Credit Vicki Krapohl with her first Duke assist.
The 5-foot-4 Mt. Pleasant, Mich. guard became the first member of Gail Goestenkors' recruiting class last April and she's already scoring points for Goestenkors, helping to bring longtime friend Crystal White into the Duke fold as the second member of the 2004 recruiting class.
"We had talked about [both going to Duke] earlier," said White, who is ranked the sixth-best player in the talent-heavy state of Michigan. "She knew [I was coming] earlier, but I didn't want her to let other people know about it yet. We definitely influenced each other in deciding to come."
White, a 6-4 center from Mt. Clemens High School in Mt. Clemens, Mich., committed to the Blue Devils three days ago, following her official visit to the campus last weekend.
Although White said she had all but decided on Duke weeks ago, she wanted to wait until after she met the team to make a commitment.
"I really enjoyed myself; I was treated just like family," she said. "Everyone got along; I could relate very well, so I went ahead and made my verbal [commitment] and that took a lot of pressure off."
White's original list of candidates was a roll call of college basketball's elite-Georgia, Duke, North Carolina, Virginia and Connecticut-but she quickly whittled her choices down to the Blue Devils and the Bulldogs, two teams that last went head-to-head in Duke's Final Four victory last March.
And the deciding margin was an adage as familiar to Duke basketball as Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"The main reason I picked Duke was the academics," White said. "A lot of people try to put athletics in front of academics, but [Goestenkors] puts academics in front of athletics. She's very proud of that."
An inside force with the ability to run the floor, White should give Goestenkors an athletic shotblocker in the middle, something absent from recent Blue Devil lineups.
White averaged 14 points and 10 rebounds last season and was named an All-East Michigan performer.
Goestenkors remains on the recruiting trail.
Rometra Craig, the daughter of former NFL star Roger Craig, has scheduled an official visit, though the date has yet to be set. Other potential targets include Nicole Powell, Ann O'Neil, and Iciss Tillis.
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