With many of the top high schoolers either representing their country in FIBA 17U World Championships or at the Nike Global Challenge, it was a quiet week in terms of actual recruiting news but an exciting one on the court.
Starting in Dubai, Team USA concluded their impressive tournament run with a 99-92 victory in the championship game against a talented Australian squad. Throughout the tournament, Team USA outclassed the rest of field, averaging more than 100 points per game and shooting better than 51 percent from the field.
As we covered last week, Duke had three high-priority 2016 targets on display in Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles and Tyus Battle. Tatum averaged 11.3 points per game on 46.4 percent shooting. Giles averaged nearly 11 points on 59.3 percent shooting along with six boards.
Battle did not have as strong a tournament, as he averaged less than four points. The two-standout stars for Team USA, however, were the talented duo of Diamond Stone and the tournament MVP Malik Newman.
In addition to the dominant performances of possible package players Stone and Newman, the other huge development from the tournament was the emergence of Australian Power Forward Issac Humphries. Humphries had a fantastic two-week run, as he averaged nearly 19 points and 12 rebounds and made the All-FIBA Tournament team. Humphries also announced that he planned on playing for prep basketball powerhouse La Lumiere in LaPorte, Ind. this season. Then there was this tweet from Draft Express' Jonathan Givony:
We will keep you updated on Humphries' recruitment as more details emerge.
Future Blue Devil Luke Kennard was also in action this weekend as he headed-up USA Midwest in the Nike Global Challenge. Kennard guided his squad to a third place finish, defeating China in the consolation game. The Franklin, Ohio native averaged 11.5 points in the tournament.
Kennard also made headlines with this ridiculous behind-the-back pass to teammate Deyonta Davis.
In some 2017 news, a week after Duke offered 2017 star Troy Brown Jr, Duke is looking seriously at another top player from the class—Brian Bowen
Bowen is a 6-foot-7 small forward from Saginaw, Mi. and currently ranked as the No. 9 player in the class of 2017, according to ESPN25. We will continue to follow this story as we wait to see if the talented Michigan native will be offered.
Duke has also been making moves on another highly-regarded Class of 2016 point guard Derryck Thornton Jr. The Henderson, Nev. native was ranked ninth by 24/7 and eighth by Scout.com and has been called the top floor general in the class.
Lastly, Chase Jeter took place in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and then nominated a future Blue Devil Tyus Jones.
Jones responded and in turn called upon his teammate Jahlil Okafor to take on the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS Awareness.
Although both are valiant efforts, it's going to be tough to top Coach K's adorable, grandchild-assisted go at the challenge.
That’s all for this week’s roundup. Be sure to stay with the Blue Zone for all your recruiting news.
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