Three ideal Duke basketball offers to kickstart 2022 recruiting efforts

The Duke basketball staff should target a trio of 2022 talents this week.

We’ve reached that time of year when Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski and his assistants begin strategically selecting the bulk of their offer recipients from the class that will graduate high school in two years. As is often still the case at this point, no such offers are yet in place (keep in mind, unlike any other year, scouting will be next to impossible due to cancellations of all summer prep circuits).

Now, these Blue Devil invites might not pour out all at once. Based on recent recruiting cycles, though, we might expect to hear news of three or more across the next few weeks. The first could even come as early as Monday, the “Opening Day” for college recruiters to directly contact rising juniors.

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A boatload of potential headliners awaits. That includes Lincoln (Mich.) small forward Emoni Bates, the No. 1 prospect on the 247Sports 2022 Composite whom many insiders consider — and even did so last year — the best prep in all the land regardless of age. While ESPN.com has long checked the box under “Duke offer” for the 6-foot-8, 200-pound five-star, all other major recruiting sites reject the claim, suggesting that checkmark has never been accurate.

So is Bates among the three who should soon become the first 2022 recruits to land Duke offers? Hmm, let’s take a look at them one by one to find out…