Duke basketball: Blue Devils prioritize five-star showstopper

Duke basketball clearly has its eyes dead set on one particular 2023 prize.

Less than two weeks after the first of now three offers to the 2022 class, the initial Duke basketball recruiting offer to a 2023 prospect has arrived.

And the recipient, Kenwood (Ill.) small forward JJ Taylor, is no great surprise given the five-star’s hometown and lofty ranking. He’s a 6-foot-8, 195-pound sensation out of Chicago — a hotbed for spectacular Blue Devils over the years — who sits No. 7 overall on the 247Sports 2023 Composite.

As noted here at Ball Durham last week, the interest coming from Durham regarding Taylor has been on the rise this month.

Jon Scheyer, who is overseeing recruiting while preparing to succeed Mike Krzyzewski on the Blue Devil throne after the upcoming 2021-22 campaign, has now made known that Taylor is a top priority. The 2010 Duke basketball national champ has done so this week by extending the fellow northeastern Illinois product the program’s lone offer thus far on the 2023 trail.

Scheyer’s timing coincided with the first green-light day for college coaches to begin directly reaching out to rising high school juniors.

Currently, according to 247Sports, Taylor holds 17 other offers, including from an increasing number of powerhouses. Most notable are Arizona, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, and Michigan State.

Evaluating Duke basketball recruiting target JJ Taylor

Already drawing comparisons to 11-time NBA All-Star Kevin Durant, JJ Taylor is an electric athlete with a ridiculous wingspan. Add to that his deft handles and keen awareness on the court, not to mention his soft touch near the rim in addition to a lethal stroke from deep.

Plus, judging from the mixtapes, Taylor possesses quick hops to go along with a relentless motor and superb instincts down low, which make up for his relatively slim frame.

Taylor’s head coach, Mike Irvin, assessed the playmaker’s potential last fall during a chat with Chicago Sun-Times reporter Joe Henricksen:

"“I haven’t seen a 15-year-old kid — and I’ve coached and seen a lot of them — with the package of talent that he has. The things he can do are at another level. And you don’t see that type of swag at that age.”"

His older brother, Steve Taylor Jr., put up solid numbers in NCAA action from 2012 to 2017 while playing for Marquette and then Toledo.

Altogether, the Duke basketball staff has contacted a dozen or so 2023 talents in the past four days alone. Again, though, only JJ Taylor is an official Blue Devil target at this early juncture in the cycle.