With less than a month till the start of college basketball, Duke is set to host some of its top recruits for Countdown to Craziness. Duke’s lone commit for 2012 thus far, Rasheed Sulaimon, is set to attend, marking Sulaimon’s first visit to campus since his commitment in March.
One of the top shooting guards in the class of 2013, Matt Jones, will be in attendance for Countdown to Craziness as well. Jones received an offer from the Duke staff after a strong summer on the AUU circuit. The 6-foot-4 Texas native is a pure shooter who has been compared to Andre Dawkins. Jones is also AAU teammates with Julius Randle, another prospect coveted by the Blue Devils. According to Randle’s blog on ESPNHS, Randle was going to attend Countdown to Craziness with Jones, but was forced to cancel due to scheduling conflicts with his high school’s homecoming. Randle is expected to visit for the Duke-Penn game in early January while his high school team plays in a tournament in South Carolina.
According to an interview done by basketballelite.com, Duke will also host one of the top point guards in 2014, JaQuel Richmond, for Countdown to Craziness. Richmond is a 6-foot-1 guard from Greensboro, NC who is high school teammates with another 2014 Duke target, Theo Pinson. Both Richmond and Pinson play on the CP3 AAU team.
In other news:
Alex Poythress, a five-star, 6-foot-8 wing from Tennessee, has cut Duke from his school list, according to ESPN’s Dave Telep. Poythress will decide between Kentucky, Florida, Vanderbilt and Memphis. The news is surprising considering that Poythress was supposed to take an official visit to Duke on October 28th with his AAU teammate, Tony Parker. The reasoning behind Poythress’ decision could stem from Duke’s depth at the wing next year—even without Poythress, Duke will likely have Alex Murphy, Michael Gbinije and Andre Dawkins, while the team continues to recruit fellow 2012 wing Shabazz Muhammad. Furthermore, Duke is considered to be in good shape with 2013 standout Jabari Parker, who also plays on the wing.
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