Ranking Duke basketball’s 14 recruiting prospects from 2023 class

One or more of these 14 names might someday be on a Duke basketball jersey.

Last week marked the start of 2023 recruiting efforts, at least with respect to coaches seeing a green light to directly contact rising high school juniors. And across the past several days, there have been reports of the Duke basketball staff talking to 13 prospects from the class.

In this ranking, though, we’ve included a 14th recruit — quite a popular one at that — who would seem to be on the Blue Devil radar even though there has been no word of any recent calls from Duke basketball head coach-in-waiting Jon Scheyer or the other recruiters in Durham.

Anyway, all 14 of these players rank inside the top 35 on the 247Sports 2023 Rankings. So when it comes to reaching for top-shelf prizes, it looks as if Scheyer intends to mirror Mike Krzyzewski, who will retire next spring after 42 years as Duke basketball CEO.

Now, due to a relatively deep crop of premier 2023 talents, bear in mind here that there’s not a ton of separation between these fellas in terms of their skills, athleticism, and potential. Remember how young they are as well.

In other words, at this early juncture, deciding how the 14 stack up involves no perfect science.

But the general formula to output their order first takes into account their rankings on national recruiting sites. Their potential individual fits as Blue Devils also carry weight, with a focus on playing styles plus how each comes across in interviews and whatnot.

OK, let’s begin…