Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski coined the phrase "Eight is enough" when the Blue Devils won the 2015 national championship with just eight scholarship players for the second half of the season.
But after Duke faltered down the stretch last year with a seven-man rotation, Krzyzewski and his staff are recruiting aggressively to ensure that depth is not a question mark in future years.
The Blue Devils extended their 15th scholarship offer in the Class of 2017 to four-star small forward Jermaine Samuels Thursday, a day after offering four-star shooting guard Alex O'Connell a scholarship.
Duke has offered @XEliteBasketbal & ESPN 100 SF Jermaine Samuels
— Adam Finkelstein (@AdamFinkelstein) August 25, 2016
Shortly after receiving the offer, Samuels narrowed the list of schools he is considering to five and included Duke, Kansas, Villanova, Georgetown and Indiana.
First off I want to say thank you to all the Coaches that offered me through this great summer! Here is my top 5 pic.twitter.com/0THA6Ne5UI
— Jermaine Samuels Jr. (@J_Swizz23) August 25, 2016
ESPN's No. 46 player in the Class of 2017, Samuels has rocketed up recruiting boards in recent months, bolstered by strong performances on the summer AAU circuit.
The Franklin, Mass., native averaged 14.2 points per game in six contests at the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C., in July, sharing the backcourt with four-star point guard and Blue Devil target Tremont Waters. The duo led Expressions Elite—a team based in Massachusetts—to a 4-2 record in the tournament against some of the top competition in the nation.
Analysts at 247sports expect Duke to be a leading contender to land Samuels, and if the Blue Devils get a few early departures to the NBA after this season, the 6-foot-5 prospect would provide valuable depth at small forward, where Duke is also expected to sign five-star Kevin Knox out of Samuels' class.
Check back in with the Blue Zone for all your Duke men's basketball recruiting news.
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