Big news surrounding two players each from the 2015 and 2016 classes highlighted a busy recruiting week:
Starting with a future Blue Devil—and the new fourth-leading all-time scorer in Ohio high school basketball—Luke Kennard had quite a week. Kennard’s Franklin team had an easy 90-64 win, but the real story belonged to the 6-foot-5 sandy-haired scoring machine. Coming into the game trailing NBA star LeBron James for the No. 4 spot on the list by 38 points, Kennard hit a 3-pointer with 1:03 left in the third quarter to overtake the NBA star and ended up finishing the game with 44 points. Kennard is now averaging 38.8 points per game and had this to say to ESPN after the accomplishment:
"I'm not a LeBron or anything," Kennard said, "Not even close. But to be in that same category, I'm really blessed to have that opportunity."
James commented on Kennard approaching his record earlier in the week.
Duke’s other 2015 commit, Chase Jeter, also received some good news, as Tuesday, he was named a Semifinalist for the Naismith High School National Player of the Year.
Switching gears and looking into the future, before the Blue Devils took on the Seminoles Monday night, they received some good news as they were named in 2016 five-star forward Harry Giles’ top 8 schools:
Joining Duke are Wake Forest, Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, Syracuse, Ohio State and UNLV for the Winston Salem, N.C., native's services. Giles had this to say to ESPN's Paul Biancardi about the Blue Devils.
"I went to Countdown to Cameron Crazies, and it was a crazy atmosphere. Coach K is amazing, and he coached the USA team, and he has coached players with my type of versatility (Jabari Parker, Rodney Hood, Justise Winslow). I like how Coach K changes the system up to his players, and Duke is close to home."
Continuing with the class of 2016, the Blue Devils spent Tuesday night watching another top prospect: five-star wing Jayson Tatum.
As previously covered here, Tatum will be making Durham his first official visit as he will be at Cameron Indoor Stadium to watch Duke take on Syracuse Feb. 28.
Another top 2016 prospect, point guard Blake Harris, was in the building Saturday as he watched the Blue Devils dismantle the Fighting Irish. After the game, Harris talked to head coach Mike Krzyzewski and remains one of three five-star 2015 point guards Duke is pursuing.
2015 preferred walk-on commit, Justin Robinson was also in the building Saturday, alongside his dad, and NBA legend, David Robinson.
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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