Announcement date for Duke basketball target seems obvious

The only unanswered 2020 Duke basketball offer may only stay that way a few more days, but is there any doubt what the answer will be?

Jeremy Roach, Jalen Johnson, D.J. Steward, and Jaemyn Brakefield each pledged allegiance to the Duke basketball program without setting an announcement date beforehand. Henry Coleman and Mark Williams, the program’s other two early signees, went the other route.

DeMatha Catholic (Md.) center Hunter Dickinson, Roach’s teammate on the Nike EYBL circuit, represents the Blue Devils’ last remaining 2020 target — for now — and past hints plus his date of birth yields Ball Durham’s following educated guess: the 7-foot-2, 260-pound four-star should announce his choice between finalists Duke, Michigan, Florida State, and Notre Dame come Monday.

Not only does Dickinson turn 20 on that day — naturally, birthdays often coincide with announcements — but he has also repeatedly expressed every intention to have his decision out of the way before his senior season gets underway come Nov. 30.

At this point, all we know for certain is that Dickinson — who ranks No. 35 on the 247Sports 2020 Composite and resembles 2010 Duke basketball national champion Brian Zoubek, but with better mobility and a few more offensive weapons — will not sign during the fall period that ended on Wednesday.

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So regardless of when it happens, whichever school hears the ultimate good news from Dickinson, who was at Duke on an official visit the weekend of Oct. 18 and attended Countdown to Craziness, will then just have to hope the burly lefty keeps his word come the regular signing period (April 15 – May 20).

Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, the word on the street is their chances are all but nonexistent. The Crystal Ball unanimously favors the Wolverines, albeit one prognosticator did recently switch his pick to a question mark. Of course, Michigan head coach Juwan Howard — who visited the big man at his school on Tuesday, per Stock Risers’ Jake Weingarten — must also feel extra optimistic in light of Dickinson’s girlfriend, Ziyah Holman, signing with the track program in Ann Arbor on Nov. 13.

And it appears as if the Duke basketball coaches, who were late to the race with their extended offer in late September, see the writing on the wall. On Sunday, while seeming to need only one more piece to their 2020 puzzle — another big man — three assistants were on hand to check out four-star 2021 center Charles Bediako, who turns 18 in March and has indicated that a reclass to 2020 remains a serious possibility.

ALSO READ: Duke coaches eye possible final piece to 2020 class

That said, when it comes to the Duke basketball recruiting heavyweights — owners of three of the nation’s past five No. 1 classes, with one such class including Zion Williamson, whom practically no one thought would pick the Blue Devils — it’s reasonable to sometimes expect the unexpected when the expectation is that Duke will lose a major recruiting bout.

Translation: The battle for Dickinson, who has stayed relatively quiet about his recruitment throughout and especially quiet as of late, isn’t over until it’s over.

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