The players competing in the McDonald’s All-American Game and Nike Hoop Summit were just announced this week and the list includes many familiar names for Duke fans.
Starting with the McDonald’s All-Americans, as we covered when the story broke Wednesday night, both of the Blue Devils' 2015 commits Luke Kennard and Chase Jeter will play in the most prestigious game in high school basketball. In addition, two targets to join Kennard and Jeter will be playing, as both Brandon Ingram and Caleb Swanigan were selected. The game will be played April 1 at the United Center in Chicago.
Good news continued pouring in for Duke's 2015 duo Monday, when both Jeter and Kennard were selected for the USA team at the Nike Hoops Summit. The Summit is the second most prestigious showcase for high school players and features an eleven-man Team USA taking on the World Team, which consists of the top international players in high school. Jeter and Kennard will be joined by Swanigan, who was also selected for the team. The game will take place April 11 at the Oregon Moda Center in Portland, Ore.
Moving on to Duke's 2016 targets, there was more potentially good news for the Blue Devils as five-star in-state target Harry Giles was named by 24/7 sports the top player in his class at this point.
This is what the major recruiting outlet said about the decision to move Giles up a few spots in its rankings:
“Giles, a 6-10, 210-pound athletic power forward with a blossoming skill game, has bounced back this season in prodigious fashion from an ACL injury. He is being vigorously pursued by Duke, North Carolina, Wake Forest and others.”
As a result of Giles taking the top spot, small forward Jayson Tatum—who previously held the top spot and is also a Duke target—fell two spots and is now ranked third. Dynamic point guards Dennis Smith, Jr., and Derryck Thornton also stayed in the top 10, coming in at No. 4 and No. 7, respectively. A fifth Blue Devil target in the top 15, 6-foot-6 guard Tyus Battle was slated as the 14th-best player in the class at this time.
On the court, it was a pretty quiet week for the class, with the biggest story being Battle's return from injury. As previously covered, Battle dealt with a foot issue at the beginning of the season and was sidelined until this past weekend. Battle scored 14 points in his return and led his team to a big win to avenge an earlier loss.
Smith, Jr. also continued his strong play of late, scoring 37 points and leading Trinity Christian to a 20-point win last week.
That’s all for this week’s roundup, be sure to stay with the Blue Zone for all your recruiting news as Duke tries to bolster its 2015 recruiting class and make an early statement by making a major 2016 splash.
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