Duke Basketball: All experts now peg Bryan Antoine as a Blue Devil

The Duke basketball program could be less than a month away from receiving word that the next great shooter is on his way to play in Durham.

When people are arguing about the best Duke basketball shooters of all-time years from now, current five-star prospect Bryan Antoine’s name might pop up in the conversation along with the likes of Grayson Allen, Luke Kennard, Jon Scheyer, J.J. Redick, and Trajan Langdon.

The first step to get to that point, though, is for Antoine to commit to Duke.

But if the experts used by the Crystal Ball at 247 Sports know what they are talking about, there is now a 100 percent chance that Antoine will join the Blue Devils in 2019. That mark is up from 94 percent just a week ago, and it is up from just 50 percent earlier in the summer — in June, Kentucky was considered to have the same odds as Duke to land the coveted prospect.

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The 6-foot-5, 170-pound shooting guard from New Jersey has scheduled three September visits: Florida on the 15th, Kentucky on the 22nd, and finishing with Duke on the 29th. Although he also said he would visit Villanova on Nov. 3, based on his past comments, it is likely that he will make his final decision before that day arrives.

At the end of June, Antoine said, “I feel that by September or October I’ll 110 percent have my decision made.”

According to the self-proclaimed prognosticator here at Ball Durham who typed the words on this page, Antoine will announce his commitment to the Duke Blue Devils on Sept. 30, the day after his visit to Durham.

And if the Duke coaching staff still has not sealed the deal with any other 2019 prospects by that time, Antoine will serve as an ideal pitchman for the Blue Devils and will hopefully be able to convince other five-stars to follow him.

The composite rankings at 247 Sports list Antoine as the top pure shooting guard in the 2019 class and the 11th-best player overall.

Rankings aside, though, all any Duke fans need to do is take a look at his highlight videos on YouTube in order to see the sweetness of his shooting stroke. Like Redick and the rest of the premier shooters from Duke’s past, Antoine’s form appears remarkably polished; it’s the kind of shot that always looks as if it is going to find the bottom of the net from the moment that it leaves his hand.

However, Antoine also has the ability to do something that most of the top shooters who played in Durham couldn’t: he comes within inches of hitting his head against the rim when he dunks (this aspect of his game closely resembles current Blue Devil freshman R.J. Barrett).

The combination of Antoine’s tough-to-forget shooting stroke and his crowd-wowing athleticism will give Duke fans plenty to dream about for the 2019-20 season (of course, he’ll first have to make his final decision official).

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