Duke Basketball Targets Three New 2017 Point Guards at Nike Event
By Chris Brown
Head coach Mike Krzyzewski will be looking for the future point guard of Duke Basketball in the 2017 recruiting class.
Duke will have one of the most talented basketball teams in the country next season, but Derryck Thornton’s decision to transfer will cause an issue for the Blue Devils’ future plans. Thornton was expected to be the point guard at Duke for the next few years, and now Mike Krzyzewski is starting to target several talented point guards in the 2017 class to be the next point guard for Duke Basketball.
The coaching staff recently met with three 2017 point guard prospects Matt Coleman, Quade Green, and Tremont Waters at the Nike EYBL (Elite Youth Basketball) event in Brooklyn. Matt Coleman is a 6-2 4-star point guard and was a teammate of incoming Blue Devil Harry Giles at Oak Hill Academy. Coleman is ranked by Scout.com as the 5th best point guard in his class and is a very talented guard known for his ball-handling, quickness, and play-making abilities.
Giles is already encouraging him to join Duke in 2017, and he is also being recruited by Arizona, NC State, Texas, Virginia, N.C. State, Ohio State, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, and Seton Hall. Coleman is being recruited by Jeff Capel and Nolan Smith plans to trim his recruiting list later this summer.
Quade Green is an up-and-coming prospect out of St. John Neumann High School in Philadelphia. He is a smaller guard at 5-11 and 165 pounds, but can be versatile as a play-maker or scorer and can shoot well from the perimeter as a jump shooter or attack the basket. Green is ranked as the 10th best point guard in the class of 2017 and has drawn interest from Syracuse, Texas, Xavier, Villanova, Temple, St. Joe’s, Providence, Louisville, and Michigan State. Assistant coaches Nate James and Nolan Smith have been in contact with him since Nike EYBL and “they like him a lot“.
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Duke is also targeting Connecticut point guard Tremont Waters, who received a scholarship offer from the Blue Devils after Nike EYBL. Waters is a prospect from South Kent High School who is more of a traditional point guard who looks to pass and is a very talented play-maker. He is also a smaller guard, at 5-11 and 155 but is still able to attack on offense and is active on defense. Waters also has offers from Kentucky, Connecticut, Yale, Michigan, and Miami.
Next season the Blue Devils will be without a true point guard on the roster, but Coach K will still most likely be able to manage with Grayson Allen, Matt Jones, Frank Jackson, and Luke Kennard possibly spending time at point guard and wing Jayson Tatum will be able to fill a similar role Brandon Ingram did this past season as a play-maker.
Duke will probably reach out and offer more point guard prospects before the end of the 2017 signing period hoping to find the next Blue Devil point guard, but these are the players Krzyzewski is targeting right now in addition to Trae Young from Oklahoma who was also at Nike EYBL and received a very early offer from Duke. Which point guard prospect do you think will be the best fit for the Blue Devils?