Last fall the NCAA revamped its college basketball recruiting regulations. Now, college coaches are allowed to evaluate recruits during the month of April. The Duke coaching took advantage of the new rule change as they spent last week traveling all over the country to track their 2013 and 2014 targets.
Assistant coach Jeff Capel was in Dallas last week to visit Julius Randle—the second ranked player in the class of 2013 according to scout.com—and Duke commit Matt Jones. Randle and Jones both play on the Texas Titans AAU team.
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski started the evaluation period in Tennessee on Friday to watch Austin Nichols. Nichols is the fifth ranked center in the class of 2013 according to scout.com. The 6-foot-9 Memphis product has publicly praised the Blue Devil program in numerous interviews and he reportedly picked up an official scholarship offer from Duke over the weekend. Nichols will likely try to pay a visit to Durham in the coming weeks.
Krzyzewski then met up with assistants Jeff Capel and Steve Wojciechowski on Saturday to watch recruits playing in the first session of the Nike EYBL in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which featured the top Nike sponsored AAU teams in the country. Over the course of the weekend the coaching staff watched Jabari Parker, Jahlil Okafor, Randle, Jones, Anthony Barber, Allerick Freeman, Kennedy Meeks, Theo Pinson, JaQuel Richmond, Tyus Jones, Semi Oleyeje, Ishmail Wainright, Marcus Lee and Andrew Wiggins.
Freeman is a relatively new name on Duke’s recruiting radar. The North Carolina native is a powerful wing prospect at 6-foot-4, 185-pounds and is scout.com’s third-ranked shooting guard in the class of 2013 at the moment. According to a tweet from Andrew Slater of Blue Nation over the weekend, Freeman is down to five schools—Duke, Villanova, Kansas, Ohio State and UCLA.
Similarly, Duke has started to reach out to 2013 forward Semi Ojeleye, who is the 12th-ranked small forward in the class of 2013. Ojeleye possess a college-ready body that is packaged with considerable athleticism. The Ottawa, Kansas native is also considering Kansas, Kansas State, Stanford, UCLA, Wisconsin and Marquette, among others. At this point, the intensity of Duke’s interest in Ojeleye appears to be moderate.
And Lee—a 6-foot-9 power forward from Antoich, California—has reportedly picked up a scholarship offer from the Duke coaching staff. Lee is unranked now according to scout.com, however, his stock has skyrocketed recently after a strong showing in Minnesota. Lee is also an exceptional volleyball player, which has helped him develop superb leaping ability on the hardwood. After a breakout weekend with his AAU team, the Bay Area Hoosiers, Lee now reportedly holds over 30 scholarship offers, per a tweet by Clint Jackson of rivals.com. Duke, Kansas, Stanford and UCLA, among others are heavily involved.
Rodney Hood has not finalized a time to visit Duke yet. The Mississippi State transfer is also strongly considering Ohio State and Florida State, among others, but will be forced to sit out the 2012-13 season due to NCAA transfer rules.
Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg was fired Monday afternoon. His departure could put 2012 Hookie signee Montrezl Harrell back on the recruiting market, if he chooses to reopen his recruitment. Harrell is an athletic power forward with the ability to block shots and defend at a high level. The 6-foot-7 North Carolinian, who is the 89th-ranked player in the class of 2012 according to ESPN, drew high remarks from recruiting analysts with his MVP performance in the Jordan Brand Classic regional. It’s unknown at this point if Duke will pursue Harrell or if he’ll decide to reopen his recruitment, but the situation has college basketball coaches' and fans' attention. Harrell would undoubtedly bring some much needed size, length, energy and defensive tenacity to the Blue Devils' lineup next season.
According to Adam Rowe of Duke Hoop Blog, the Duke coaches have also made contact with Przemek Karnowski, a 7-foot-1 center from Poland. Karnowski reportedly will play college basketball in the states and is being heavily recruited by Kansas and a flurry of PAC 12 schools. It remains to be seen if Karnowski will be academically eligible to compete in the NCAA.
Tony Parker ended his long recruitment Monday evening when he signed with UCLA over Duke, Ohio State, and Georgia. Parker gives Bruin head coach Ben Howland a bonafide top-5 2012 recruiting class with Shabazz Muhammad, Kyle Anderson and Jordan Adams also heading to Westwood.
The Duke coaching staff will continue its busy haul on the recruiting trail this weekend for the second evaluation period. Session two of the Nike EYBL will take place in Hampton, Virginia and a contingent of the Blue Devil coaches will be in attendance. Kansas City, Atlanta and Little Rock will also host major AAU tournaments this weekend.
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