Duke Recruiting RJ Barrett Will Be A Blue Devil

About a half-hour before Duke tipped off the season against Elon, #1 prospect RJ Barrett announced his choice: he held up a white and blue uniform with #21 and said he was coming to Duke.

Here’s what he said about his decision:

"It feels a lot like [his prep school] Montverde. It feels like home. And obviously they have a great coach ... I love Coach K. I've been watching Duke since I was really young.”

Given the age we live in it’s impossible to know who will return next year, but Duke will have, at a minimum, a superb point guard in Tre Jones and two tremendous wings in Barrett and Cam Reddish.

The offense is obvious but the defensive potential here is superb too. As we said, it’s hard to know who will be back but we expect that Javin DeLaurier will be and those four alone would be a load.

Jones is going to have a lot of fun getting the ball to these guys.

We don’t know who else will sign but we’ve seen a number of suggestions that Zion Williamson is still considering Duke. That would be an amazing class to say the least. Keep in mind that his mother reportedly would like him to stay close to home. Duke isn’t his closest option - supposedly Clemson is in serious contention - but it’s closer than Lexington.

And of course the bonus to every highly ranked player Duke signs is the irritation it engenders in Lexington and Chapel Hill.

• RJ Barrett, the No. 1 basketball recruit in the country, picks Duke
• Top Class of 2018 recruit R.J. Barrett commits to Duke