While all eyes were on getting the first look at Duke's 2026-27 roster at Saturday night's Countdown to Craziness event at Cameron Indoor.
More importantly, at least for the Duke staff, was the critical recruiting weekend for 5-star forward Asa Montgomery, who was in Durham for his official visit. Montgomery attended the event as Jon Scheyer looked to close the deal for the Georgia native after a promising in-home visit with the 5-star last week.
Working in Duke's favor was that the crowd at Cameron Indoor brought the energy and made it feel like a real game environment for the scrimmages and dunk contest. You're not going to get that type of energy everywhere you go, something Montgomery has undoubtedly noticed on his other trips.
Duke's student section made its pitch to Montgomery during the event. They enthusiastically chanted for him to join them in the crowd, which he did. He looked like he was having a pretty good time once he got over there, too:
"Sit with us!" Priority Duke basketball recruiting target Asa Montgomery answers the call from the Cameron Crazies! And of course, he holds up the baby!😈🏀🎥⬇️ pic.twitter.com/X6RukitY4F
— Matt Giles (@MattGilesBD) October 4, 2026
Duke has 5-star forward Asa Montgomery on commit watch after weekend visit
Duke should be seen as a considerable favorite at this point for Montgomery. Duke insider John Watson logged a prediction for the Blue Devils to land Montgomery on Sunday, per 247Sports. The feeling coming out of his visit to Durham is that the Blue Devils are going to be difficult to beat.
Montgomery has already taken visits to LSU, Florida, North Carolina, and UConn. He has trips planned to Arizona and Louisville later this month, but those should be considered tentative right now. The visit high is a real thing, so it'll be interesting to see where things stand later this week and on with Montgomery, but he should be considered on commit watch at this point.
Duke currently has two commitments in its 2027 recruiting class. They landed 5-star Kager Knueppel back during the summer, and then added Australian point guard Luke Paul on Thursday.
Montgomery could very well be the final target for Scheyer and company in this 2027 class. Roster retention is going to be a major part of building next season's roster, and Duke will want to keep a spot or two open to use in the Transfer Portal in the offseason.
Scheyer has typically signed a bigger high school class, but a three-man haul could be the magic number in this cycle. At this point, Montgomery is the only visit Duke has set up for the rest of the preseason. We'll see if that changes. Just like with Paul, Scheyer and his staff like to move in silence.
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