Major Duke basketball recruiting target teases decision

Duke basketball might be optimistic while awaiting word from Mark Mitchell.

Sunrise Christian (Kan.) small forward Mark Mitchell has not set an announcement date. Nonetheless, seeing that the high school senior reconfirmed his December timeline, the Duke basketball staff should find out his decision any day now.

Mitchell, who ranks No. 15 overall on the 247Sports 2022 Composite, plans to choose between three finalists: Duke, Missouri, and UCLA.

Here’s what the 6-foot-8, 205-pound five-star tweeted about that on Wednesday morning:

Minutes later, a 2022 Duke signee, five-star power forward Kyle Filipowski, greeted Mitchell on Twitter, surely to let him know that he’s paying attention:

Currently, four of the five entered predictions inside the 247Sports Crystal Ball favor Duke to land Mitchell. The other one points to UCLA.

After taking an official visit to Durham in mid-October that coincided with Countdown to Craziness, Mitchell suggested to Jacob Polacheck of Zagsblog that his trip to Blue Devil Land left him, at the very least, enthusiastic about the program:

“I loved it. Duke is everything they say it is. With Cameron Indoor, the Crazies, and everything, it’s definitely really cool to see that place rocking like that. It was really cool.”

Summarizing the 2022 Duke basketball recruiting battles

The Duke Blue Devils already boast the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class, per 247Sports. They have signatures from Filipowski plus three other highly touted prospects in four-star shooting guard Jaden Schutt, five-star small forward Dariq Whitehead, and five-star center Dereck Lively, who sits atop the rankings.

Thus far, Duke’s only loss on the 2022 recruiting trail was in the race for five-star point guard JJ Starling, who picked Notre Dame in early October and then signed his letter of intent with the Fighting Irish a month later.

Although the Blue Devils also still have an offer out to five-star combo guard Anthony Black, it seems they are now a longshot in his recruitment.