Duke basketball: New Jersey PG seeking Blue Devil attention
By Matt Giles
One 2024 backcourt prospect is already expressing Duke basketball interest.
The Duke basketball program has seen two New Jersey floor generals, Bobby Hurley and Jay Williams, forever hang their jersey numbers in the Cameron Indoor Stadium rafters. Plus, the current Blue Devil roster includes a guard from The Garden State in freshman Jaylen Blakes.
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With the Jersey-to-Durham pipeline in mind, it’s no surprise that during his recent chat with national recruiting insider Andrew Slater, Don Bosco Prep (N.J.) point guard Dylan Harper listed Duke as one of the schools he hopes to hear from soon. The 2024 talent also mentioned Villanova and Michigan in this regard.
Although 247Sports has yet to rate or rank the present-day crop of high school sophomores, Harper appears in line to receive somewhat favorable marks. After all, it seems he’s shining this weekend at the Pangos All-East Camp for freshman and sophomores in New Jersey. Via tweet, Slater included the 6-foot-5, 180-pound speedster as a top standout from Day 1 at the event.
A scout’s promising assessment of the potential Duke basketball target
Over at Rivals, which unveiled its top 40 from the 2024 class last week, national recruiting analyst Rob Cassidy explained why Dylan Harper was one of the five names that were toughest to leave off the initial rankings:
“Harper is intriguing, to say the least. When he’s good, he’s great, but [he] is also prone to off days. He was discussed for a slot at the back end of the top 40 but was ultimately held out, as we’d like the sample size on his game to grow before we slot him.”
Cassidy continued, paying close attention to Harper’s strong hoops pedigree:
“The son of former NBA standout Ron Harper and younger brother of Rutgers star Ron Harper Jr., Dylan Harper is a lefty with a high basketball IQ and an attack-the-rim mentality. He’ll likely see his name when the rankings begin to expand.”
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At this early stage in his recruitment, Dylan Harper already holds roughly a half-dozen scholarship offers, with the most notable ones being from Georgetown and Georgia Tech. Meanwhile, the Duke basketball staff has yet to extend any 2024 offers of its own.