A.J. Griffin Commits to Duke Basketball

Five-star junior is Duke's first 2021 recruit

Five-star junior small forward A.J. Griffin announced that he was committed to Duke University on Monday afternoon, according to reports.

The 6-foot-7, 200-pounder out of White Plains, NY’s Archbishop Stepinac High chose the Blue Devils over Villanova. He also had offers from Kentucky, Michigan, UCLA and Wake Forest, among others.

Griffin visited Duke the weekend of October 8 and attended the Countdown to Craziness season kickoff event. His only other official visit was to Villanova.

Griffin is the No. 8 junior in the class of 2021 and the No. 3 small forward, according to 247Sports.com. Griffin’s father is former NBA player and current Toronto Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin.

Griffin’s highlights show a player who is strong on the break, both as a finisher and as a passer in transition. He shows a high basketball IQ and seems to make good decisions with the ball at full speed.

He is an athletic defender who had several blocked shots by outjumping driving opponents at the rim. Griffin doesn’t attempt many threes in his highlight packages, but he seems to have a nice midrange shot that extends out to just inside the three-point line. It’s clearly a skill he’s capable of developing as time goes by.

Griffin is the first recruit in Duke’s class of 2021 and is the highest-ranked junior to commit, ranking two spots higher than Kentucky’s Devin Askew.

Duke is also targeting small forwards Jonathan Kuminga and Patrick Baldwin Jr., as well as two-guard Max Christie and power forward Paolo Banchero.

Like Griffin, Banchero was a visitor at Countdown to Craziness last month.

Blue Devil Nation Photo - Left to right, AJ Griffin, Jaemyn Brakefield, Paolo Banchero, Henry Coleman, Hunter Dickinson were the Countdown to Craziness visitors. pic.twitter.com/TnYWx9o8rq

— Blue Devil Nation (@BlueDevilNation) October 19, 2019