Duke basketball: Jon Scheyer’s handpicked targets soaring in rankings

Duke basketball chief-in-waiting Jon Scheyer clearly has an eye for talent.

This week, 247Sports updated its 2022 rankings. Those changes, of course, significantly affected the composite rankings. And some of the biggest jumps suggest that Jon Scheyer, who is set to succeed Mike Krzyzewski as Duke basketball head coach after next season, has thus far extended offers to a worthy bunch in what is his first recruiting cycle as the primary decision-maker.

Indeed, in a couple of cases, the increases were quite dramatic.

Take, for example, Westtown (Pa.) center Dereck Lively. In early June, the 7-foot-1, 220-pound five-star — known as a fantastic finisher and skilled post defender — became the first 2022 recruit to receive an offer from the Blue Devils.

At the time, Lively sat No. 35 overall on the 247Sports 2022 Composite and No. 42 overall on the site’s own Top247. Now, he’s at No. 10 and No. 3, respectively.

A look at the five other 2022 Duke basketball targets

Believe it or not, Lively’s rise on the Top247 was arguably not the most impressive among the six rising high school seniors holding Duke basketball offers.

No, that distinction seems to belong to Coppell (Texas) combo guard Anthony Black, who is the program’s most recent offer recipient. The 6-foot-7, 185-pound four-star went from No. 85 to No. 16 on the Top247 and from No. 61 to No. 43 on the 247Sports 2022 Composite.

Another giant leap involved Wilbraham & Monson (Mass.) four-star power forward Kyle Filipowski, who soared from No. 86 to No. 40 on the Top247 and from No. 47 to No. 33 on the 247Sports 2022 Composite. Also, La Lumiere (Ind.) four-star point guard JJ Starling went from No. 62 to No. 37 on the Top 247 and from No. 45 to No. 38 on the 247Sports 2022 Composite.

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Meanwhile, Montverde (Fla.) five-star small forward Dariq Whitehead leapfrogged two spots to No. 7 on the Top247 but fell one spot to No. 6 on the 247Sports 2022 Composite. Finally, Sunrise Christian (Kan.) five-star small forward Mark Mitchell saw his composite ranking move up one notch to No. 9 overall despite 247Sports dropping him a spot to No. 11.

To date, the Blue Devils have hosted four of their six 2022 targets for official visits, all of which came in June. Those visitors were Whitehead, Filipowski, Lively, and Mitchell. Currently, Starling and Black have yet to schedule trips to Durham.

For now, Jon Scheyer and his gang are still awaiting their first 2022 pledge.