The Cameron Crazies will have the opportunity to watch two future Blue Devils Saturday, as Cameron Indoor Stadium will play host to three games pitting some of the nation's best prep basketball teams and individuals.
Highlighting the day's games will be Duke recruits Luol Deng of Blair Academy (N.J.) and Kris Humphries of Hopkins (Minn.). Though they will not be playing against each other Saturday, each is expected to put on quite a show in their first playing appearances at Cameron.
"It's obviously a great thrill for our kids and for our program to come play in Cameron," Blair Academy head coach Joe Mantegna said. "It's one of the marquee games on the schedule this year."
Deng leads a talented group of players for Blair Academy, as they will come into Saturday's game boasting an impressive 12-1 record. Their first loss came January 8th against St. Patrick's (New Jersey) in a 70-68 nailbiter, a setback that should have Deng and his colleagues fired up for Saturday. That Deng could play better is scary, considering he poured in 31 points in the loss, three of which came with 8 seconds to play and pulled his team to within one point of the nation's fourth-ranked basketball team.
Blair Academy has failed to crack USA Today's national poll, but there is no arguing their potential because in addition to Deng, Blair Academy boasts another star in Illinois-bound Charlie Villanueva.
Their opponent Saturday, Millbrook High out of Raleigh, is 11-1 thanks in large part to future Demon Deacon, Cameron Stanley. Mantegna is unconcerned with the competition, however, asserting his confidence that his team will be ready to outperform Millbrook.
"I know they're very athletic," Mantegna said. "We're one of the top-ranked teams in the country as well, so we don't adjust too much to what other teams bring to the floor, we try to make them adjust to us."
Millbrook will certainly have to adjust to Deng when tip-off arrives at 6:30 p.m. The best high school player that will enroll in college this fall, Deng is as talented and hard-working as they come, and is blessed with size, speed, strength and plentiful ability.
"He's a very versatile player," Mantegna said. "We look to him to get the ball up the court, to guard the other team's best guy - it's almost silly how much we ask the kid to do."
Only Lebron James is considered a better prep prospect, and he is almost certain to forego his college career to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft this summer.
The nightcap is set to begin at 8:00 p.m., and will feature Humphries, a 6-foot-9 power player that has dramatically improved his inside and outside skills over the past year. He will lead his team, ranked as high as No. 10 in the national polls this season, against St. Anthony's (N.J.), the nation's No. 25 team and the alma mater of Duke All-American, Bobby Hurley.
The opening game, tipping off at 5:00 p.m., pits the nation's eleventh-ranked team, Montrose Christian (Md.), against East Chapel Hill. Montrose Christian is led by N.C. State-recruit Linas Kleiza.
This may be Kleiza's last chance to leave Cameron with a victory, and the first of many cherished memories for Deng and Humphries.
"The number one reason I'm coming to Duke is because of the family atmosphere," Deng said recently. "I'm a Dukie now."
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