Desmond Hubert – Class of 2011 Power Forward set to Visit Duke

Desmond Hubert, a 6’9″ 180 pound power forward from the class of 2011 is set to visit the Duke campus this fall. According to Hubert, unofficial visits will be taken to both Duke and UNC in early November. Hubert is a high level talent and a 4 star rated prospect by both Scout.com and Rivals.com. Currently, Hubert is well known for his strong shot blocking and rebounding capabilities. Although he is already a very highly rated prospect, many recruiting analysts feel that Hubert will be one of the fastest rising players over the next year or two. In addition to Duke and UNC, Hubert is showing interest in NC State, Wake Forest, Georgetown, Kentucky, Indiana, UCONN, Kansas, and a few other schools.

Partial Credit: NBE Basketball

Irving visits Duke, plays pickup against Jay Williams!

As most Duke fans have undoubtedly heard by now, it is a big weekend for Duke Basketball as top point guard prospect Kyrie Irving is on campus for his official visit. Thanks to a few updates from DBI’s campus correspondents, there is some very important news to report. Earlier today, Kyrie Irving and several current Duke players were spotted playing pickup basketball with Duke legend Jay Williams. Here’s to hoping that Irving enjoyed his time playing against his fellow PG and New Jersey native – Jay Williams!

Be sure to check back in with DBI later for more updates on the Kyrie Irving visit.

Duke Coaches Visit 2012 Forward Alex Murphy

This past week coaches from Duke (including Coach K) visited class of 2012 prospect Alex Murphy. At 6’8″ tall and about 190lbs, Murphy has shown the ability to play both the small and power forward positions. Alex is the younger brother of current Florida Gators player Erik Murphy. The recruiting process is really just beginning for Alex, and his list of schools currently includes Arizona, Harvard, Michigan, Notre Dame, Kansas, Florida, Duke, Wake Forest, Boston College, Connecticut, Stanford, North Carolina, Georgetown, and UCLA .

Maurice Walker no longer interested in Duke???

It was just 11 days ago that NBE Basketball broke the news that Duke was recruiting Maurice Walker, a 6’10” 275 pound center from Canada. However, in the short time span that has since past, things seem to have changed.

In an interview posted today on NBE Basketball, Walker mentioned that he is currently looking at 6 schools. These schools are Pitt, UConn, Georgetown, Texas A&M, and Kansas. For the moment, it seems that Duke has fallen out favor with Walker. It will be interesting to see if the staff decides to make a push to recruit him and whether they can become a factor in his recruitment again.

Harrison Barnes & Kyrie Irving Schedule In-Home Visits with Duke Coaches

Harrison Barnes and Kyrie Irving have both scheduled in-home visits with the Duke coaching staff. This is great news for Duke fans as it means both recruits will meet with the Duke staff twice this fall, as each player is currently working on setting up an official visit to the school.

Kyrie and his family will host the Duke coaches on September 9th, which is the first day that home visits are allowed this year. On October 5th, the Duke coaching staff will make their way to the home of Harrison Barnes.

Official dates for visits to Duke are still being worked out for each recruit. Right now, it is believed that Kyrie will visit campus in the latter part of September while Harrison is expected to visit in mid to late October.

All in all, Duke fans should be excited about the amount of time the coaching staff will spend with each target this fall.

Duke Evaluating Class of 2011 SF Adonis Thomas

The Duke Basketball Coaching staff had a busy summer as it relates to the recruiting trail.  Although much of their time was spent following Harrison Barnes & Kyrie Irving (Duke’s top targets for 2010), the staff also spent a significant amount of time evaluating and recruiting prospects for 2011.  One of the prospects that heard from Duke this summer was class of 2011 small forward Adonis Thomas who is 6’6″ tall and weighs 190 pounds.

Thomas is a big time prospect.  He is ranked as the number 11 overall prospect in the class of 2011 by Rivals.com and 15th overall by Scout.com.  Most analysts view Thomas as a highly athletic wing forward capable of attacking the rim and throwing down dunks at will.  On the defensive side he has shown flashes of being a lock down defender.

So where do Duke and Thomas stand.  At this point in time Thomas is not an official target for 2011 as the Duke staff is still evaluating his skills.  However, Duke watched Thomas play on a couple occasions this summer and has contacted Thomas by both phone and email.  Going forward, both sides have agreed to keep in touch as they continue to make plans for future.  Only time will tell whether or not Thomas will become an official target.