Duke is looking to take a big step toward improving its future by obtaining a verbal commitment from Oregon's Kyle Singler to become a Blue Devil in 2007.
Singler is rated the top small forward and fourth best prospect overall in the recruiting class of 2007 by scout.com. The 6-foot-8 forward, who wears No. 33 in honor of Larry Bird, can play inside and outside, with three-point range on his jumper and a good feel for the game.
"[Singler's] one of the guys who does all the little things basketball-wise," said Dave Telep, the national editor of scout.com. "At the end of the day, he's one of those guys that every college coach in America dreams about coaching because he's got such a good basketball IQ that the game almost comes easy to him."
Singler averaged 19 points and eight rebounds per game as a junior in leading South Medford High School to the Southern Oregon Conference Championship in 2006.
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski was scheduled to visit Singler at his home in Oregon last night, and the recruit will visit Duke September 22-23.
The Blue Devils are competing for Singler's services with Kansas, Washington, UCLA and Arizona. He has already visited UCLA and Washington and will travel to Arizona next week and Kansas in mid-October.
"The behind-the-scenes chatter for the last few months is clearly that people feel that the pendulum has swung toward Duke, and that they're the team that has to be beat to get him," Telep said.
If Singler decides to play his collegiate career at Cameron, he will join small forward Taylor King from California and point guard Nolan Smith of Virginia, both scout.com four-star recruits that have already committed to Duke.
Krzyzewski also visited West Virginia power forward Patrick Patterson Tuesday. Patterson, a five-star recruit on scout.com, will visit Duke the last weekend in September.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.