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Experts Predicts Duke Basketball Will Be in the Best Position to Succeed for the Next 5 Seasons

By Chris Brown

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CBS Sports recently released a list of the 15 college basketball programs in the best position to succeed over the next five years, with Duke earning the #1 spot over Kentucky, Kansas, Arizona, and Virginia rounding out the top 5. The Blue Devils won the most recent NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship last season and have reloaded with the #1 recruiting class for the second consecutive year.

The long term projections for a team were based on three criteria that the voters used to measure the future success of programs: Is the coaching situation solid?, What kind of young players are enrolled now?, and Is recruiting headed in the right direction or not?.

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Duke is extremely solid with their coaching situation, with head coach Mike Krzyzewski becoming one of the greatest coaches of all-time since joining the Blue Devils. Coach K has already had a Hall of Fame career, but strives to improve as a coach and learn more each year. CBS Sports writes, “Those closest to Mike Krzyzewski, five years ago, mostly seemed to believe the end was relatively near, that the Hall of Fame coach might step away after the 2016 Summer Olympics and call it a career. But now almost nobody thinks the iconic figure is close to retirement”.

The rest of the coaching staff is also very solid, made up of all former players under Coach K. Associate head coach Jeff Capel, who turned down an offer from Arizona State to stay at Duke, has quickly become one of the top recruiters in the country by getting the likes of Austin Rivers, Jabari Parker, Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones, Justise Winslow, Derryck Thornton, and more to come to Duke.

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As mentioned earlier, the Blue Devils have the #1 incoming freshman class in the nation this year which gives them a wealth of very talented young players currently enrolled. Duke will be adding 5-star prospects Brandon Ingram, Chase Jeter, and Derryck Thornton, in addition to adding the Parade National Player of the Year Luke Kennard. These players will be joining several other talented players who were already on campus including sophomore Grayson Allen, who’s expected to be one of the top second-year players in the NCAA, and redshirt sophomore Sean Obi who transferred from Rice as one of the top rebounders.

The future of recruiting is also looks very good for Duke, who have already received verbal commitments from two 5-star prospects in forward Jayson Tatum and most recently guard Frank Jackson. The Blue Devils are also still in the running for several more highly ranked players, including #1 overall recruit Harry Giles. Additionally, Duke is also receiving interest from top 2017 recruits including Wendell Carter and Gary Trent, Jr. who have expressed interest in joining Duke as a package deal.

Duke Men’s Basketball will begin the 2015-2016 season on November 13th hosting Siena in their first game, and will have a difficult schedule ahead of them this year as a young team competing to defend the national title. Duke is one of the top programs in the country and we hope they will be able to sustain their success over the next few years, but we’ll have to wait and see exactly how things will play out.

Next: Coach K One of the Most Interesting People in NCAA Hoops

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