Duke basketball: Mark Mitchell announces decision time

A heralded Duke basketball recruiting target is ready to reveal his choice.

Sunrise Christian (Kan.) small forward Mark Mitchell tweeted on Thursday that he’ll announce the winner of his high-profile recruitment at 4 p.m. ET Friday. The prep senior, whose 247Sports Crystal Ball continues to favor his Duke basketball suitors, will do so live on CBS Sports HQ.

In addition to Duke, Missouri and UCLA remain as finalists for Mitchell, who ranks No. 15 overall on the 247Sports 2022 Composite and attended the Blue Devils’ annual Countdown to Craziness during an official visit in October.

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Naturally, Missouri is the closest-to-home option. Meanwhile, attending UCLA would allow the 6-foot-8, 205-pound remarkably versatile five-star to live near his older brother in Los Angeles.

As for Mitchell’s thoughts on the Blue Devils and Duke basketball head coach-in-waiting Jon Scheyer specifically, well, he recently said the following in a chat with 247Sports recruiting analyst Eric Bossi:

“I think the relationship that I have with coach Scheyer, we’ve developed a great relationship…[Scheyer and assistant coach Chris Carrawell] are really close to my family, and the last visit was good too. Dereck Lively was there with me, Dariq Whitehead was there with me, and we just bonded. It was just the family atmosphere, and that really helped me.”

Duke basketball’s potential to lock up another No. 1 class

Already, the Duke Blue Devils enjoy a four-deep 2022 haul and sit atop the 247Sports 2022 Team Rankings. Their early signatures are from four-star shooting guard Jaden Schutt (ranks No. 55 in the class), five-star small forward Dariq Whitehead (No. 4), five-star power forward Kyle Filipowski (No. 7), and five-star center Dereck Lively (No. 1).

With only a couple of other five-star seniors still undecided, one would think a pledge from Mark Mitchell would all but guarantee Duke its fifth top-ranked collection since 2014.