YouTube Gold: Jaden Schutt Has A Big Night

Recruiting is a funny business. You think you know who’s prime time and sometimes you just don’t. Chris Burgess was seen as the #1 player in his class but at Duke, he was fourth best player in a class of four.

No one saw Chris Carrawell being able to defend the great Tim Duncan but he did. Jordan Goldwire was brought to Duke as an insurance policy, a guy to run the scout team in practice. Yet he became an invaluable member of the team, a quality starter, and a superb defender.

You just never know - until you do. Then, naturally, we all knew all along.

Next year, Duke will bring in a superb class: Kyle Filipowski, Dereck Lively and Dariq Whitehead are all rated #1 by someone. Mark Mitchell is a Top Ten recruit. Christian Reeves is a promising big man who will likely redshirt his first year to mature. And then there’s Jaden Schutt.

We were intrigued by him as soon as we learned about his hard-nose attitude and the depth of his commitment. He probably isn’t the most talented player in the class, but he may be the most driven. We won’t be particularly surprised if he turns out to be wildly underrated.

Here’s some video of a game Schutt and Yorkville Christian had against Kenwood Academy out of Chicago. Schutt finished with 31 points as Yorkville pulled off the huge upset.

Small point: Coach K has always taught his teams to use one-syllable nicknames. So while Mark Williams could be Mark, Paolo Banchero has to get something else. We assume Jon Scheyer will continue the practice when he takes over next fall.

Schutt, if you didn’t already know this, is pronounced Shoot. Call it foreshadowing.