The Duke basketball team is one of the best programs in the country at adding elite talent on a yearly basis.
While many teams have opted for more experience in the transfer portal, Jon Scheyer remains committed to bringing in highly sought after high school recruits to bolster his roster and try to land another National Championship.
His tenure started with top prospects like Dariq Whitehead, Dereck Lively, and Kyle Filipowski before evolving into likely NBA cornerstone pieces such as Cooper Flagg and Cameron Boozer.
Now, he tries to add another tantalizing young player to the Blue Devils in Jordan Smith Jr. and this recruitment could have much higher stakes than Flagg’s or Boozer’s.
Very similar to Cooper Flagg, Duke has been recruiting Smith Jr. from the time it became legal. It was very clear that he was the top target of the 2026 recruiting class for the Blue Devils and Jon Scheyer is starting to put the full court press on as a decision looms.
Not only is Scheyer traveling to Smith’s home for an in-home visit, but there are also plans to get him on another visit to Duke after taking a trip to Durham in October 2024.
Arkansas, Georgetown, Kentucky, Syracuse, and Indiana are also in the mix for his services.
However, after a handful of years that saw the ACC struggle as a conference, it seems that things could be looking upwards for the league with the anticipated improvements from teams like Miami and NC State with the traditional powers of North Carolina and resurgent Louisville.
It makes the potential addition of Jordan Smith Jr. that much more important for Duke to keep its place at the top of the ACC standings. The Blue Devils are not as involved with other high-profile recruits around the country like they are with Smith, going all-in on the current No. 2 player in the 247Sports rankings.
Time will tell if Duke is able to land the comment of Jordan Smith Jr., with the odds heavily in its favor, but there are no mincing words about how important he would be to the 2026-27 version of the team.