Duke has major advantage over other finalist schools for 2026 five-star guard

Class of 2026 five-star guard Jordan Smith Jr. has released the final six schools in his recruitment, and Duke has made the list. Smith included the Blue Devils along with Arkansas, Georgetown, Kentucky, Indiana, and Syracuse.

The Paul VI Catholic (VA) product is the No. 3 overall player and No. 1 combo guard per the 247Sports 2026 Composite Rankings.

In a recent interview with Rivals, here's what Smith had to say about head coach Jon Scheyer and the Duke program.

“They want me to come in here, help them win a national championship, help them reach my goals in any way possible.  They want to build my character as a young man, develop me to how I want to be. I love Jon Scheyer, he’s a great recruiter. I have two teammates that speak very highly of him, so I’m just excited to see what they do this year, how he plays them.”

Smith went on an official visit to Duke in November of 2024. The 6'2 combo guard has official visits scheduled to Arkansas and Kentucky this fall, and has also unofficially visited Georgetown and Syracuse.

It's been reported that Smith is interested in scheduling an official visit to Duke before he ultimately commits to a school.

Now, Duke may have an advantage over the other five schools in Smith's recruitment due to the high school the guard attends. Several past Duke players played at Paul VI, and current Blue Devils Darren Harris and Pat Ngonga II attended PVI as well.

In a previous interview following his visit to Duke in 2024, Smith touched on catching up with Harris and Ngongba, his former high school teammates.

Harris has also hinted on social media that the Blue Devils could be landing Smith in the future, so fans can assume the former PVI products are trying to recruit Smith to Durham.

The 2026 recruiting class as a whole is generally seen as a weaker class relative to other recruiting classes over the last decade or so, but there's still plenty of talent to go around that Scheyer and his staff are interested in. Smith including Duke in his final six schools is the latest news regarding Duke basketball and the 2026 recruiting cycle.

Scheyer has yet to land a commitment from a member of the class of 2026.