With many of the nation's top high school basketball players participating in this year's Nike Peach Jam—one of the premier tournaments of the AAU basketball season— all eyes in the recruiting world this past week were on the Riverview Activities Center in North Augusta, S.C.
But perhaps no team had a more successful week of recruiting than the Blue Devils.
Duke made its first big splash of the Class of 2016 when it secured a commitment from five-star prospect Jayson Tatum Sunday. If this weekend was any indication, Blue Devils fans got quite the talent in the 6-8 swingman. Tatum averaged 25.1 points along with 7.9 rebounds in the tournament and put his talents on display against top-ranked senior and close friend Harry Giles of Team CP3 in the semifinals. In the semifinal game, the St. Louis native led his Eagles with 28 points and sparked a furious comeback from 14-down at halftime to escape with a 74-73 victory. Despite being overmatched in a 104-77 loss in the championship game to the Georgia Stars, the future Blue Devil had another strong game scoring 24 points, including a perfect 12-of-12 from the charity stripe.
With Tatum on board, the Duke coaching staff will now turn its focus to Giles. Even though his tournament ended with a heart-breaking defeat at the buzzer, Giles had an impressive weekend with averages of 17.2 points and 11.5 rebounds per game. The versatile forward demonstrated his unique ability to dominate the game on both sides of the ball and was almost unstoppable near the basket.
According to his father, the Winston-Salem, N.C., native will make his college decision near the start of the college basketball season in November. A package deal between Tatum and Giles has been discussed extensively by the two—who have spoken about their dream of winning a college championship. With Tatum now committed to the Blue Devils, many believe that it is only a matter of time before Giles follows suit and commits to Duke.
In recent weeks, five-star point guard Frank Jackson has emerged as a major Blue Devils target in the Class of 2016. Jackson played at the Adidas Uprising Event this past weekend with his AAU team. Although Jackson’s team failed to make it out of pool play, Jackson himself turned in a strong performance averaging 24.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. With Dennis Smith Jr.—the top-point guard in the Class of 2016—slipping from the picture, it appears that Duke now envisions Jackson as being the playmaking point guard to complement the dream duo of Giles and Tatum.
One target that seems to be gaining steam on the recruiting trail is center Marques Bolden—the top-ranked center and No.15 prospect overall in the 2016 ESPN 100 The Dallas native attends DeSoto high school—the alma mater of current Blue Devils forward Matt Jones. At Peach Jam, Bolden’s ProSkills team failed to make it out of pool play with the center averaging just 13.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Despite his struggles this weekend, Bolden's size at 6-foot-10 and 236 pounds makes him an intriguing prospect that the Blue Devils will continue to monitor going forward.
Looking ahead to the Class of 2017, it appears that the early favorite for Duke’s big man target in the class will be center Wendell Carter. The junior's Georgia Stars emerged as champions of the tournament after a come-from-behind win against Team Takeover in the semifinal and a dominant championship performance against the St. Louis Eagles Sunday. Carter—who finished the tournament averaging 14.7 points and 7.4 rebounds per game—has previously been in talks with 2017 guard Gary Trent Jr. about a potential package deal to Duke.
Along with Carter, two other priority targets for the Blue Devils in the Class of 2017 are guard Trae Young and forward Michael Porter Jr. The duo plays for the AAU team Mokan Elite, which failed to make it out of pool play this weekend at 2-3. But, the team's struggles had little to do with the two stars. Both Young and Porter Jr averaged 20.0 points per contest and looked comfortable on the floor against their tough opponents.
Although it is early to project commitments for the junior class, rumors of a potential package of Young and Porter Jr. have already begun to emerge. Combined with the talks between Trent Jr. and Carter, Duke could potentially be targeting a massive four-player package in the Class of 2017.
That’s all for this week’s recruiting roundup. Be sure to stay with the Blue Zone for all your recruiting news.
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