Duke basketball: Blue Devils losing ground for No. 1 recruit

It’s time to throw a little cold water on those Duke basketball fans dreaming of the top high school junior becoming a Blue Devil.

Ever since extending an offer to The Patrick School (N.J.) small forward Jonathan Kuminga in July, the Duke basketball staff seems to have steadily cooled its pursuit. Meanwhile, coaches from other programs — primarily from the SEC — are increasingly checking in on the 247Sports 2021 Composite’s No. 1 player.

Apparently, recruiting experts have taken notice, for a shift to the predictions is becoming obvious.

On Wednesday, the top early predictor in the business, Andrew Slater, entered a pick for LSU into Kuminga’s Crystal Ball, representing the first non-Duke pick to date (the three favoring the Blue Devils all came in back in early September when the Duke chatter was still hot). And then on Thursday, 247Sports top dog Evan Daniels weighed in on whether Duke or Kentucky has the upper hand to land the 6-foot-9, 220-pound Congo native:

"“Of those two, I would definitely say Kentucky has a better chance. They have offered and met with Kuminga to start the open period. I’m not sure where Duke stands with recruiting Kuminga at this point. I know that LSU is involved. So is Nebraska and a host of others. But it’s still early.”"

But it may not be as early as one would expect for a high school junior considering that Kuminga has not ruled out the possibility of reclassing to 2020. And the amount of attention he is now receiving from certain coaches suggests they fully expect him to do so, which would translate into his deciding on a school as early as spring.

ALSO READ: Jonathan Kuminga responds to reclass question

When the Duke offer went out, Mike Krzyzewski was strongly in favor of the reclass option, per insider Adam Zagoria. Ironically, though, talk of the 17-year-old moving up a grade could now be a reason for the Duke basketball camp to back off — due to the Blue Devils already holding commitments from three top-40 forwards and only needing to add two big men to their already five-deep, top-ranked 2020 class.

Kentucky head coach John Calipari, on the other hand, may have exactly what Kuminga is looking for now that the Wildcats hold a commitment from Terrence Clarke, who announced his own reclass a few weeks ago and ranks No. 4 on the 247Sports 2020 Composite.

"“Jonathan Kuminga has been seen as a Duke lean and reclassification candidate,” Kentucky Sports Radio’s Jack Pilgrim tweeted in mid-September. “Interestingly, the nation’s No. 1 prospect told me at Peach Jam that he was hoping to form a ‘super team’ in college and named Terrence Clarke as someone he had talked to about it.“This is significant.”"

So what’s all the fuss about Kuminga, anyway?

Well, for starters, the force he displays when driving to the hoop — combined with his commanding floor presence on both ends — is second only to Duke basketball icon Zion Williamson when speaking of recent high school prospects. Just watch a few minutes of the most recent Kuminga mixtape:

As for the simple summary, Kuminga is lean, mean, explosive, lengthy, instinctive, and lightning-quick. Therefore, as soon as he polishes off his outside shot a bit more, there will be absolutely no doubt that he’ll be deadly at any level.

Speaking of levels, Kuminga’s game says he has no business playing two more high school seasons, which seems to be the overriding indicator that he will indeed reclass. As for the Duke coaches’ interest, if it is indeed tapering off for whatever reason, they’d just better hope he ends up at a program that is not on their schedule for whichever one season he is in college.

The other four 2021 prospects with Duke basketball offers at the moment are, like Kuminga, all five-stars: small forward Patrick Baldwin Jr., small forward A.J. Griffin, power forward Paolo Banchero, and shooting guard Max Christie.

ALSO READ: Blue Devils zoom in on foreign 2021 big man

Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more Duke basketball recruiting updates, analyses, opinions, and predictions.