Duke basketball stunningly strikes out on key recruit

The Duke basketball program struck out on a key player on the recruiting trail. 

It has not been often that the Duke basketball program has received bad news on the recruiting trail since Jon Scheyer took over as head coach but a stunning decision was made on Wednesday afternoon regarding the Blue Devils.

On3 recruiting insider Jamie Shaw reported that four-star center JP Estrella has canceled his upcoming visit to Durham and Duke is no longer in the mix for his services.

Things publicly started to change when both 247Sports Crystal Ball predictions that were logged for the Blue Devils were removed on Tuesday afternoon by insiders Adam Rowe and John Watson.

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Estrella, ranked as the No. 54 player in the country, No. 7 center in the Class of 2023, and No. 2 player in the state of Maine, earned his offer from Duke on June 7 and was scheduled to begin his visit on July 31.

The Blue Devils recently learned that they are also no longer in the running for five-star center Xavier Booker, who released his Top-10 finalists on Monday.

Duke basketball still with options in Class of 2023

Duke currently has the top ranked recruiting class in 2023 with five-star forward Mackenzie Mgbacko, five-star guard Caleb Foster, five-star forward Sean Stewart, and five-star guard Jared McCain.

The program only has two current offers out to members of the rising senior class, four-star wing TJ Power and four-star forward Andrej Stojakovic.

Stojakovic picked up his Duke offer hours after Booker dumped the Blue Devils from his Top-10 on Monday and the son of three-time NBA All-Star Peja Stojakovic will announce his Top-6 finalists on Friday afternoon, according to Travis Branham of 247Sports.

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Power blew up on the recruiting trail over the last several weeks and earned offers from schools such as North Carolina, Kansas, UCLA, and Ohio State, in addition to Duke.

The 6-foot-8 forward began his official visit to Duke on July 26.