By: Ben McCormick
July 27, 2022
With Peach Jam wrapped up, recruiting has ramped up in the world of college basketball. For Duke, offers have gone out, targets have come and gone, visits are taking place, and commits are showing out. Here I will recap all of the most current events pertaining to Duke recruiting player by player. For the class of 2023, I will start by giving updates for commits Jared McCain, Mackenzie Mgbako, and Caleb Foster (shoutout to Sean Stewart too).
Jared McCain
4/5 star guard Jared McCain put on a scoring clinic at Peach Jam. The 6'2 social media sensation was named the Offensive MVP of Nike EYBL Peach Jam, per The Circuit on Twitter. Additionally, he was named first team all tournament. McCain's impressive performance was capitalized by an average of 23.4 PPG. It was not his scoring that first stood out to me though, it was his rebounding with an average of 8.4 RPG that took me aback. At just 6'2, McCain was grabbing more boards than Paolo Banchero or Mark Williams did last season at Duke! He coupled those impressive statistics with 2.6 APG and 2.6 SPG showing an ability to pass and defend as well. There was a lot for Duke fans to be happy about with McCain's performance at Peach Jam to say the least.
Mackenzie Mgbako
With the recent reclassification of GG Jackson, Duke commit Mackenzie Mgbako rose to the number two overall slot in 247sports' senior class rankings. Jeff Goodman even proclaimed that even though there may not be a clear cut favorite for No.1 in the class of 2023, his pick would be Mackenzie Mgbako, who he described as a "skilled" player who can "really shoot it, rebounds, defends, and is consistent/reliable." It did not take long for Mgbako to back that ranking either. He averaged 18.3 PPG, 8.3 RPG, and 1.7 APG at Peach Jam, which was good enough to earn him a first team all tournament spot alongside McCain.
Caleb Foster
Another Duke commit that showed out at Peach Jam was Caleb Foster, who put the ball in the basket at a high volume. With one 33 point, 7 rebound, and 3 assist performance, Foster impressed the entire tournament. He scored above or around 30 points on multiple occasions, earning a high scoring average but curiously not an all-tournament nod. Much like in his national ranking, Foster may have been disrespected. Still, I assure you, Caleb Foster will be a problem at Duke.
TJ Power
First up in the non-commits section is rising star TJ Power. Power is ranked around 50-60 on most sites, but is expected to rapidly rise following an especially strong showing at Peach Jam. Jon Scheyer extended an offer to Power two weeks ago, and he took an official visit to Durham yesterday (July 26th). In an interview with On3's Joe Tipton, he said that he enjoyed watching former Blue Devils on the AAU circuit growing up like Cam Reddish and Marvin Bagley III and could see himself being plugged into a plethora of lineups at Duke in a very versatile role.
Power appears to be one of, if not the highest, priority left for Jon Scheyer in the class of 2023. His visit coming so quickly after his offer shows that Jon Scheyer is serious about Power.
Andrej Stojakovic
Per Alex Karamanos of The Circuit, yesterday, Duke extended another offer for the class of 2023 to another quickly rising prospect: Andrej Stojakovic, the son of former NBA All-Star Peja Stojakovic. Karamanos also reported that Andrej will cut his list this coming Friday, July 29th. I would expect Duke to make the cut.
This offer is an interesting one, and I am not yet sure what Duke's chances are. Time will tell how deeply the Blue Devils become involved with Andrej.
JP Estrella
I recently wrote a prospect evaluation for quickly rising center JP Estrella. He was set for an official visit to Duke from July 31st to August 2nd next week. However, today Jamie Shaw reported that Estrella has canceled his visit to Duke, thus signaling that Duke is likely no longer considering JP. This came as a bit of a surprise, but there are likely a few explanations (or rather a combination of them). One, Estrella may be leaning toward another school. Two, Duke is prioritizing TJ Power for the class of 2023. Three, there may be more returning frontcourt members from this years team than we initially thought. I have always maintained the idea that Kyle Filipowski may be a 2+ year player, and the move to back off Estrella may demonstrate that the coaching staff feels similarly. Northwestern transfer Ryan Young may exercise his fifth year of eligibility as well, and Mark Mitchell may stick around for year two. Needless to say, with Sean Stewart already committed the interior could have been crowded with Power and Estrella in Durham, and in the end TJ Power won out as Duke's priority.
Xavier Booker
2023 five star center Xavier Booker held an offer from Duke, but recently announced a cut of his offers down to ten schools, of which Duke was not included. Duke's exclusion does not come as a surprise for the Michigan State lean.
James Brown
Earlier this week, Duke extended its fifth offer for the class of 2024, and its first to a big man: four star James Brown. He joins Naas Cunningham, Tre Johnson, Bryson Tucker, and Darren Harris as a 2024 offer. From Chicago, Brown is ranked 31st nationally by 247sports. He is 6'9, and may be tasked with filling a spot left by big man Ryan Young after the 2023-2024 season if he were to choose Duke.
Other Buzz...
2024 Dylan Harper received some attention from Jon Scheyer over the last week. Harper recently expressed interest in teaming up with top ranked 2024 prospect Naas Cunningham in college. A package deal that highly rated is interesting to any coach.
Coach Scheyer also watched Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, play at Peach Jam last week. James has made serious strides in his game heading into his senior year and is garnering much deserved attention on the recruiting trail. However, the 6'3 guard has not received an offer from Duke, and I would be surprised if he did given the commitments of guards Jared McCain and Caleb Foster (as well as the possibility of a senior year from Jeremy Roach).
Finally, 2023 five star Mookie Cook is thought to be seeking out an offer from the Blue Devils. The top five Oregon decommit earned second team all tournament at Peach Jam. It seems highly unlikely that Duke would pursue Cook though given the commitment of SF Mackenzie Mgbako and the prioritization of forwards TJ Power and Andrej Stojakovic on the recruiting trail.