Duke Basketball: Isaiah Stewart reportedly schedules final official visit
By Matt Giles
One of the top centers of the 2019 class will reportedly take an official visit to the Duke basketball program the last weekend of November.
If the Duke basketball coaches can land commitments from both Vernon Carey Jr. and Isaiah Stewart — who, according to Jake Weingarten of Stockrisers, is now planning to take his official visit to Duke from Nov. 23-25 — the Blue Devils would have a dual force in the frontcourt next season that would rival that of a season ago when they had current NBA rookies Wendell Carter Jr. and Marvin Bagley III.
Considering the slew of recruiting successes in recent years by Mike Krzyzewski and his staff — including the haul of top-five talents Carter Jr. and Bagley — it’s certainly reasonable to think they could convince the pair that the benefits outweigh any potential disadvantages when it comes to them sharing the paint as Blue Devils.
Possibly a good sign for Coach K and Co. is that the thought has already been praised by Carey Jr., the No. 2-ranked 2019 recruit on the 247Sports Composite who took his official visit to Duke the weekend of Oct. 19 and attended Countdown to Craziness.
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“I think it’s more attractive to play with another big, actually,” the 6-foot-10, 275-pound native of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., said in October, according to Jason Jordan of USA Today. “I think it would help both of us. I want to win and whatever gives us the best chance to do that is what I want to do.”
Carey Jr., whose game includes overpowering moves around the basket as well as surprising handles and a smooth outside shot, is expected to announce his college choice — the Crystal Ball favors Duke at the moment — by the end of the month.
As for Stewart — a broad-shouldered big man whose defensive prowess is his most eye-opening asset — he told Evan Daniels of 247Sports on Monday, “Would love to get my decision over with before the season really starts up.”
Well, that would suggest an announcement could come shortly after the 6-foot-9, 245-pounder from Rochester, N.Y. — playing his senior season for La Lumiere School in Indiana — returns from his Duke visit, which he had scheduled for two weeks ago but had to postpone due to scheduling conflicts.
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And it certainly can’t hurt the Blue Devils’ chances that the Durham campus will be the freshest in his memory whenever he does make his decision. Stewart, ranked No. 5 on the composite rankings, took his other four visits during the past two months to Washington, Kentucky, Syracuse, and Michigan State (as of right now, 44 percent of the experts at the Crystal Ball predict he will be a Spartan; 31 percent peg him as a Blue Devil).
The Duke coaches already have verbal commitments (fall signing period is from Nov. 14-21) from five-star small forward Wendell Moore (ranked No. 23 on the composite rankings) and four-star combo guard Boogie Ellis (No. 35). They also have an offer on the table to five-star forward Matthew Hurt (No. 6), who is not expected to announce his college choice until the spring.
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