Predicting Duke basketball’s all-important 2022 recruiting class

Predicted 2022 Duke basketball commit: The speedy sharpshooter

• No. 38 overall on the 247Sports 2022 Composite
• La Lumiere School (La Porte, Ind.)

Surprisingly enough, bluebloods have yet to pile up in the recruitment of JJ Starling. Rather, at least for the moment, Duke is the only program with multiple national championships that has extended an offer to the 6-foot-3, 170-pound four-star guard.

Actually, according to both 247Sports and Rivals, Starling’s offer sheet is still in the single digits; his only official visit thus far was to Maryland the first week of June.

Evidently, many college coaches — maybe some recruiting analysts as well — haven’t yet seen enough of the New York native in action. Or perhaps they are just somehow underestimating the utter lethality of Starling’s oh-so-pure shooting stroke, not to mention his impassioned defense, breakneck speed, and creativity in transition.

Why Duke basketball should come out on top for JJ Starling

Yes, JJ Starling’s first name in combination with his most eye-popping skill obviously brings to mind Duke’s all-time scoring leader and 3-point legend, JJ Redick. However, despite that possible omen on top of the limited number of powerhouses in the mix, neither the 247Sports Crystal Ball nor Rivals FutureCast project the Blue Devils to win the Starling sweepstakes.

On the other hand, there are no Starling predictions, period, at either site. Meanwhile, his reaction to 247Sports after receiving his Duke offer in June ought to be somewhat encouraging to Blue Devil ears:

"“That was unreal, to be honest. We did a Zoom, and they were planning on waiting to offer me. They were waiting to see me play some more at Peach Jam…But yeah, they ended up calling me right back after the Zoom. And they ended up offering me, which was just so crazy to me because it was like a really big school that’s looking at me now.”"

No matter what, Starling owns the distinction as the first guard to ever receive an offer from Jon Scheyer, who was the point guard for the 2010 Blue Devil national champs.

Now, Coppell (Texas) five-star combo guard Anthony Black is also on that list. At this juncture, though, the prediction here at Ball Durham is Black will take his talents to somewhere other than Durham. And the same goes for one more 2022 recruit with a Duke offer, Sunrise Christian (Kan.) five-star small forward Mark Mitchell.