Before the 2008-2009 season even begins, Duke's future is looking bright, largely because its recent past is golden.
Head coach Mike Krzyzewski's gold medal from the Beijing Olympics has become one of the biggest recruiting tools in the nation, and the Blue Devils are starting to reap some of the benefits.
Class of 2009 forward Ryan Kelly, a five-star recruit, recently committed to Duke, joining fellow North Carolinian Mason Plumlee in the Blue Devils' incoming freshman corps. Duke also got commitments from Class of 2010 stars Tyler Thornton and Josh Hairston Sept. 13.
The effects of the gold medal remain to be seen in upcoming years, but it has become clear that the Olympic win can't do anything but help Duke in recruiting.
"What [the gold medal] does is it just gives you an incredible conversation piece and puts Coach K on a different respect level than anybody else that's going to come get in front of [the recruit]," said Dave Telep, scout.com's national recruiting director. "It will be the centerpiece of what guys talk about on TV when they're doing Duke broadcasts this year, and it will eventually trickle down into [the Classes of 2010, 2011 and 2012]."
Krzyzewski echoed that sentiment, believing the success in Beijing will translate more with classes down the road.
"Some people will look at things superficially and say we got some commitments right after [the Olympics] and say, 'Boy, that really resonated.' My feeling is we would've gotten those kids anyway," Krzyzewski said. "Now that may help us in the future, but immediately, I don't think that helped. It didn't hurt, but that wasn't the defining thing in getting those kids."
Kelly, a 6-foot-10 power forward out of Raleigh, chose Duke after visiting Georgetown, Wake Forest and Vanderbilt. Scout.com's No. 11 prospect also made multiple unofficial visits to rival North Carolina before committing to the Blue Devils.
Kelly has a versatile offensive game with range on his jump shot and a sneaky post game.
"For me personally, it's one of the more undercelebrated commitments of the year. The big reason is, from a recruiting perspective, you have to pay attention when guys get real good real fast," Telep said. "[Kelly's] made tremendous strides, and every time I go to see him, he gets better. I can't say that about everybody we have in our top 25."
Kelly will join Plumlee in the Duke frontcourt next season. Plumlee, the brother of current Blue Devil Miles Plumlee, is another local big man that hopes to fortify Duke's interior. The two already gained some experience with one another, playing for the United States Under-18 National Team last summer.
Telep noted that landing two key players from North Carolina is a bit of a change for Krzyzewski and bodes well for the future.
Duke has no North Carolina natives on the team right now. Miles Plumlee, an Indiana product, played for The Christ School in Arden, N.C.
"Think about this: Everyone talks about how many players the state of North Carolina has in the Class of 2009, how many it will have in 2010 and how many it will have in 2011," Telep said. "Duke, which typically hasn't been mining the talents of the state, will now sign two of the three best players from the state of North Carolina in 2009. So they're starting to crank up their presence in a state that has a high number of high-major prospects."
The Blue Devils' biggest target from the Class of 2009, however, remains uncommitted. Combo guard Kenny Boynton, a prolific scorer out of Plantation, Fla., could be the final piece to a championship puzzle.
"I believe Kenny Boynton is one of the few guys in this class who you can look at and say, 'If that guy goes to one of a handful of places, they have a legitimate opportunity to win a national championship,'" Telep said. "I think he's that much of a game-changer in terms of how he's wired, who he is as a player and how he enacts winning."
It appears Boynton has narrowed his choices down to Duke and Florida, although he will visit Texas the first week of November. That falls right between his official visits to Gainesville this weekend and Durham Nov. 8.
Class of 2010 five-star Harrison Barnes, the top-ranked small forward in his class, is also slated to visit Duke this weekend.
The Blue Devils have already received three commitments from the Class of 2010, with Thornton and Hairston joining sharpshooting guard Andre Dawkins. Thornton, a point guard out of Washington, D.C., is a natural leader on the floor, while the 6-foot-8 Hairston is an athletic wing player that can switch between small and power forward.
Having three commitments this early from the Class of 2010 is another part of the recruiting evolution at Duke and around the nation.
"It's par for the course in college basketball. It's unusual at Duke," Telep said of the early commitments, adding that coaches are going after younger players more aggressively in recent years.
One of those coaches the Blue Devils will be competing against on the recruiting trail is former associate head coach Johnny Dawkins, now the head man at Stanford. Dawkins' departure shouldn't harm Duke's recruiting too much, as the other assistants and the newly hired Nate James will reshuffle to replace him.
"[James is] learning everything," Krzyzewski said. "He was campaigning in the month of September, going all over not so much to recruit a specific guy but to meet a lot of people across the country that have good programs just to let them know he was there.
"He needs to get all the guys who aren't going to come here because of me being the Olympic coach to come here."
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