We will start with the big news of the week: Duke made the first cut for priority 2016 recruit Tyus Battle as he announced his final 11 Monday. The news was first broken by Andrew Slater of 24/7 sports Monday afternoon:
The usual suspects all made an appearance as the Blue Devils were joined by powerhouse programs such as Kentucky, Connecticut, Florida and Louisville as well as schools near Battle Syracuse and Villanova. The recruitment for the talented guard is expected to come down to Kentucky, Duke, Connecticut and Syracuse with 24/7’s crystal ball currently having the Blue Devils as the frontrunner with the Orange not far behind.
The 6-foot-6 combo guard from New Jersey has been discussed extensively here and the Blue Devils hope to make him a key piece of the 2016 recruiting class. SNY.tv has begun a short documentary series about the star player and is definitely worth a watch for anyone looking to learn more about a potential Duke future superstar.
Before announcing his final 11, Battle talked to the Blue Devils again this past week as they traveled to watch him play. Duke also stopped in on another promising 2016 target Jayson Tatum, according to Evan Daniels.
Continuing with the 2016 class, Harry Giles has a new blog for USA Today and this week directly addressed his Duke visit:
Last weekend I went to Duke’s Countdown to Craziness and that was just live. All the fans showed a lot of love like they always do when I go there and I thought it was tight how they had holograms when they did their player intros! That was tight! During their scrimmage they had a quick break and Jahlil (Okafor) came over by me and said, “What’s up baby, whatcha waiting on!” Haha. He was killing out there too. I feel like everybody on their team got better from when I saw them play last. Great visit.
Lastly, forward Brandon Ingram has still been very quiet about his recruitment as the Blue Devils look to finalize their 2015 recruitment class. We will update his situation if anything develops.
That’s all for this week’s recruiting roundup. Be sure to stay with the Blue Zone for all your recruiting news.
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