Duke Basketball: Key 2020 target ready to announce finalists

Will the Duke basketball program be among the final 10 for a recruit with the potential to rise to the top of the 2020 class rankings?

Duke basketball target Cade Cunningham makes things happen.

The five-star 2020 small forward makes decisions on the court pointing to his potential to at least sometimes run the point at the college level. His supreme confidence in his game and ability to generate offense when the ball is in his hands make experts admit his No. 7 ranking on the 247Sports Composite may still be six spots too low — he has climbed more than 30 spots during the past two years.

This past weekend at the Nike EYBL in Dallas, Cunningham’s 115 points across four games against many fellow five-stars was enough to make Evan Daniels, the 247Sports director of basketball recruiting, name him as his top performer.

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And on Thursday at 5 p.m. EST, the 6-foot-6, 215-pound eyepopper with an impressive aptitude for the game — similar in stature and abilities to former Blue Devil one-and-doner Gary Trent Jr. but with a little more pizzazz to his moves — will make an announcement.

No, Cunningham will not yet let the world know his college choice; he won’t likely do so until at least late summer and possibly as late as next spring.

What he will do, though, according to a tweet from Tipton Edits on Wednesday, is put out his list of 10 programs who still have a shot at snagging him for the season after next (thereafter, he’ll most likely be in the NBA).

In the present, the Arlington, Texas, native attends Montverde Academy in Florida and has also drawn comparisons to a recent one-and-done Dukie from his same school, R.J. Barrett.

But if the Duke coaches, who only recently extended him an offer, are to make him a Blue Devil like Barrett, they’ll first have to make the upcoming cut and then beat out some stiff competition.

Currently, 247Sports list nine programs to have offered him a scholarship; that being said, Cunningham recently told USA Today’s Jason Jordan there are many more he doesn’t feel the need to advertise.

Some of the programs other than Duke known to have offered and also likely to end up on his top 10 are Kansas, Virginia, Oklahoma State, and Texas (while Kentucky does not show up on his offer list, the general consensus is the Wildcat coaches are in the race, and the 247Sports Crystal Ball suggest they may be in second place behind Oklahoma State).

Right now, Duke has received a commitment from only one 2020 recruit: five-star point guard Jeremy Roach, who ranks No. 15 on the composite and, according to an article from The Kansas City Star’s Alex Schiffer, is one of the players Cunningham has said he could see himself teaming up with in college.

Head coach Mike Krzyzewski and his staff are also waiting on decisions from five other 2020 prospects who hold Duke offers: five-star small forward Jalen Johnson, who ranks No. 3; five-star small forward Scottie Barnes, who ranks No. 4; five-star shooting guard B.J. Boston, who ranks No. 8; five-star center Walker Kessler, who ranks No. 16; and four-star center Mark Williams, who ranks No. 46.

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