Although it was a quiet week in the recruiting world for a number of Duke's top targets, big news hit last week when D.C. Assault founder and head coach Curtis Malone was arrested on drug trafficking charges. Malone was denied bail and may face up to 40 years in prison for conspiring to distribute large amounts of heroine and cocaine.
Malone is the step father of former Duke basketball and Portland Trail Blazers' guard Nolan Smith, who will play in Europe next year with a Croatian team. Current Blue Devils Quinn Cook, Josh Hairston and Tyler Thornton also played for D.C. Assault. Other top former D.C. Assault players include Michael Beasley and Jeff Green.
Elsewhere, the buzz continues to grow stronger for 2014 center Myles Turner. The Texas native is now No. 10 in ESPN's rankings. The Blue Devil staff has had success recently recruiting out of the Lone Star State, nabbing Rasheed Sulaimon and Matt Jones.
According to ZagsBlog, Turner will host Duke for an in-home visit in September and will attempt to cut his list to three after taking official visits.
ESPN's Jeff Goodman recently broke down the top 2014 recruits with the most NBA potential, pegging Turner No. 1 with fellow center Jahlil Okafor, the consensus No. 1 player in 2014, No. 2.
Goodman also broke down Turner's recruitment and ranked Duke fourth in the race for Turner, behind Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma State. Duke, he says, could become an even bigger contender if they miss out on Okafor:
The Blue Devils came into the fray on the late end, but they have quickly become a player in the Turner Sweepstakes. It could, however, ultimately come down to whether Mike Krzyzewski gets the package deal of Okafor and No. 1 point guard Tyus Jones. If Coach K strikes out with Okafor, who has long been the program’s top interior target, then Turner could be a legit candidate to land in Durham.
In other news... Georgia Tech head coach Brian Gregory landed a solid recruit in four-star shooting guard Tadric Jackson, a Georgia product. He's the Yellow Jackets' first 2014 recruit and No. 24 shooting guard in the class, according to ESPN.
Jim Boeheim landed another floor general in Kaleb Joseph, the No. 51 player in 2013 and the No. 10 point guard in 2014. He's Boeheim's second member of the class, joining top-10 forward Chris McCullough.
Missouri head coach Frank Haith also picked up a top recruit in No. 37 JaKeenan Gant, who chose the Tigers over a number of top school including ACC programs Clemson, Florida State and Georgia Tech.
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