With three highly touted commitments in place for the recruiting class of 2006, Duke’s coaching staff can afford to go after its “reach” prospect—the top-rated power forward in the country.
Brandan Wright, a 6-foot-10 prospect out of Brentwood, Tenn., is a lanky inside-outside threat with incredible athleticism and surprisingly polished skills. The lefty is very active on the boards and with the 7-foot-3 wingspan he boasts, is an excellent shot blocker.
The rising senior has already enjoyed a tremendous high school career at Brentwood Academy. He has led his school to three straight state championships—Brentwood Academy had never won a state title before Brandan’s freshman year—and was named Tennessee’s Mr. Basketball the last two years. As a junior he averaged 20.3 points, 9.1 rebounds, 4.4 blocks and shot the ball at a 63 percent clip from the field.
“He can do so much, he’s just very skilled,” said George Pitts, Wright’s high school coach. “He passes the ball extremely well and he’s very unselfish.”
Not surprisingly, Wright, who has drawn comparisons to former Georgia Tech star Chris Bosh, has garnered much attention from top programs. Wright has enough potential that he would likely have been a high draft choice had he been able to skip college, but his class is the first to be affected by the newly implemented NBA age limit increase. Under the new rules a player must be at least 19 and wait one year after his class graduates from high school before he can enter the draft.
Wright has reportedly narrowed his top choices down to Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina but has not publicly declared a favorite. He still says a number of other schools are in the running. Several sources have reported that the top three schools have offered the two-time Tennessee Mr. Basketball a scholarship.
The main concern about Wright is his strength—he packs only 200 pounds onto his thin frame. Pitts said Wright has put on more than 20 pounds over the past three years, but concedes that he must continue to gain strength to prevent getting pushed off the block in college.
“Brandan is a smart kid and he knows that he needs to get stronger for the next level,” Pitts said. “It may take a couple of years, but he is a hard worker and he has taken some big strides here.”
If Wright does put on the muscle needed and improves his perimeter shot and ball-handling, he could be a premier all-around threat—an extremely rare weapon in the college game.
Despite signing five recruits for the recruiting class of 2005 and already receiving verbal commitments from three members of the class of 2006, Duke is able to offer Wright a scholarship because the five-eight rule was rescinded last year by the NCAA. That bylaw limited programs from offering more than five scholarships per year and eight over a two-year period, but now schools can offer as many as they have available. Duke will have at least four scholarships available for the recruiting class of 2006 because of this year’s large senior class.
Should he decide to attend Duke, Wright would have the chance to develop alongside frontcourt mates ’05 signees Eric Boateng and Josh McRoberts, as well as verbal commit and fellow classmate Brian Zoubek. If McRoberts, however, decides to leave school for the NBA after one year—as some scouts have projected he might—Wright’s status will quickly go from luxury to necessity.
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