Trained eyes have chimed in with decisive takes concerning one half of the 2020 Duke basketball class.
With potentially as few as three returning scholarship players on tap for next season, Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski can ill afford for his incoming crop of freshmen to be a total bust upon arrival. After all, he’ll likely need to call upon three or more to assume starting roles from Day One.
Right now, one could assume the 72-year-old has nothing to worry about due to the top 50 rankings on the 247Sports 2020 Composite of all six signees: Wisconsin-native small forward Jalen Johnson at No. 6, Paul VI Catholic (Va.) point guard Jeremy Roach at No. 23, Whitney Young (Ill.) combo guard D.J. Steward at No. 26, IMG Academy (Fla.) center Mark Williams at No. 30, Huntington Prep (W.Va.) power forward Jaemyn Brakefield at No. 40, and Trinity Episcopal (Va.) power forward Henry Coleman at No. 42.
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Keep in mind, however, that individual rankings themselves are often complete busts. Just look at these two inexplicably low rankings for Duke basketball players in recent years: Zion Williamson at No. 5 in 2018 and Jordan Goldwire at No. 398 in 2017. Or look at these two Blue Devils’ inexplicably high rankings in 2016: big men Javin DeLaurier at No. 39 and Marques Bolden at No. 14.
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So rankings aside, in regards to the three members of Krzyzewski’s 2020 haul who played over the weekend at the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass., a couple of respected analysts gave up-to-date thoughts on what Duke basketball fans should expect from each.
We’ll start with the highest-ranked of the three…