Duke basketball recruiting appears to be on the verge of a statement prize.
In early June, Montverde (Fla.) rising senior Dariq Whitehead became the first from his class to visit the Duke basketball program in an official capacity. During various interviews beforehand and afterward, the 6-foot-8, 205-pound small forward mentioned a passionate Blue Devil fandom dating back to his childhood.
Now, he plans to announce his college decision on Sunday — no specified time just yet — despite having never revealed finalists.
It’s worth noting that Whitehead, who ranks No. 6 overall on the 247Sports 2022 Composite, also took official visits to Florida State and Kansas. Plus, several more high-major schools have extended offers to the five-star playmaker out of New Jersey.
However, one glance at either the 247Sports Crystal Ball or Rivals FutureCast suggests that any outcome other than Whitehead donning a Duke jersey would go down as a significant upset.
Ten experts combined between those two sites have entered predictions for the Whitehead race, and they all see him winding up in Durham. The most recent pick was from 247Sports insider Travis Branham on Thursday and came with a “high” confidence level.
Other potential 2022 Duke basketball pledges
Assuming no one beats him to it, Dariq Whitehead could become the first recruit in history to commit to Duke head coach-in-waiting Jon Scheyer and his gang.
ALSO READ: Predicting Duke’s all-important 2022 recruiting class
Meanwhile, there are reasons to believe the Blue Devils remain in contention for each of their six other 2022 prospects: five-star small forward Mark Mitchell, five-star center Dereck Lively, four-star point guard JJ Starling, four-star combo guard Anthony Black, four-star power forward Kyle Filipowski, and three-star shooting guard Jaden Schutt.
Of those six, only the Crystal Ball for Filipowski shows Duke with an absolute advantage.