Duke basketball recruiting: 2023 center grabs Blue Devil attention
By Matt Giles
Duke basketball is eyeing one 2023 big man with plenty of outside game.
In February, Cathedral (Ind.) center Xavier Booker expressed his interest in the Duke basketball program as a future suitor. Now, it appears that interest is mutual.
Per a tweet this week from Jeff Rabjohns of 247Sports, the Blue Devils have “entered the arena in the recruitment.” The 6-foot-11, 210-pound high school junior ranks No. 84 overall on the 247Sports 2023 Composite.
Booker’s AAU team, G3 Rising Stars, told Rabjohns that the staff in Durham intends to check him out during the second evaluation period later this month.
He already holds roughly two dozen offers, and most are from high-major conferences. But here’s what Booker recently told Isaac Dennis of NY2LA Sports about his offer-sheet aspirations:
“I am going to be working to get more offers from schools like Duke and Kentucky.”
A potential Duke basketball stretch-four target
Judging by the Xavier Booker mixtape below, he was spot-on during his chat with Isaac Dennis in describing himself as a stretch-four in the making:
“I like to shoot the three, and my mid-range pull-up is becoming really good. I like putting the ball on the floor, and I can break my defender down really well for someone my height…I see the floor very well and know how to set my teammates up…My IQ is going up over time as I learn more about the game and how to deal with certain situations.”
Currently, Duke head coach Jon Scheyer and his gang, who own the nation’s top-ranked classes on the 2022 and 2023 recruiting trails, have yet to extend a 2023 offer to a center.
It’s possible that Xavier Booker, a potential multi-year college player, will soon become the first.
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Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more Duke basketball recruiting news and views.