New Duke basketball target addresses decision timeline

The Duke basketball wishlist may include one name in particular for months.

Per the Thursday SI blog from Montverde Academy (Fla.) guard/forward Caleb Houstan, the 6-foot-8, 205-pound five-star sharpshooter has no intention of making any more major moves in regards to his recruitment anytime soon. The newest 2021 Duke basketball offer recipient wrote the following about his timeline for picking a school:

“The next step for me is just getting more information and building relationships. I’ll be talking more to my family about when to cut things down, but there’s no rush for me.”

Adding that patient approach to the fact Houstan listed Duke among his most fervent suitors of late — Mike Krzyzewski and his gang officially entered the race in late June — one can expect the Blue Devils to remain in contention for quite some time.

ALSO READ: Predicting where each 2021 Duke target will land

Houstan, who now ranks No. 8 on the 247Sports 2021 Composite after announcing his reclass up a grade last week, noted that he is also hearing often from Arizona, Arkansas, Michigan, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, and Virginia.

Jason Jordan of SI summed up the 17-year-old out of Mississauga, Ont. — the same hometown as former Montverde and Duke star RJ Barrett — in his introduction to Houstan’s blog:

“Caleb Houstan is an SI All-American nominee and one of the top shooting guards in the country, regardless of class. This season, [he] was an intricate part of what some were saying could be the best high school team ever; Monteverde Academy (Fla.) finished No. 1 in the country and undefeated. Houstan led the U16 Canadian National Team last summer, averaging 22.8 points a game…”

Though the 247Sports Crystal Ball for Houstan remains void of predictions, some insiders have suggested that North Carolina is an early favorite due in part to the staff’s persistent efforts dating back to its offer in January. However, the recruit himself only specifically highlighted the efforts of one school in his blog, which could give the competition reason to worry about creative Cavalier minds:

“Virginia did something different, which I liked; they showed highlights from me scoring, and then they showed a clip of their guys scoring the same way. They were just showing me how easily I would fit into their system. I thought that was cool. I hadn’t seen that before.”

Sounds like a challenge to Coach K & Co. to up its thinking-outside-the-box game.

Others on the 2021 Duke basketball radar

Five other rising seniors are still contemplating Duke basketball offers. All are five-stars: Sunrise Christian (Kan.) point guard Kennedy Chandler, Paul VI (Va.) shooting guard Trevor Keels, Hamilton (Wis.) small forward Patrick Baldwin Jr., O’Dea (Wash.) power forward Paolo Banchero, and IMG (Fla.) center Charles Bediako.

Archbishop Stepinac (N.Y.) five-star small forward AJ Griffin, who is the nation’s highest-ranked commit at the moment at No. 6, remains the Blue Devils’ only piece to the 2021 class.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more on Caleb Houstan plus other Duke basketball recruiting news and views.