Smooth Duke Basketball Target Reveals Finalists, Plans Visits

Another premier prep is entering the final stages of his recruitment, and once again, Duke basketball has survived the cut.

Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer extended an offer to St. Thomas More (Conn.) small forward Tyler Betsey in November, making Betsey one of Scheyer's earliest targets on the 2024 recruiting trail. Then Scheyer and associate head coach Chris Carrawell visited the 6-foot-8, 185-pound four-star in his home in April.

And Betsey, who ranks No. 37 overall on the 247Sports 2024 Composite and has reeled in over two dozen offers, has scheduled a visit to Duke for mid-September.

So despite Scheyer already boasting commitments from two top-shelf 2024 small forwards in Paul VI Catholic (Va.) four-star Darren Harris and North Meck (N.C.) five-star Isaiah Evans, it only makes sense that Betsey included the Blue Devils among the seven finalists he revealed to On3's Joe Tipton on Wednesday afternoon.

His other six are Alabama, Cincinnati, Creighton, Indiana, UConn, and Villanova. Of those, only Villanova has neither already hosted him on campus nor secured an upcoming official visit.

RELATED: Electric 2024 Guard Includes Duke Among Finalists

Whether or not Duke should be viewed as a frontrunner in Betsey's recruitment remains to be seen. No 247Sports Crystal Ball predictions exist for the race.

But no doubt the Blue Devils are still in contention as the athletic, long, smooth, versatile prospect eyes a decision in the fall (probably October).

I really liked Tyler Betsey's shooting in EYBL this year. Had some really impressive flashes off the dribble showcasing touch. When you're 6'8+ and can shoot the lights out you'll almost no matter what be an NBA prospect, especially when you're top 35 on recruit ranking sites pic.twitter.com/5zlG4EmzZ2

— Rich Stayman (@MavsDraft) July 24, 2023

After all, it sounds like he's paid close attention to the post-Coach K era in Durham and sure seems to respect the job that Scheyer did with a top-ranked 2022 class in his debut at the helm.

"They just show me how good they are with freshmen, like the freedom that they give their freshmen," Tyler Betsey recently noted about the Duke basketball staff during his chat with recruiting insider Adam Zagoria. "This year, they started off rough, everybody was talking about them, but they let their freshmen play through their mistakes.

"The same mistakes they made in December or at the beginning of the year, they weren't making in March. And they made a run and won the ACC...so obviously, that's a pretty first successful season as a head coach."

RELATED: List of Every Recruit Holding a Blue Devil Offer

Stay tuned to Blue Devil Country on SI.com for more Duke basketball recruiting news.