Ryan Kelly isn’t working out at the NBA Draft Combine as he recovers from foot surgery, but the now-Duke graduate sat down with Seth Davis for Campus Insiders in Chicago to talk about his decision to postpone the operation.
At the combine Kelly measured up at just under 7-feet tall at the combine.
Here’s the Q&A, worth the watch:
Ending arguably the most highly anticipated recruitment in recent memory, Andrew Wiggins committed to Kansas this afternoon.
Andrew Wiggins will be attending Kansas
— Grant Traylor (@GrantTraylor) May 14, 2013
Duke basketball will play Kansas in November’s Champions Classic in Chicago, the hometown of Duke’s top recruit Jabari Parker.
Wiggins, the No. 1 recruit in the nation according to ESPN, was also considering Florida State, Kentucky and North Carolina. Wiggins did not hold a press conference and signed with classmates, family and friends. The 6-foot-7 swingman’s recruitment has been extremely private throughout as experts struggled to get info on which way he was leaning.
Although Wiggins may be the most highly touted recruit in the country—and that hype only grew with his late decision date—Parker got some praise on Twitter today from Sports Illustrated senior writer Pete Thamel:
Some NBA people I’ve talked to think Parker ends up better than Wiggins. They see a drama-free Melo.
— Pete Thamel(@SIPeteThamel) May 14, 2013
Wiggins joins a stacked Kansas recruiting class that also has: Joel Embiid (No. 6 recruit in the nation), Wayne Selden (No. 14), Conner Frankamp (No. 46) and Brannen Greene (No. 47).
With the nation’s top recruits gathered in Dallas for the third session of the Nike EYBL, Duke basketball commit Grayson Allen shined after dealing with an injury in previous sessions.
Allen, the No. 36 recruit in the class of 2014 according to ESPN, averaged 18.3 points per contest as his E1T1 squad went 4-0 against some of the best AAU teams in the nation.
Allen squared off against Duke target Tyus Jones, the No. 2 player in 2014, in the team’s second game, a 98-70 win for Allen’s squad. Allen scored 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting while making both of his 3-pointers. He added four rebounds and four assists.
Facing one of the top AAU backcourts that also features UNC point guard Joel Berry, who tallied 11 assists in the game, Jones scored a game-high 18 points while adding four assists and three steals. He turned the ball over five times. Jones averaged 25.5 points and 5.0 assists per game during the weekend for Howard Pulley.
Probably most dominant team performance of the day was Each 1 Teach 1 over Howard Pulley. Those kids from Florida were on fire.
— Eric Bossi (@ebosshoops) May 12, 2013
Allen drew high praise for his performance throughout the weekend:
I think that Grayson allen is solidifying himself as a top 25 player.
— Jack LeGwin (@p_development) May 11, 2013
Joel Berry-Tyus Jones has fizzled w/ E1T1 up 25 at half. Too much depth and length. Love Greyson Allen’s stroke.
— Hoopniks (@Hoopniks) May 11, 2013
Jahil Okafor, the No. 1 player in the class of 2014, returned to action after sitting out with an injury the past few weeks. Okafor averaged 17.3 points and 11.5 rebounds per game while making 74% of his shots from the field for Mac Irvin Fire.
Okafor and Jones have said on multiple occasions they intend to attend college together and the duo appears to be the top priority for Duke’s 2014 class.
Here are some other stats of Duke 2014 offers from the EYBL session per @bluedevillair:
In case you missed it… Transfer target Tarik Black, a 6-foot-9 big man from Memphis, is visiting Duke today. Black will be eligible to play immediately.
Duke basketball will give a final pitch to transfer big man Tarik Black as he sets to visit campus today.
Black, who graduated from Memphis yesterday, still has a year of eligibility remaining and will be able to play immediately.
Congrats to all the Tigers who graduated today: Ferrakohn Hall, DJ Stephens, Stan Simpson, Charles Holt and Tarik Black #studentsfirst
— Memphis Tigers (@UofMTigersHoops) May 13, 2013
Black, a 6-foot-9 and 262-pound forward, averaged 9.1 points and 5.0 rebounds in 22.6 minutes per game for the Tigers last season.
Head coach Mike Krzyzewski has been pushing hard to add Black to a Duke frontcourt that could potentially use another body. Coach K and assistants Steve Wojciechowski and Nate James visited Black’s home a couple weeks ago to make a first pitch.
While Duke’s perimeter is stacked next season, the frontcourt of Marshall Plumlee, Josh Hairston and Amile Jefferson could potentially use another body to strengthen the rotation.
Oregon, Kansas, Ohio State and Georgetown are also reportedly in the mix for the transfer.
Update, Sunday at 11:35 p.m.: Per tweets on Theo Pinson’s twitter account @tpinsonn, the reports stating he is no longer considering Duke are inaccurate.
Spoke with 2014 wing Theo Pinson @tpinsonn tonight. He said, contrary to published reports, he has not cut Duke from his school list.
— Sherrell McMillan (@rellevent21) May 13, 2013
The previous report…
Cross off Theo Pinson as one of Duke basketball’s class of 2014 targets.
Pinson, the No. 13 recruit in the class of 2014 according to ESPN, no longer lists the Blue Devils as one of his potential options, according to 247Sports. The 6-foot-6 wing now lists Indiana, North Carolina, N.C. State, Maryland, Louisville, Georgetown and Kentucky as programs he is considering.
Theo Pinson, at the right, poses for photo with Jahlil Okafor, left, and Tyus Jones, next to Pinson, at Duke’s Countdown to Craziness in October. (Photo credit: Brady Buck/The Chronicle)
Pinson attends the Wesleyan Christian Academy in North Carolina and has visited Duke unofficially many times throughout his high school career. Pinson and high school teammate Harry Giles, a member of the class of 2016 and perhaps the top player in his year, were at Cameron Indoor Stadium for this year’s Duke-North Carolina game, a 73-68 comeback win for the Blue Devils. Giles is also a Duke target, though he is a freshman and does not yet hold an official offer. The Duke staff, however, has been keeping close tabs on the 6-foot-8 forward.
In late April, Grayson Allen became the Blue Devils’ first commit in the class of 2014.
With Pinson reportedly out and Allen already on board, Duke has six outstanding offers for the class of 2014: Jones, Okafor, Devin Booker, Kevin Looney, Trey Lyles and Justise Winslow.
Rick Pitino’s tattoo pledge was one of many factors willing Louisville to this year’s national championship.
So could Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski see himself getting inked up to motivate the Blue Devils?
We spoke to Coach K for a one-on-one interview about the season, and here’s what he had to say on the topic:
“I will never get a tattoo. I promise you. Even if I promised my team that—I don’t like to break promises—but that will never happen. A tattoo on a 60-year old, on my body, would not be a pleasant sight. So that’s not going to happen.”
Here’s a video of Pitino getting the tattoo: