Tag Archives: Marcus Lee

Duke to conduct in-home visit with Jabari Parker this week

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Over the course of the past several weeks, it has been relatively quiet on the Jabari Parker recruiting front. The top-ranked player in the class of 2013 was forced to miss a substantial amount of the AAU circuit this summer due to a foot injury and since July he has not publicly spoken to the media much about his recruitment.

Still considered to be among the legitimate contenders to land the smooth 6-foot-8 swingman, Blue Devil head coach Mike Krzyzewski will return to his old stomping grounds in Chicago to visit Parker face-to-face on Friday.

Florida, DePaul, Kansas and BYU all reportedly met with Parker last week according to Evan Daniels of scout.com. Aside from the Blue Devil coaching staff, Michigan State and North Carolina will also conduct in-home visits with Parker this week. Stanford will do the same the following week, while Kentucky and Georgetown are also on Parker’s list of prospective schools, but do not have in-home visits scheduled.

Parker has not yet made any sort of indications as to where he will take his five official visits.

Duke’s recent addition of 2013 small forward Semi Ojeleye has raised questions as to whether the Blue Devils have fallen behind in the race for Parker, given the perceived logjam at the wing positions next year with Alex Murphy, Rodney Hood and Ojeleye.

With an equally busy recruiting schedule, Julius Randle—the No. 3 overall player according to ESPN.com—hosted Duke for an in-home visit last week and then took an official visit to Kentucky over the weekend.

In a recent article by Jason Jordan of USA Today High School Sports, Randle’s mother Carolyn Kyles said, “[Krzyzewski is] captivating. He really is. I truly understand why his players love him so much; you can tell that he really cares,” as she recapped the in-home visit with Duke.

The trip to Lexington was Randle’s first official visit. The 6-foot-9 lefty from Dallas will also officially visit Florida on October 6. The remaining three official visits are up for grabs still, however, there have been rumblings that Randle may officially visit North Carolina State for Midnight Madness, but that has not been confirmed.

Duke, meanwhile, is still expected to receive an official visit from Randle, which would likely occur during the basketball season.

According to various reports, Marcus Lee cut Duke from his list of prospective schools last week. The 6-foot-9 power forward is now down to three schools—California, Kentucky and Louisville.

With Lee off the radar, Austin Nichols seemingly becomes a huge priority for the Duke coaches given the emptying Blue Devil frontcourt after this season and the uncertainty of Randle committing to Duke. Nichols—the fifth-ranked power forward according to ESPN.com—will be in Durham for an official visit the weekend of October 6.

As reported last week, Tyus Jones—the top-ranked point guard in the class of 2014—will make his way to Durham for an unofficial visit during Countdown to Craziness.

A few other top-rated 2014 prospects including Jahlil Okafor and local standout Theo Pinson could very well be in attendance with Jones that weekend.

Last week, Duke assistant Steve Wojciechowski watched Karl Towns– the consensus top-ranked player in the class of 2015– and Trey Lyles, a five-star 2014 power forward who recently decommitted from Indiana, according to tweets by Adam Zagoria and Clint Jackson, respectively.

In other news: Former Duke target Anthony “Cat” Barber committed to North Carolina State over the weekend. Landing the speedy 6-foot-1 point guard is a huge get for the Wolfpack. Barber is the No.11 overall player in the class of 2013, per ESPN.com.

Nichols to officially visit Duke

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‘Tis the season. Now that the AAU circuit is finished, many of the top 2013 recruits will begin taking official visits over the course of the next couple months before their high school basketball seasons begin.

The Blue Devil coaching staff already has one official visit lined up for October 6, as they will host Austin Nichols, according to an article by Adam Zagoria of Zag’s Blog.

Nichols will also officially visit Virginia on September 8. Along with the two ACC schools, Auburn, Tennessee, Memphis and Vanderbilt remain in play to land the 6-foot-8 power forward from Eads, Tennessee.

Another piece by Zagoria indicates that Duke recruit Marcus Lee will officially visit Louisville on September 8, Kentucky on October 12 for Big Blue Madness and Indiana on October 20 for Hoosier Hysteria.

The No. 2 center in the class of 2013 according to scout.com, Lee also has plans to visit California unofficially on September 1 and will have an in-home visit with Kansas on October 6. Lee reportedly took an unofficial visit to UCLA over the weekend.

Duke, meanwhile, is the only school still on Lee’s list that does not have an in-home visit, unofficial or official visit scheduled at this time, which has put some Blue Devil fans in a tizzy because Lee has spoken very highly of Duke for much of the summer.

The third 2013 frontcourt player on Duke’s wish list is Julius Randle, who unofficially visited Oklahoma State over the weekend according to various sources.

The top-ranked 2013 power forward according to scout.com, Randle has not released any sort of school list yet.

A recent article by the Sporting News brought college basketball fans up to speed with the recovery of Jabari Parker, the No. 1 overall player in the class of 2013 according to scout.com, who fractured his foot earlier this summer.

The 6-foot-8 swingman from Chicago should be fully healthy come November, as he attempts to lead Simeon High School to a fourth-straight state championship.

Despite ongoing rumblings that Michigan State and Duke lead in Parker’s recruitment, Parker’s father, Sonny, sheds some light on his son’s recruitment in the Sporting News article by stating, “He has no No. 1 or No. 2, he doesn’t really have a favorite…”

Narrowing down the list from 10 to five schools should occur in the coming weeks, as Parker schedules his five official visits. It would come as a shock to see Duke absent from Parker’s final list of five schools.

For quite some time Parker was considered the best player in all of high school basketball, but that title now belongs to Andrew Wiggins.

Currently a member of the 2014 class, Wiggins’ days as a rising junior may come to an end soon. A blog post by Drew Franklin of Kentucky Sports Radio states, “Andrew Wiggins is entering his 2012-13 school year at Huntington Prep as a junior, but he’s taking the necessary coursework to reclassify, if that’s the route he chooses to take. According to his AAU coach, Wiggins is putting himself in a position to graduate next spring if he needs to.” However, Wiggins’ coach also noted, “He [Wiggins] enjoys being a kid. The other stuff that comes with college and the NBA life, I don’t think he’s really in a big hurry to rush into that.”

Continue to check the Blue Zone on a weekly basis for all of the latest happenings in Duke basketball recruiting.

Nichols and Lee narrow school lists

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After leading the U.S. National Team to an Olympic Gold Medal in London on Sunday, it’s back to the daily grind for Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

As he returns to Duke, Krzyzewski will turn much of his attention to the recruiting class of 2013.

The Blue Devil coaching staff now has a much better idea as to where they stand in the recruitments of 2013 big-men targets Austin Nichols and Marcus Lee.

On Sunday, John Martin of Commercial Appeal in Memphis tweeted that Nichols– a 6-foot-8 power forward– is down to Virginia, Auburn, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Memphis and Duke. The Memphis, Tennessee product will take official visits to all the schools on his list except Memphis, per another tweet by Martin.

After a strong summer on the AAU circuit, Nichols is now the No. 10 player overall in ESPN.com’s class of 2013 player rankings, which can be seen here.

For many college basketball fans, it comes as a bit of surprise to see North Carolina, Ohio State and Kansas absent from Nichols list of prospective schools. All three reportedly had offered the five-star big man. Florida, who was considered a legitimate contender to land Nichols, was also left off of the list, which is likely due to the fact the Gators recently picked up a commitment from five-star power forward Chris Walker.

Last week, Marcus Lee also cut down his list of prospective schools to seven—California, UCLA, Indiana, Duke, Louisville, Kentucky and Kansas.

Of the finalists, Kentucky is thought to be a school that is really coming on strong in Lee’s recruitment, after just recently getting involved. California is another school that is perceived to be one of the favorites to land Lee, largely because of the school’s proximity to his home.

In the latest ESPN.com player rankings, Lee checks in as the No. 27 player overall.

Both Lee and Nichols will be playing at the Under Armour Elite 24 game in Venice Beach, California later this month. The final 12 players in the event were announced last week. Fellow Duke targets Justise Winslow (2014), Tyus Jones (2014) and Julius Randle (2013) will also be playing in the game.

The entire roster for the Elite 24 game can be found here.

One of the newer names on Duke’s 2013 recruiting radar is 6-foot-9 Damian Jones. A recent article by Josh Paunil of the National Recruiting Spotlight indicates that Vanderbilt is Jones’ “favorite school.” Jones– the No. 72 player in the newest version of the ESPN.com 2013 player rankings– has set up official visits to Vanderbilt and Stanford.

After visiting UCLA unofficially, Justise Winslow also traveled to Northern California to unofficially visit Stanford last week, according to a tweet by Evan Daniels of scout.com.

Now that Krzyzewski is back in the states, expect Duke to begin setting up official visit dates with several of their 2013 recruits.

Jabari Parker recruiting speculation: Jabari Parker– the No. 1 player in the class of 2013 according to ESPN.com– has not taken the court since the U-17 World Championships due to injury, however, his recruitment has still been one of the hottest topics in the realm of college basketball.

Daniel Poneman, a basketball writer from Chicago, Illinois, has covered Parker for years and seemingly has a pretty good pulse on his recruitment. Recently, Poneman expressed to Larry Vaught in an article that, “I feel strongly that Kentucky is not in serious contention at all,” in regards to Parker’s recruitment.

Even though the article is just one person’s take on the recruitment, there may be some validity to the notion that Kentucky is not a serious player in Parker’s recruitment given the likely reclassification of Andrew Wiggins, the No. 1 player in the class of 2014. Wiggins plays the same position as Parker and most fans and recruiting gurus feel that Kentucky is in the driver’s seat to land the dynamic 6-foot-7 swingman from Canada, whose brilliant play this summer and scary upside allowed him to dethrone Parker as the best player in high school basketball this summer in the books of many scouts.

Poneman also stated in his article that, “I am still saying Michigan State will get [Parker].”

Spartan fans have been fairly optimistic for quite some time about their chances to land Parker, who could go down in history as the best high school basketball player ever from Chicago.

Krzyzewksi has made Parker an utmost priority for several years now, however, the addition of Rodney Hood and the numerous scholarship offers out to other 2013 wings such as Ishmail Wainright, Robert Hubbs and Semi Ojeleye has made Blue Devil fans question the likelihood of Parker coming to Durham.

At this time, Parker is expected to announce a school before the early signing period in November, however, it is still possible that his recruitment could play out into the spring.

Blue Devil recruits see schedules lighten up

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After a busy month of July, recruits will have the opportunity to relax for much of August, which should enable many prospects in the classes of 2013 and 2014 to visit schools and begin narrowing down their list of prospective schools.

Julius Randle– arguably the top 2013 target for Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski–is expected to announce some sort of list in the near future. Duke is seemingly a lock to be in the top five, along with Kentucky, Kansas and North Carolina, while schools such as Baylor, Texas and North Carolina State are very much in the mix too.

Pegging a leader in Randle’s recruitment is virtually impossible still. Duke, however, is considered to be in a very strong position given the strong relationship between assistant coach Jeff Capel and Randle, along with the fact the Blue Devils have a commitment from Randle’s close friend and AAU teammate Matt Jones.

Last week, the first 12 players for the Under Armor Elite 24 game were announced. Duke targets Marcus Lee and Randle have been selected to play in the event. The remaining 12 players will be announced soon and the game will be played August 25 in Los Angeles, Cali.

As for Duke’s 2013 perimeter targets, Robert Hubbs recently told Josh Paunil of National Recruiting Spotlight in an interview, “I want to get the feel up at Duke.”

So expect the dynamic 6-foot-5 wing, who has seen his stock sky rocket over the past few months, to pay a visit to Durham this fall.

Shifting to 2014, it has become well known that Krzyzewski is all-in for Tyus Jones, the top point guard in the class. Recently, college basketball heavyweights Kentucky and North Carolina have aggressively entered the sweepstakes to land Jones as John Calipari and Roy Williams have both recently offered Jones a scholarship.

Similar to most years, the recruiting overlap between Duke and archrival North Carolina is prevalent. In the class of 2013, the Tar Heels and Blue Devils, among many other schools, are vying to land Austin Nichols, Jabari Parker, Lee and Randle.

The class of 2014 recruiting may be even more heated between the two Tobacco Road foes as they both have offers out to Theo Pinson, Justise Winslow, Jahlil Okafor and Tyus Jones.

And of those shared targets, Winslow and Okafor, who were arguably the two best players for the U.S. U-17 National team that recently won gold, paid a visit to UCLA last week.

Damian Jones emerges on Duke’s recruiting radar

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Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski has already secured a commitment from a member of the Texas Titans AAU team—2013 shooting guard Matt Jones. Krzyzewski is also courting Jones’ teammate, Julius Randle, the No. 2 player in the class of 2013, according to ESPN.com. Now, the Blue Devil coaching staff has reached out to another player on the Texas Titans—Damian Jones.

Jones, a 6-foot-9 big man, is reportedly a stellar student in the classroom and a capable rebounder, finisher and shot blocker on the court. The one knock on Jones, who is the 70th ranked player in the class of 2013, may be his lack of strength and offensive polish.

Given his strong academic track record, it’s no surprise that Stanford and Vanderbilt are also strongly involved with Jones, as is Florida, according to a tweet by Future150, a college basketball recruiting website.

Right now, the interest between Duke and Jones appears to be in the beginning stages. Depending on how the recruitments of fellow 2013 big men targets Marcus Lee and Austin Nichols shape up, Jones could become a priority for the Blue Devil coaching staff in the coming months.

Speaking of Lee, Kentucky now appears to be getting involved in his recruitment, per a recent tweet by scout.com’s Evan Daniels.

This past weekend was the final July evaluation period for college coaches. And for the third straight week, it was assistant coaches Jeff Capel and Nate James on the recruiting trail for Duke, while Krzyzewski and top assistants Chris Collins and Steve Wojciechowski are preoccupied with the U.S. National men’s basketball team, which won its first Olympic game on Sunday over France.

Orlando, Florida and Las Vegas, Nevada were two of the biggest scenes for the final weekend of major summer AAU tournaments. Capel and James watched numerous prospects, including Justise Winslow, Justin Jackson, Lee, Nichols, Robert Hubbs, Jahlil Okafor, Theo Pinson, Randle, Matt Jones and Damian Jones, among many others.

For the third straight week, Jabari Parker–the top-ranked recruit in the class of 2013–was out of commission due to a foot injury.

As the month of July and the summer AAU circuit come to a close, college basketball fans can expect the top players in the class of 2013 to begin narrowing down their lists of schools, taking official visits and getting more serious about their college decisions.

There are a few more new names surfacing on the Blue Devil coaching staff’s tracking list— Kevin Looney (2014), Grayson Allen (2014) and Austin Grandstaff (2015).

Looney, a 6-foot-7 forward from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a top-20 player in his class.

Allen, meanwhile, is a 6-foot-3 shooting guard who hails from Riverview, Florida. At the moment, he holds offers from Florida Sate, Illinois, and Georgia, among others, according to scout.com.

And Grandstaff, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard from Texas, might be visiting Durham in the near future, according to a tweet by Andrew Slater of Blue Devil Nation last week.

Analysis: The 2013 recruiting situation is still very foggy in regards to who the Blue Devil coaching staff will land, however, Duke’s blueprint for the 2013 class could look something like this:

  • In addition to Matt Jones, bring a transcendent, one-and-done talent, a la Randle or Parker, to Durham.
  • Secure a commitment from a big man. Aside from Randle, Nichols and Lee are the only 2013 post players with scholarship offers right now.
  • Add another versatile wing. Hubbs, Ishmail Wainright, Semi Ojeleye and Allerik Freeman all hold scholarship offers for what may end up being a first-come, first-serve spot.

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Recruits show skills at Nike EYBL Peach Jam

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In one of the biggest recruiting weekends of the year, Duke basketball assistant coaches Jeff Capel and Nate James had the opportunity to see a vast majority of the Blue Devil coaching staff’s top targets in action at the Nike EYBL Peach Jam.

While in Augusta, South Carolina, James and Capel had the opportunity to watch Matt Jones (committed), Julius Randle, Semi Ojeleye, Marcus Lee, Theo Pinson, Allerik Freeman, Justise Winslow, Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones, Justin Jackson, and Andrew Wiggins, among others.

Jabari Parker, the top-ranked player in the class of 2013 and Duke target, did not play at the Peach Jam due to an injured foot.

Watching Randle appeared to be one of the biggest priorities for the staff over the weekend. He and Jones, who play together on the Texas Titans, played very well, but their team finished 2-3 in a tough pool, with losses coming to CIA Bounce, Howard Pulley, and the Mac Irvin Fire.

Over the five games, Jones, a point guard, averaged 13.8 points per game, while Randle—the No. 2 player in the class of 2013 according to ESPN—averaged an impressive 22 points and 13 rebounds per contest.

Randle, who may be the Duke coaching staff’s top target now given the dire need of an impact frontcourt player in 2013, had coaches from North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio State, Texas, Baylor, N.C. State and Duke, among others, at his games.

Leading his team to his MoKan team to a surprising semifinals appearance, Ojeleye played perhaps his best basketball of the summer in Augusta. The strong 6-foot-6 wing averaged 17.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per contest.

Lee posted averages of 9.4 points and 6.6 rebounds, while also drawing a slew of coaches to his games. His team, California Supreme, finished 1-4 in pool play.

Off the floor, Pinson’s recruitment has really heated up over the past week. After some confusion amongst the Duke fan base, various sources indicated that Pinson now holds a scholarship offer from the Blue Devil coaching staff. North Carolina also offered Pinson last week. The Tobacco Road rivals are now seemingly the schools to beat to land the 6-foot-5 wing, who is from North Carolina.

Pinson’s team, CP3 All Stars, reached the semifinals of the Peach Jam and Pinson led the charge with 16.4 points per game.

Another 2014 wing that the Duke coaches covet is Justise Winslow, from Houston, Texas. After a stellar showing for the U-17 U.S. team and a strong spring and summer with his AAU team, Houston Hoops, the versatile, 6-foot-5 swingman now holds a scholarship offer from head coach Mike Krzyzewski and his staff.

Okafor and Jones, the only other rising juniors with scholarship offers from Duke, had high-major coaches from all over the country at their games. Anchoring the post for the Mac Irvin Fire, Okafor averaged 11.4 points and 7.4 rebounds at the Peach Jam.

Jones and his upstart Howard Pulley team were one of the better stories of the weekend due to their upset wins over the Texas Titans and the Mac Irvin Fire, thanks in large part to Jones’ impressive average of 25.8 points per outing.

In regards to Jones’ recruitment, Kentucky has seriously entered the picture recently by offering the 6-foot-1 floor general from Minnesota last week.

As time wears on, Wiggins– the consensus No. 1 ranked player in the class of 2014– continues to impress more and more, which has many scouts and fans believing that he is one of the better talents to come through the high school ranks in quite some time.

Averaging 21.9 points and 8.9 rebounds, Wiggins led CIA Bounce to the championship of the Peach Jam, where they fell in hard-fought game to the Oakland Soldiers on a controversial foul call on Wiggins at the end of the game.

With Parker battling injuries for most of this summer, Wiggins has seemingly dethroned Parker as the best high school basketball player, regardless of class. And Wiggins’ dominance this spring and summer have led many to believe that he will eventually reclassify from the class of 2014 to the class of 2013.

As the AAU circuit begins to slow down in the coming weeks, expect many of the prospects in the class of 2013 to begin narrowing their list of schools and taking visits to prospective schools.

The final July evaluation period will be this weekend.

In other news: Five-star power forward Chris Walker ended his recruitment on Sunday when he committed to Florida. The Gators now have commitments from two top-ten recruits in the class of 2013—Walker and point guard Kasey Hill.

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