/autotag].

The trio helped lead Paul VI to the national final against Montverde Academy (the school of [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], another Duke signee and the top-ranked player in the country).

Smith also told Giacubeno he’d heard from schools like Georgetown, Louisville, Miami, Michigan State, Old Dominion, and Syracuse since the recruiting window opened up.

Scheyer has his eyes on the future with the news coming days after Duke offered Shelton Henderson from the Class of 2025.

Cooper Flagg ends 2024 rankings as the consensus top men’s basketball prospect

With ESPN releasing its final men’s basketball recruiting rankings on Thursday, Cooper Flagg earned his third top spot in three different rankings.

For the third straight time in the 2024 recruiting cycle, [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] ended at the top of the men’s basketball rankings.

ESPN released its final 2024 men’s college basketball rankings on Thursday, and Flagg ended the cycle as the top-ranked player in the class despite a late push from Rutgers commit Ace Bailey.

“On his own, Flagg would be enough to give Duke a shot at the top class,” Jeff Borzello wrote about the Blue Devils earning the top team spot in the class.

Flagg, the presumed top pick in the 2025 NBA draft, also finished atop the On3 basketball rankings and the final 247Sports basketball rankings, giving the 6-foot-9 forward the sweep of the three biggest rating sites in the sport. The prestige comes on the heels of an undefeated senior season at Montverde Academy which culminated in a Chipotle Nationals title.

The most hyped Duke basketball player in years will get to begin his Blue Devils career in the fall alongside five other top-30 prospects in the ESPN class.

Duke basketball finishes with the No. 1 spot in ESPN’s final 2024 recruiting rankings

The Blue Devils’ decorated 2024 recruiting class earned another accolade on Thursday with the top spot in the final ESPN rankings.

Duke basketball’s esteemed 2024 recruiting class earned another award on Thursday when the Blue Devils finished atop the final ESPN men’s basketball rankings.

[autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], the star commit and the presumed top pick in the 2025 NBA draft, led the way as the top overall player in the class. He also finished as the best overall player in both the On3 recruiting rankings and the final 247Sports rankings.

“On his own, Flagg would be enough to give Duke a shot at the top class,” ESPN’s Jeff Borzello wrote.

However, the Blue Devils also added five other freshmen as Jon Scheyer rebuilds his 2024-25 roster. All of Duke’s five signees in the rankings finished inside the top 30 in ESPN’s individual player ratings.

Rutgers, Alabama, and Baylor followed in succession to continue out the rankings. The next-best team in the ACC, North Carolina, finished fifth, and the Miami Hurricanes finished ninth. Notre Dame (19th) and Syracuse (22nd) also appeared in the top 25.

The freshman, combined with transfers like Tulane’s Sion James, Syracuse’s Maliq Brown, and Purdue’s Mason Gillis, make the Blue Devils one of the most popular preseason title favorites for the 2024-25 season.

 

Duke offers Shelton Henderson, a four-star 2025 forward

Shelton Henderson, a four-star freshman in the Class of 2025, said on social media that the Blue Devils offered him a scholarship.

The 2024 Duke basketball recruiting class has only been on campus for a few days yet, but head coach Jon Scheyer already has an eye on 2025.

Shelton Henderson, a four-star forward from the Class of 2025, announced that the Blue Devils extended a scholarship offer to him through social media on Tuesday.

Henderson, a 6-foot-6 product of Bellaire High School in Texas, currently ranks as 247Sports’ 49th-ranked player in the cycle. He’s even higher on the site’s Composite Rankings, where he is the 41st overall player.

“Henderson is a physical specimen from the wing position who arguably has the best long-term tools in the national class,” 247Sports recruiting analyst Brandon Jenkins wrote in the site’s scouting report. “He operates as a playmaking wing who is loaded with intangibles that are off the charts…Henderson has the build to overpower defenders on his drive at the collegiate level and should draw fouls with ease when looking to drive the basketball.”

Last season with Bellaire, Henderson averaged 21.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, leading the Cardinals in both categories. He added 3.9 assists, 2.9 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game, according to MaxPreps.

The Blue Devils don’t yet have a commitment for the 2025 recruiting class.

Jon Scheyer details his ideal offseason path on a new episode of The Brotherhood Podcast

This Duke basketball offseason contained more turmoil than most with 10 departures, but head coach Jon Scheyer expanded upon his ideal summer this week.

Duke basketball fans enjoyed(?) a particularly tumultuous offseason this spring and summer. With 10 players leaving for either the professional world or a different school, six members of the incoming recruiting class, and four incoming transfers, the Blue Devils bring back two contributors from last season.

Head coach Jon Scheyer, obviously, doesn’t want every offseason to look quite like that.

In a new episode of The Brotherhood Podcast published on Tuesday, Scheyer sat down with former Duke player Jay Bilas and talked about what a perfect offseason looks like in the transfer portal era.

“Going forward, it’s probably not going to be a class of six freshmen,” Scheyer told Bilas. “More so four, or three, or maybe the (maximum) would be five.”

“Ideally, you have three to five players returning,” he continued. “Although some years it may be two, some years it could be six. And then one or two transfers.”

Scheyer said this process would be Duke’s plan going forward, so the Cameron Crazies might get a glimpse of that after the 2024-25 season.

Top 2025 women’s basketball prospect includes Duke in her final three options

Lara Somfai, a top-40 women’s basketball prospect in the 2025 recruiting class, will decide between Stanford, UConn, and the Blue Devils.

According to a Saturday report from 247Sports’ Dushawn London, the Blue Devils remain in contention for a top 2025 women’s basketball talent.

Lara Somfai, a four-star prospect, shared with London that she is deciding between the Blue Devils, Stanford, and the Connecticut Huskies.

Somfai, despite hailing from Australia, plays for IMG Academy in Florida. A 6-foot-4 forward, she is the 33rd overall prospect in the 2025 HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings.

Somfai didn’t guarantee she’ll play for one of the three programs, saying she could let more schools in the mix if she doesn’t feel right, but the Blue Devils, Huskies, and Cardinal have her attention as of now.

London’s article added that Somfai already visited the Huskies, and she’ll visit both of the other two programs in contention before making any decisions on her commitment.

Should Kara Lawson land Somfai, she would be the first top-60 commit in Duke’s 2025 class. Only a third of those recruits have committed to a school, however, so the Blue Devils have time to build a powerful class.