Duke basketball: Another top 2 recruit enters Blue Devil radar
By Matt Giles
The Duke basketball staff has contacted another potential No. 1 recruit.
Duke basketball has reeled in the top three players on the On3 Consensus 2022 Ranking in Kyle Filipowski, Dereck Lively II, and Dariq Whitehead. They are part of a six-deep bunch that stands firm as the nation’s No. 1 class.
Meanwhile, the Blue Devils also enjoy the supreme 2023 collection. It features Mackenzie Mgbako, who sits in the top five among his peers — no matter where you look — and has the potential to climb to No. 1 overall.
Plus, two of Duke’s three 2024 offers to date are to top five prospects in small forwards Naas Cunningham and Bryson Tucker. And per a tweet on Wednesday from Alex Karamanos of The Season Ticket, the coaches in Durham have now reached out to another top-tier high school sophomore in Cardinal Hayes (N.Y.) shooting guard Ian Jackson.
At No. 2 overall, the 6-foot-5, 180-pound Jackson trails only Cunningham on the On3 Consensus 2024 Ranking.
This week alone, Jackson has picked up offers from Syracuse, Kansas, and UCLA. Moreover, he told Karamanos that he has recently heard from Duke and four other programs of note: Kentucky, Oregon, Tennessee, and Virginia.
What the Duke basketball coaches must like about Ian Jackson
The five-star lightfooted playmaker stars for New York Wiz Kids on the Adidas AAU circuit. His eye-popping performances there this month, not to mention his 19.8 points per game last season in leading Cardinal Hayes to a state championship, led Jamie Shaw of On3 to argue that Ian Jackson at least challenges Naas Cunningham as 2024’s top prize:
“Ian Jackson was the only other player in the conversation this go-around. The 6-foot-5 guard is one of the best two-way players in the class. He has a New York flair on offense and plays with a competitive fire on defense. At the end of the day, the totality of Cunningham’s body of work won out, but it was close.”
Yes, it’s possible Ian Jackson eventually becomes the first 2024 guard to receive a Duke offer.
No targets in the class have committed to the Blue Devils — yet.
Next. Blue Devils eyeing freshman phenom. dark
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