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Dereck Lively, the nation’s No. 3 ranked high school player, pledged to Duke on Monday night to give the Blue Devils the No. 1 recruiting class to come next year. The 7-foot-1 cross will join fellow top 10 players Dariq Whitehead and Kyle Filipowski, as well as four-star goalie Jaden Schutt.
The last time Duke had recruiting class # 1 and three of the top 10 players was in 2018. Who were the players in this class? Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish. It’s always great to have the best recruiting class, but there is a huge difference between these two classes. The 2018 squad have pledged to play for arguably the best varsity coach of all time in Mike Krzyzewski, while the upcoming squad next year will play for their replacement, Jon Scheyer.
“If Coach K can get the US National Team to play with a bunch of NBA stars, he can get us to play together, with that recruiting class and all that talent. He’s one of the best coaches. of all time, ”Barrett said after committing to Duke.
Playing for Krzyzewski would be a dream for any young varsity player, but it wasn’t a compromise for the top talent in the 2022 recruiting class.
“There is so much history at Duke and Coach Scheyer won a championship as a player and was alongside Coach K for so many years as a coach so he knows what he’s doing,” Lively told Yahoo Sports last summer.
Scheyer has been instrumental in several scouting wins over the years, but having the No.1 scouting class in his first year as a head coach comes as a surprise.
“Duke is still Duke and players are drawn to this blue blood culture no matter who coaches,” an ACC assistant told Yahoo Sports.
Lively played AAU ball in the spring and summer alongside Memphis, Jalen Duren and Emoni Bates, being one of the best teams to hit the pitch on Nike’s EYBL Tour. He averages five blocks per game. Their team, based in Philadelphia Team Final, won the biggest tournament of the summer, the Nike’s Peach Jam, and played in front of NBA scouts as well as LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Russell Westbrook.
Whitehead is one of the most prolific scorers in the class and was one of Nike’s EYBL top scorers, averaging 17.6 points per game, for the Durant team. Filipowski recently won a gold medal for Team USA at the FIBA 3×3 U18 World Championship in Hungry. He is 6ft 11in tall, has a sturdy grip, and can extend his game beyond the 3-point line.
There is a lot of talent coming next season.
After 41 seasons, the next 2021-22 college season will be Krzyzewski’s last. He has a solid group of returning players and a few unique players added to the squad led by rookie Paolo Banchero. Banchero is the first college player to appear in NBA 2K and is projected to be among the top five picks in next year’s NBA Draft.
“Last race for the GOAT” Banchero tweeted after Krzyzewski broke the news.
There will be a lot of looks on Duke this coming season, and the pressure is on for this group of players to send Krzyzewski on a high note. The Blue Devils are set to enter the season as a Top 10 team and one of their biggest challenges will come on November 26 when they face Gonzaga and the projected No.1 player of the 2022 NBA Draft, Chet. Holmgren.
Scheyer literally did everything he could to prepare for success in the post-Krzyzewski era, starting with this recruiting class. There will be even more pressure and speculation on Scheyer and the incoming squad as Duke advances with a new head coach for the first time in over 40 seasons.
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