A heralded 2022 prep appears to be comfortable in a Duke basketball jersey.
At the moment, Montverde (Fla.) five-star small forward Dariq Whitehead is one of only two 2022 prospects who hold a Duke basketball recruiting offer. The other is Westtown (Pa.) four-star center Dereck Lively.
But Whitehead is now the only recruit in his class who has both become an official target of the Blue Devils and taken an official visit to Duke.
Meanwhile, Lively plans to be on campus at the end of June alongside two potential offer recipients: Wilbraham & Monson (Mass.) four-star power forward Kyle Filipowski and Sunrise Christian (Kan.) five-star small forward Mark Mitchell.
After Whitehead’s trip to Durham over the weekend, the 247Sports 2022 Composite’s No. 8 overall prospect tweeted a picture of himself wearing the No. 0 Duke basketball road getup and indicated that he enjoyed his time with the Blue Devils:
Had a great time on my first official💙 #notcommitted pic.twitter.com/XWlGwWBxik
— Dariq whitehead (@dariq_whitehead) June 13, 2021
Duke’s highest-ranked freshman-to-be, Paolo Banchero, who finished No. 2 overall on the 247Sports 2021 Composite and is currently in summer school along with the other three rookies, surely crossed paths with Whitehead the past couple of days. Afterward, he advised the program’s fans to pay attention to the coveted playmaker:
https://twitter.com/Pp_doesit/status/1404193568651202564?s=20
Predictions piling up for Duke basketball recruiting target Dariq Whitehead
Although the lone 247Sports Crystal Ball pick tags Florida State as the favorite to reel in the power-packed skillset of Dariq Whitehead, the Rivals FutureCast gives a different outlook. Currently, the three experts there who have entered forecasts each see the Duke basketball staff winding up with the New Jersey native.
All three of those picks have come within the past three weeks. And two have arrived in the past week alone.
As for Whitehead’s thoughts on potentially playing for Jon Scheyer, who is set to become head coach after Mike Krzyzewski hangs it up after his upcoming 42nd season at Duke, he recently implied to Jason Jordan of SI that the change is no deterrent:
"“I have always had a lot of respect for what Coach K did at Duke. How can you not? But Duke is Duke. It doesn’t really change anything for me with him leaving…I trust Coach Scheyer 100 percent as a head coach.”"
Thus far, the 16-year-old has neither taken nor scheduled any other official visits.
Dariq Whitehead has also yet to name a list of favorites. Instead, he has expressed no hurry in choosing a college destination.