Three Blue Devils Ranked Among Top Players in College Basketball

A Duke Basketball player was ranked as the best player in college basketball for the 2016-17 season, but it’s the Blue Devil you expect…

Three Blue Devils were ranked in the Top 10 of Bleacher Report’s Top 50 Players for the 2016-17 college basketball season. Grayson Allen, Harry Giles, and Jayson Tatum were all ranked among the best players, however the top ranked athlete is not the Duke Basketball player most would expect.

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Freshman forward Harry Giles was ranked as the 9th best player in the NCAA. Despite missing his senior year, Giles was still considered one of the top players in the 2016 recruiting class. The author notes his health will play a big role for the 6-10 freshman, saying he has the potential to be the next Karl-Anthony Towns or Greg Oden, who recently described himself as the biggest bust in NBA history after injuries. Giles had a minor knee surgery right before the season and is expected to be ready to return to action next week. At full strength, he will be a versatile weapon for Duke who can dominate college basketball this season.

Junior shooting guard Grayson Allen was the next Blue Devil on the list ranked as the third best player in the NCAA. Allen is coming off an All-American season with Duke Basketball averaging 21.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. He’s the preseason favorite to win conference and national player of the year awards and is able to get hot at any minute and take over a game for Duke.

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Finally, freshman wing Jayson Tatum was ranked as the best player in college basketball this season. Other rankings have had Allen and even Giles projected to be the #1 player, but Bleacher Report decided to go with the “Smooth Assassin” Jayson Tatum. There is risk selecting the 6-8 small forward as the best player coming in as a freshman who’s never played an NCAA game, but he is an extremely talented player. Tatum is the reigning Gatorade Male Athlete of the Year and showed flashes of what he is capable of in the Countdown to Craziness scrimmage game. He suffered a foot injury in practice that has kept him sidelined so far this season, but he is expected to make his college basketball debut for the Blue Devils soon.

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The top-ranked Blue Devils are currently 2-0 this season, but will face a bigger test on Tuesday facing #3 Kansas in the Champions Classic. Hopefully Giles and Tatum will be cleared to return to action soon along with freshman center Marques Bolden, and we will be able to see what Duke will look like at full strength this season.

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