Trajan Langdon, a 6-4 guard from Anchorage East High School in Alaska, will verbally commit today to become a member of the men's basketball team in 1994.
Langdon, rated the third best guard among this year's seniors by recruiting analysts, is expected to contact head coach Mike Krzyzewski by telephone today to make his verbal commitment to Duke.
Langdon's decision was cemented by his official visit to Duke over the weekend, coupled with Krzyzewski's recruiting trip to Alaska early last week.
"I enjoyed [the visit to Duke] a lot," Langdon said from his home in Alaska Sunday night. "I've been there a couple of times before, but I hadn't met a lot of students. They were all nice and very receptive [towards me]."
Even before this visit, Langdon was very familiar with the Blue Devils, having met last year's team in March. But this was his first opportunity to meet the newest members of the squad, the highly-touted Class of 1997.
Two of the freshmen, Jeff Capel and Joey Beard, served as Langdon's hosts for the weekend.
By selecting Duke, Langdon will have to turn down a scholarship offer from Stanford, his father's alma mater.
East High School coach Chuck White indicated on Saturday night that he was certain that Langdon would be in North Carolina for his collegiate career even though Langdon attended a number of Stanford's summer basketball camps.
"Before he became a nationwide recruit, I think [attending Stanford's camps] was a factor," White said from his home in Alaska. "Academics [at the two schools] are quite comparable. I think the basketball factor at Duke outweighs the basketball at Stanford."
Sought by a multitude of Division I programs, including defending national champion North Carolina, Langdon, who carries a 3.9 grade point average and scored over 1200 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, narrowed the field to two schools over the summer on the basis of the outstanding academic reputations at Duke and Stanford.
On the court, Langdon has led East to back-to-back Alaska state championships.
"He'll take the big shot, same as any other shot," White said. "He's just as good a kid as I've ever seen in 28 years of coaching."
The tone for Langdon's recruiting visit was set early. On Friday afternoon, Capel escorted him to the back corner of the Oak Room on West Campus for lunch.
The mood around the table was very relaxed, with Krzyzewski sitting at the head of the table and Langdon to his left, situated between Capel and senior Grant Hill.
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