Duke Recruiting: Flory Bidunga Update

The Flory Bidunga recruitment may be heating up with various sources suggesting a commitment could come by the end of July.

If you’re not counting, that’s a week and change.

And while not much has leaked out, the general sense is that of his final four - Duke, Kansas, Michigan and Auburn - Duke and Kansas may be ahead of the other two with KU possibly making a strong late push.

There are a number of things for him to figure out: where is he the best fit? What does he need to do to become an NBA player? Remember, Oscar Tshiebwe, like Bidunga a native of Congo, dazzled the nation at Kentucky but still wasn’t picked. In today’s game, versatility is the premium.

Then there’s NIL, but the curve ball there is that he’s an international player. We don’t fully understand how this works, but apparently not all international players can benefit from NIL. It’s a visa issue as we understand it and it has had an effect on some players and programs, like Purdue’s Zach Edey for one.

Whatever that works out to, Duke has as strong an NIL game as anyone in the country, and with six players taken in the first round in the last two drafts, that’s a solid argument too.

And so is this: Scheyer is recruiting players with versatility in mind. We’ve seen hints of this with Ryan Young lately, who is showing off a three point shot that we never saw last year.

For a young guy who clearly has NBA potential, that’s a pretty compelling package. He could still decide another school suits him better, but Duke is imposing.

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