Don’t cry for the Duke Blue Devils.
Not that many people were crying for Duke after that first-round March Madness upset at the hands of VCU. But give the Devils their due -- they’re resilient. Coach Mike Krzyzewski is at it again, assembling yet another mouthwatering recruiting class. Get to know names like Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith now, before the odds on the 2008 NCAA men’s basketball champions hit the futures market. No rest for the wicked.
Duke won’t be satisfied with last year’s 22-11 record (16-17 against the spread), but this was a very good basketball team, considering its relative inexperience. The Blue Devils finished the season with the No. 15 RPI in the nation, moving up to No. 11 in the Pomeroy ratings. Things promise to be even better with Singler and Smith on board. Singler is ranked No. 4 by Scout.com out of the entire recruiting class; the 6-foot-8 small forward from South Medford H.S. in Oregon is exactly what you’d expect from Duke: smart, a smooth handler, and a deadly long-range stroke.
Smith, meanwhile, is ranked No. 31 out of Oak Hill Academy in Virginia. The 6-foot-3 shooting guard’s name is usually invoked in the same breath as Singler’s, although Smith has the better defensive game of the two.
Duke didn’t stop there. Krzyzewski also received a commitment from small forward Taylor King (the No. 36-rated prospect), giving the Devils three blue-chip prospects going into next season. That’s good enough for some observers to brand Duke’s recruiting class the best of 2007. But that’s a bit premature. It also doesn’t hold water for Scout.com, which ranks Duke third at this point behind Kansas State and Syracuse. Scouts, Inc. also has the Wildcats on top; Duke is fifth on their list.
K-State supporters are dancing in the streets. Five players have signed letters of intent with the Wildcats, including the top-ranked power forward in the Class of 2007, Michael Beasley. New coach Frank Martin will be extremely happy to welcome the 6-foot-9 southpaw to Manhattan; Beasley also went to Oak Hill Academy (as well as several other schools, which is one cause for concern), the second-best high school team in the nation in 2005-06. Beasley proceeded to tear it up for the national men’s under-18 team at the 2006 FIBA Americas tournament with 13.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. He and close friend Bill Walker, the No. 2 small forward recruit in the nation, should push K-State (23-12 straight up, 19-11 ATS) up the Big 12 standings next year.
Syracuse fans are still fuming over their team’s exclusion from the 2007 men’s tournament, but this recruiting class should take out some of the sting. The Orange are ready to welcome four top-shelf freshmen, led by No. 2 power forward Donte Greene and No. 4 point guard Johnny Flynn. Greene’s play on the wing has been compared to Rashard Lewis of the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics, although his 3-point shot could use a little work. Flynn is a bundle of energy at the pivot, following in the footsteps of former Niagara Falls H.S. teammate and current Orange forward Paul Harris.
The big catch of the 2007 class, though, may have been landed by the USC Trojans. The name O.J. Mayo might already be familiar to you; the 6-foot-4 guard was expected to make the leap from high school to the pros before the NBA inked its new collective bargaining agreement. Instead, the two-time Mr. Basketball of Ohio played last year for Huntington High School in West Virginia. He’ll likely spend just one year with the Trojans, but what a year it could be.
Mayo is the No. 1-ranked prospect at Scout.com and No. 3 on the Scouts, Inc. board. He draws comparisons to Chauncey Billups as a gunner, and will likely play point guard for USC. The Trojans (25-12 SU, 22-11 ATS) crashed the big dance this spring, going all the way to the Sweet 16. They could go even farther with Mayo replacing fellow tweener Gabe Pruitt -- maybe even to the Final Four.