Duke Basketball: Blue Devils are favorites to snag five-star SG Bryan Antoine

The Duke basketball program is an overwhelming favorite to land the services of five-star shooting guard Bryan Antoine, but Kentucky is also in the mix.

Bryan Antoine is the kind of guard with no obvious weaknesses — think of a much quicker version of Gary Trent Jr. The target of the Duke basketball coaching staff is somewhere between solid and sensational when it comes to each aspect of his game.

In terms of his shooting, the needle falls on the side of sensational. The 6-foot-5, 170-pound shooting guard is notorious for lighting up scoreboards with three-pointers that typically come in bunches.

And Antoine could be lighting up social media soon about his decision as to where he wants to play his college ball. The New Jersey native trimmed his list to five schools before the start of the summer, but he has only scheduled official visits to four of them; three of those visits are coming up in September.

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According to the Crystal Ball at 247 Sports, there is a 94 percent chance that Antoine will become a Blue Devil. However, a couple of experts are predicting that he will end up at Kentucky, which currently has the top-rated class in the country with commitments from two athletes ranked in the top 10 of 247 Sports’ composite ranking.

Antoine is scheduled to make an official visit to Duke on Sept. 29. Before that, he will visit Florida on Sept. 15 and Kentucky on Sept. 22.

While he has scheduled a visit to Villanova for Nov. 3 — there is no word of him taking an official visit to Kansas, the fifth school on his list — he has also indicated in the past that he plans to make his final decision by September or October so that he can have the distraction out of the way before his final high school season begins.

It’s possible that Antoine makes an announcement as soon as he returns from his visit to Durham. And if he does go that route, chances are that the content of the announcement would put smiles on the faces of all Duke fans who hear it.

Although the Duke Blue Devils are also considered to be the favorite to land two other guards, Josiah James and Cole Anthony, Antoine is the purest shooting guard of the three.

Not only does Antoine have the opportunity to give the Duke basketball program its first commitment for the 2019 class, but he also could give the Blue Devils a defender capable of becoming a serious headache for guards across the ACC.

He has an obvious court awareness that allows him to know where the ball is likely to go next, plus the speed to get him there.

Combine that defense with his ability to find the bottom of the net from deep; the result is a player who Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski wants on his team.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more Duke basketball recruiting updates and analysis.