Duke Basketball: Josiah James could be a stable solution at point guard

Five-star point guard Josiah James, who has now set the dates for his official visits, is exactly what the Duke basketball program needs to have stability at point guard during the one-and-done era.

Josiah James, likely to be the first recruit from the 2019 class to give a commitment to the Duke basketball coaches, may not be quite talented enough to leave college for the NBA after just one season.

But that means James, who just scheduled his official visit to Durham for Sept. 21,  is a perfect candidate to help ease the Blue Devils’ season-after-season pain that results from the departures of so many one-and-done players.

In other words, he could follow in the footsteps of former Blue Devil Grayson Allen by providing Duke with a star-caliber player who also becomes a recognizable face for fans to get to know for at least a couple of seasons to come.

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According to the composite rankings at 247Sports, the 6-foot-6, 200-pound native of Charleston, S.C., is considered the 13th-best prospect in his class and the third-best combo guard (at one point the site listed him as the top pure point guard in the country).

And according to the experts used by the Crystal Ball at 247Sports, James has an 88 percent chance to end up a Blue Devil. He is also still considering Tennessee, Clemson, and Michigan State (although the Spartans own the Crystal Ball’s other 12 percent, James just canceled his October visit to East Lansing, and some experts believe this means they no longer have a chance).

The Blue Devils are also heavily pursuing a likely one-and-done recruit, Cole Anthony, who plays a similar position as James. But that doesn’t seem to bother James, further indicating that he may have more of a long-term vision at whatever school he chooses.

“It would be (an ideal situation to play with Anthony), I think so,” James said, according to 247Sports’ Adam Rowe. “Playing with a point guard like him is a dream of mine because he’s a winner and I want to win at every level of basketball that I play at. So you need a point guard like him to win, a really top-notch point guard like him can help you win, so I’d definitely think it’d be great to play with him.”

Having a point guard like James to stick around for a few seasons just to keep having fun while winning more college games would act as an ideal weapon for Duke to combat its recurring one-and-done issue.

But the first step is for the Duke coaches to convince James to commit during his visit in a couple of weeks.

Then the next step will be for the Cameron Crazies to do their part in convincing him to stay for a while.

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