Breaking recruiting news on 5-star forward could be a sign Duke basketball is set to land another gem

This news could be a sign Duke will land two top-five prospects in the 2026 recruiting class.
Duke's Countdown To Craziness 2025
Duke's Countdown To Craziness 2025 | Lance King/GettyImages

The Duke basketball program held two elite 5-star prospects at Countdown to Craziness this past Friday, the team's preseason hype event. 5-star combo guard Jordan Smith Jr. and 5-star forward Cameron Williams were in attendance. It's as good a recruiting pitch as a program can make, as the Cameron Indoor Stadium atmosphere can't be recreated anywhere else. Recently, Smith picked up a crystal ball prediction to land in Durham just a few days after his time on campus. Now, this major breaking news surrounding Williams could be a major sign that head coach Jon Scheyer and his staff are in contention to land two top-five prospects in the 2026 recruiting class.

Cameron Williams cancels USC visit, could be sign Duke is in the lead for 5-star forward

247Sports insider Travis Branham recently reported that Williams will no longer visit USC this weekend as originally scheduled. Instead, the top-five prospect in the class of 2026 will attend the USA Basketball Men's Junior National Team minicamp in Colorado Springs, CO. This could just be an event that Williams was passionate about attending, but it could also mean he knows where he wants to play college basketball, and no more visits are needed.

Williams is the No. 4 overall prospect and No. 1 power forward in the nation per the 247Sports 2026 Composite Rankings. He hasn't cut his list of potential schools yet, but has taken official visits to Texas, Purdue, SMU, Kentucky, and Duke. The 6'11", 200-pound big man had official visits scheduled to USC and Arizona across the next two weeks, but now, at least the visit to Southern California will not happen at its expected date.

The St. Mary's (AZ) product is viewed as a long-term project guy rather than a complete prospect at this point. However, he has one of the highest ceilings in the 2026 recruiting class, and if there's any coach that can get every ounce of potential out of him, it's Scheyer.

Now both prospects that the Blue Devils hosted this past weekend seem to be gaining traction toward the Duke program. Time will tell if Williams' cancellation was a foreshadowing of his eventual college commitment.