How long will the Duke basketball coaches have to wait before giving A.J. Griffin some company in the 2021 class?
Two weeks ago, Ball Durham told Duke basketball fans to “be on the lookout for the Blue Devils’ 2021 class to have its first pledge by Christmas” and pointed to Archbishop Stepinac (N.Y.) five-star small forward A.J. Griffin as the top candidate.
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Two weeks later, Christmas arrived early when Griffin announced his commitment somewhat out of the blue — though the No. 8 prospect on the 247Sports 2021 Composite had been in attendance at Duke’s Countdown to Craziness on Oct. 18. At this point so early in the 2021 cycle, Duke and Kentucky are the only schools with top-50 commits.
So which high school junior is most likely to be the next to join #TheBrotherhood? And will his commitment most likely also come ridiculously early?
Taking a stab at the first question, the best guess seems to be Rolling Meadows (Ill.) five-star shooting guard Max Christie, who ranks No. 14 and starred alongside Griffin for Team USA at the FIBA U16 Americas Championship in June.
Not only is Christie from the Chicago area, a breeding ground for Blue Devils across the past three decades, but so is the assistant leading his recruitment, Jon Scheyer. But Scheyer and Christie share even more in common than where they come from, notably their frames and playing styles.
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The 6-foot-6, 175-pound Christie, like Scheyer, has the handles and instincts to fill in at point guard when necessary as well as the height and aptitude to hold his own against small forwards. Plus, Christie’s stroke makes it look as if he watched endless highlights of Scheyer pulling up for his 3-point attempts with locked-in positioning of his elbow out front. First, look at how Christie does it:
Now, look at how Scheyer once did it:
In addition to a perceived advantage due to the many similarities between the prospect and his suitor, Scheyer now always looks like the favorite after lighting up the recruiting trail as of late. The 32-year-old has been the lead recruiter for Griffin, D.J. Steward, Jalen Johnson, Jeremy Roach, Matthew Hurt, Vernon Carey Jr., Tre Jones, Cam Reddish, and Joey Baker. He ranks as the nation’s No. 1 recruiter for 2020, per 247Sports, and finished among the top five in each of the previous two cycles.
So Scheyer appears to give Duke a significant edge for Christie, but in terms of the Blue Devils landing another 2021 commit by Christmas, well, at this point, that seems a bit unlikely yet certainly not out of the question.
Christie’s Crystal Ball does already contain nine picks (all favoring Duke). That’s three more than were in for Griffin at the time of his announcement. And that’s more than are in for any of the other high school juniors currently holding Duke basketball offers (five-star small forwards Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Jonathan Kuminga plus five-star power forward Paolo Banchero).
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However, Christie has not scheduled any official visits (his 17-deep offer sheet does not include any of the top blue-blood competition that Duke typically sees for five-stars). Furthermore, the 16-year-old told Rivals’ Krysten Peek in October that he is taking his time with his recruitment and has not “closed any doors yet.”
That being said, two of the Crystal Ball picks have come in within the past few days — one from Devils Den insider Adam Rowe and the other from Chicago-area writer Alex Blethen. And it doesn’t seem likely that the Duke basketball staff would allow Griffin to remain lonely for long as the only 2021 commit.
Duke’s top competitor for Christie could be Chris Collins at Northwestern. Not only is the former Duke basketball player and assistant also from the Chicago area, but he also played the same position and has been in heavy pursuit of Christie for more than a year.
Plus, becoming a Wildcat would keep Christie about 800 miles closer to home than if he was to become a Blue Devil and allow him to follow in the footsteps of his mother, Katrina, who racked up more than 1,000 points for the Northwestern women’s basketball program in her day (per IndyStar’s Matthew Bain).
Either way, a smart bet would be for a former Duke basketball guard to land Christie. As for which one, and when, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more Duke basketball recruiting updates, analyses, opinions, and predictions.