Duke basketball: Coach K’s nephew might aid recruiting pursuit

The Duke basketball recruiters now have concurrent visitors on tap in June.

True, Andy Borman was just a seldom-used Duke basketball walk-on. But he was a 2001 national champ just the same. And nowadays, the former Blue Devil (1999-04) has been executive director of the New York Renaissance since 2014, also serving as head coach of the club’s 17U EYBL squad.

One would think that the above facts alone should boost the Blue Devils’ chances when pursuing any Renaissance talent (more on that here in a minute).

Yet don’t forget to throw in the tidbit that, as the son of Mickie Krzyzewski’s sister, Borman just so happens to be the nephew of 74-year-old Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski. Furthermore, his astronaut grandfather, Frank Borman, just so happened to be Coach K’s friend at West Point, long before “Coach K” was ever a thing.

With all of these connections in mind, it makes sense that Krzyzewski and his staff were recently able to secure a late-June official visit from four-star power forward Kyle Filipowski, a rising high school senior who currently attends Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Massachusetts but plays AAU ball for the NY RENS under Borman.

The 6-foot-11, 230-pound Filipowski currently ranks No. 57 overall on the 247Sports 2022 Composite after jumping more than 100 spots since this time last year while accumulating dozens of offers. He also has upcoming visits to Syracuse, Ohio State, Indiana, Iowa, Northwestern, and UConn.

Per Jake Weingarten of Stock Risers, Filipowski is likely to have some company during his Duke basketball trip in the form of Bishop Miege (Kan.) five-star small forward Mark Mitchell, who ranks No. 13 in the class and has tentatively scheduled an official visit with the Blue Devils for the last weekend in June as well.

ALSO READ: Duke staff may have found it preferred 2022 prize

Granted, neither Filipowski nor Mitchell boasts a Duke basketball offer, or at least there haven’t been any such reports. That said, no other 2022 prospects do yet either; plus, Filipowski and Mitchell are thus far the only two from the group slated to check out the campus in Durham this summer.

Now, rewinding here to the Duke-Borman-Filipowski link, here’s what the recruit himself said about his widely respected EYBL coach during a chat back in October with Overtime Heroics:

“Coach Andy Borman is an amazing guy. Definitely one of my favorite and best coaches I have played for…But he is so much more than maybe being known as Coach K’s nephew or being a coach. He has created his own image and respect by doing his passion by helping us players with our dreams and goals.”

A scouting report on Duke basketball recruiting target Kyle Filipowski

After watching the budding game of Kyle Filipowski at the New York City Invitational back in April, Eric Bossi of 247Sports evidently came away impressed, for the longtime recruiting expert provided the following glowing evaluation:

“Filipowski looks like a player who could be on his way to making a big rise in the class of 2022…he’s got the type of frame that will be able to carry more weight without costing him athleticism or flexibility. The key with Filipowski is that he blends skill with some toughness and a great motor.”

Bossi then followed that up by summarizing both his takeaway and outlook from assessing Filipowski:

“You never want to make too much of one outing, but if Filipowski had already been ranked in the top 50, then that type of ranking would have looked to be pretty legitimate. Look for him to be a hot name over the next few months.”

Indeed, it now looks as if Kyle Filipowski is well on his way to finding himself inside the top 50 among his peers. And of course, it sure seems as though he has already become a fairly hot name when speaking of the potential 2022 Duke basketball recruiting wishlist.