Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer (Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports)
Duke Basketball: Insider Forecasts Another No. 1 Class for Jon Scheyer
UNC basketball held the top spot on the 2024 class rankings for about nine months. Then Missouri supplanted the Tar Heels there last week with their fourth commit in four-star forward Annor Boateng. Meanwhile, the powerhouse Duke basketball recruiters are lurking at No. 3.
The Blue Devils, who finished No. 1 and then No. 2 in the first two cycles with Jon Scheyer calling all the shots, already boast three heralded prizes. All three are of the wing variety: five-stars Kon Knueppel and Isaiah Evans, plus the seemingly underrated four-star Darren Harris.
Meanwhile, the 2023-24 Duke basketball roster includes four five-star rookies; perhaps one or two will be one-and-done talents. Then there are projected early draft entrants Kyle Filipowski and Tyrese Proctor, not to mention Ryan Young's expiring eligibility and the likelihood that next season will be Jeremy Roach's last in college.
In other words, Scheyer and his gang likely need another couple of big wins on the 2024 recruiting trail, considering they're not as big on acquiring rotation players via the transfer portal as many other programs nowadays.
That projected roster turnover and the Blue Devils' encouraging standing in a few other races, notably for No. 1 overall prospect Cooper Flagg, leads 247Sports' Adam Finkelstein to see Duke as the team to beat in the 2024 recruiting arena, as he explained to Gary Parrish on CBS Sports' Eye On College Basketball podcast this week.
"I think it'll be Duke," Finkelstein told Parrish. "Duke is the perceived favorite for Cooper Flagg right now. They just got Kon Knueppel last week...But if you look at their roster this year and the types of losses they could have following the season, I think there's a pretty good chance that the whole starting five is out after this year at Duke.
"So they're going to need to still be recruiting at a really high level."
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Finkelstein then noted a few coveted targets, besides Flagg, remaining on the Blue Devils' wishlist: five-star center Patrick Ngongba II, five-star guard VJ Edgecombe, and five-star guard Dylan Harper.
Flagg alone could guarantee another No. 1 recruiting class for Duke. Adding any more of the above names, amounting to at least four five-stars and one four-star, would probably make the top spot a lock.
Stay tuned to Blue Devil Country on SI.com for more Duke basketball recruiting news.