Noel and Muhammad to begin taking official visits

After months of speculation and rumors, Nerlens Noel, a lanky 6-foot-10 shot blocking machine, sent shockwaves across the college basketball recruiting landscape when he announced his decision to reclassify last week. Noel has now surpassed Shabazz Muhammad for the top ranking in the senior class according to ESPN.

As reported last week, Duke has reached out to Noel, although Duke is currently thought to be a long shot to land the best shot blocker in high school basketball. Many recruiting analysts feel that Noel’s recruitment will come down to Syracuse and Kentucky. Kentucky head coach John Calipari has spent a considerable amount of time in the Northeast recruiting Noel and his teammate Wayne Seldon, the top-ranked shooting guard in the class of 2014. Similarly, Syracuse has been involved with Noel for quite some time due to their proximity to Noel’s hometown of Tilton, New Hampshire.

Noel will unofficially visit Providence this week and officially visit Kentucky on February 17th and 18th, according to CBS’s Jeff Goodman. There is speculation that Jim Calhoun’s health concerns will adversely affect Connecticut in their pursuit of Noel.

The class of 2012’s other transcendent talent, Shabazz Muhammad, was supposed to officially visit Arizona for their game against Washington on January 28th, but was forced to cancel due to “unusual circumstances” according to nationofblue.com. Despite online rumors indicating Muhammad and Tony Parker are favoring UCLA, Muhammad’s father, Ron Holmes, has indicated that there are no favorites in his son’s recruitment. Interestingly, Muhammad’s recruitment has taken multiple twists. Early in his junior year, North Carolina was thought to be the favorite to land Muhammad. Since then, North Carolina has removed themselves from the recruitment altogether. Through the spring and summer of 2011, UCLA was considered the frontrunner, until the Bruins began their tumultuous 2011-12 season. Now, Kentucky is the perceived team to beat. John Calipari was in Las Vegas on Wednesday to watch Muhammad. In an interview with scout.com, Muhammad says he will likely take an official visit to Kansas when they host Missouri on February 25th. The Blue Devils will have a prime opportunity to make one final sales pitch to the 6-foot-6 lefty wing as he officially visits for the Duke North Carolina game on March 3^rd.

Another Duke 2012 target, Amile Jefferson, has decided to put his recruitment on hold until his high school basketball season is over. Despite Duke’s late re-entry to Jefferson’s recruitment, the Blue Devils and North Carolina State are considered the frontrunners.

Rasheed Sulaimon has registered his two best scoring outputs of the season recently. The five-star shooting guard scored 40 and 41 points respectively in two wins for Strake Jesuit. Currently, Sulaimon is averaging 27.8 points per game and Strake Jesuit is 22-3 according to Chad Lykins of dukehoopblog.com.

According to ISU recruiting info, the Blue Devil coaching staff has officially offered a scholarship to 2014-point guard Tyus Jones of Apple Valley, Minnesota. Jones and Jahlil Okafor are the only players in the class that hold a scholarship offer from Duke at this time. Since this summer, it has been rumored that Mike Krzyzewski has been enamored with Jones as a point guard. Though still very early, Ohio State, Michigan State and Minnesota are also heavily involved in the five star point guard’s recruitment.

According to his twitter account, North Carolina will host 2014 five star wing and Duke target, Theo Pinson, Wednesday night as they battle Duke. Pinson is also set to unofficially visit Duke when they host North Carolina on March 3rd.