Nerlens Noel—the No. 1-ranked high school senior in the ESPNU Top 100—spoke with Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski over the phone Thursday night, signaling a push from the Blue Devils into the recruitment of the elite prospect. The conversation came one day after the 6-foot-10 center reclassified from the class of 2013 to 2012.
ESPN high school basketball editor Jason Jordan reported the news on Twitter earlier this afternoon. He did not provide any details about the content of the phone call other than to say that Noel and Krzyzewski had a "good talk."
Noel also published his first in a series of blog posts for ESPN this morning, saying that he has no favorites and doesn't "really have an 'official' list" of schools he's considering. Nonetheless, he provided the names of the schools he plans to visit officially over the next eight weeks: Florida, Georgetown, Kentucky and North Carolina. Noel will head to Syracuse Feb. 11 but hasn't decided whether the visit will be official. He also has scholarship offers from Providence and Connecticut.
Although the explosive shot blocker did not include Duke in that list of schools, he indicated in his blog post that the Blue Devils remain on his radar. Rasheed Sulaimon (Duke's lone class of 2012 commitment) reached out to Noel after he reclassified and told him to come join the five-star shooting guard in Durham. "That's definitely something I would look at," Noel said of Sulaimon's pitch.
Duke would no doubt love to see the dominant defender with the Kid 'n Play haircut patrolling the lane in Cameron next season.With the impending graduation of Miles Plumlee, the Blue Devils are in dire need of more frontcourt depth for the 2012-2013 campaign. But Krzyzewski and his staff face tough competition from schools with a history of developing NBA-caliber big men.
Noel hopes to make his college choice around the time of the McDonald's All American game March 28.
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