Duke basketball: Ranking the 5 finalists for JJ Starling

Is Duke basketball a few weeks away from coming out on top for JJ Starling?

In early July, three weeks before Jon Scheyer reeled in his first recruit as Duke basketball head coach-in-waiting, Ball Durham forecasted which 2022 targets would wind up in Durham. A couple of them have since committed to the Blue Devils. Meanwhile, none of the four have pledged allegiance elsewhere.

ALSO READ: Predicting Duke’s all-important 2022 recruiting class

That list of projected prizes for Scheyer & Co. included La Lumiere (Ind.) four-star guard JJ Starling, who ranks No. 35 on the 247Sports 2022 Composite.

This week, the 6-foot-4, 180-pound noted sharpshooter moved a step closer to potentially proving this site’s prediction correct by naming Duke in his final five alongside Northwestern, Notre Dame, Stanford, and Syracuse. Starling also said he anticipates announcing a winner in his recruitment at some point in October.

With that timetable in mind, it’s time to survey the situation again and try to decipher whether the Blue Devils are indeed the frontrunners. We’ll do so by stacking up Starling’s five favorites here, from last to first, factoring in his recent comments, scheduled official visits, various tidbits, and the general buzz among insiders.