Duke basketball: Underrated prospect anticipates offer from Blue Devils

One overlooked Midwesterner should wind up on the Duke basketball wishlist.

Grand Island (Neb.) forward Isaac Traudt sits near the top of the list in terms of 2022 recruits who seem to check enough boxes to warrant a Duke basketball offer.

Traudt plays with a strong motor and high IQ. He exudes confidence on the floor. He’s athletic. His jumper is smooth. Best of all, though, he’s both slick and powerful with the ball in his hands.

Plus, as his dad, Brandon Traudt, explained to Ball Durham in November, the 6-foot-9, 205-pound four-star has quite a versatile skillset due to his time spent at point guard prior to an extreme growth spurt leading up to his sophomore campaign.

ALSO READ: Father of elite recruit talks Blue Devil fandom and more

Given his size and potential, his No. 53 overall ranking on the 247Sports 2022 Composite doesn’t seem high enough. Of course, that may just be a result of his arriving late on the national scene while never playing for a high-profile prep or AAU team. Regardless, Traudt noted this week to Joseph Tipton of Tipton Edits that his insufficient ranking doesn’t consume his thoughts:

“I still think I should be quite a bit higher, but I’m not too worried about it…I still don’t pay much attention to rankings at all because as soon as you step foot on a college campus, nobody cares what you were ranked in high school.”

Will the Duke basketball coaches eventually target Isaac Traudt?

Despite all the positive qualities in addition to Isaac Traudt’s admitted appreciation for NBA Blue Devils — not to mention his dad is a longtime enthusiastic follower from afar of the Duke-UNC rivalry — the Blue Devils haven’t yet fully entered the mix for the 17-year-old.

That said, the staff in Durham remains seemingly the only one in the country that has yet to officially enter the race for any high school juniors.

However, during his chat with Tipton, Traudt named Duke as one of six schools he’s heard from that he also expects to receive an offer from at some point down the road. The others he listed are Gonzaga, Illinois, Michigan State, North Carolina, and Virginia.

Currently, Traudt holds more than two dozen offers. He told Tipton his recruitment remains wide open but added that Creighton, Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisville, and Virginia have been contacting him the most of late.

Surely, Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski and his gang will eventually go on a 2022 offer spree. Whenever that day comes, it wouldn’t be a shock if Isaac Traudt is among the recipients.

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