Does Jon Scheyer have a great recruiting class coming in for this season?
On paper, yes.
Is there a superstar in that class?
On paper, no.
Does the latter matter?
TBD.
But this does look like a different kind of class from what we’ve seen over the last decade or so.
Some context. From 1999 through 2012 Duke lost four players to the NBA draft following their freshman seasons. Corey Maggette (1999) lasted 14 seasons in the NBA. Luol Deng (2004) also played 14 NBA seasons. Kyrie Irving (2011) and Austin Rivers (2012) both suited up last season.
Duke didn’t lose anyone early following the 2013 season, freshman or otherwise.
This all began to change in 2014, when Jabari Parker was selected second in the draft. Counting Parker Duke has had 24 players go to the NBA draft after one season at Duke since 2014.
That’s 2.4 players per year, as many as four in 2018 but at least one every year beginning in 2014. Some superstars, some almost superstars, some injury-related-what-might-have-beens and a few what-was-he-thinking?
Duke has four freshmen this season. In alphabetical order they are Caleb Foster, Jared McCain, T.J. Power and Sean Stewart. None of them are top-10 recruits but all all are ranked between 12 and 21 in the Recruiting Services Consensus Index. That’s a far cry from last season when Duke had three of the top four.
At one time there was a fifth member of the class, combo forward MacKenzie Mgbako. He’s a borderline top-10 prospect. But he and Duke parted ways and Mgbako ended up at Indiana.
So, maybe not Parker or Zion Williamson or Paolo Banchero. But someone like Luke Kennard (21), Tre Jones (13), Matt Hurt (12), Wendell Moore (25), Jeremy Roach (20) and Mark Williams (25)? All of these players contributed as freshmen, stuck around for at least a second season and got better.
No guarantee all of these freshmen come back next season. If one or more doesn’t then hopefully it’s because they have a break-out season and help Duke put up some banners.
There’s also no guarantee any of the freshmen start but there’s a path for at one to start.
We just don’t know which one.
Kyle Filipowski, Tyrese Proctor, Roach and Mark Mitchell project to the be Duke’s top four players. A veteran like Ryan Young, Jaylen Blakes or Jaden Schutt could grab that fifth starting spot although I suspect Young is the only realistic option among that trio.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to JimSumnerSports to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.