Blue Devil Country

Serious Duke Basketball Recruiting Advantage at Jayson Tatum Camp

Jayson Tatum is a gift that keeps on giving to the Duke basketball program.

Matt Giles

Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer
Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
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Last year's inaugural Jayson Tatum Elite Camp, an invite-only event featuring roughly two dozen players between standout preps and top-shelf college hoopsters, took place in the decorated Duke basketball product's hometown of St. Louis.

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It featured two Blue Devils in then-rising sophomore forward Mark Mitchell and freshman guard Caleb Foster, along with then-undecided Montverde Academy (Fla.) five-star forward Cooper Flagg and a somewhat recent Duke recruiting prize in North Meck (N.C.) five-star wing Isaiah Evans.

Of course, the top-ranked Flagg, a potentially generational phenom, eventually joined Evans in committing to Jon Scheyer and the Blue Devils.

Chances are the projected one-and-done top overall draft pick's celebrated pledge would've arrived without that innate Duke basketball recruiting edge at Tatum's get-together last July. That said, chances are it didn't hurt either.

Now, the second Jayson Tatum Elite Camp is well under way in Las Vegas, as it wraps up on Tuesday. And the invited talents this go-round once again include two current Blue Devils, this time in the now-freshman Evans and his rookie teammate in Durham in former Wisconsin Lutheran five-star wing Kon Knueppel.

There's no doubt that the presence of Tatum, fresh off producing his fifth All-Star campaign with the Boston Celtics and first NBA championship, means even more to the up-and-comers on hand in Vegas.

On that note, it can't hurt Duke basketball recruiting efforts that a third of the Blue Devils' dozen targets on the 2025 trail are among the Jayson Tatum Elite Camp invitees: Bellaire (Texas) five-star forward Shelton Henderson, Highland (Va.) five-star forward Nate Ament, Holy Innocents (Ga.) forward Caleb Wilson, and a recently offered four-star in Harvard-Westlake (Calif.) forward Nikolas Khamenia.

Scheyer and his crew are seemingly contenders in all four of those recruitments.

Plus, the camp includes at least one potential 2025 Duke basketball target in new Montverde forward Hudson Greer.

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Matt Giles

MATT GILES

Matt Giles is the editor and publisher of FanNation's Blue Devil Country and All Tar Heels, covering the Duke Blue Devils and UNC Tar Heels on SI.com.

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