Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski visited Tyus Battle for the second time on Monday night, demonstrating that the 6-foot-6 Battle is a major priority for the Blue Devils going forward.
Coach K came to Gladstone (N.J.) Gill St. Bernard’s with assistants Jeff Capel and Jon Scheyer to see Battle, ranked No. 14 by ESPN.com in the Class of 2016.
“We like a Duke a lot, what’s not to like?” Gary Battle, the player’s father, told SNY.tv after the visit. “They’re playing some great basketball right now. Coach K is very good at adapting to his players. Obviously, it’s a great academic school, that’s important to us, important to Tyus.”
The subject of the above SNY.tv documentary, “The Battle Plan,” Battle recently cut his list to 11 schools, including heavyweights Duke, UConn, Florida, Kentucky, Louisville, Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, Syracuse, Villanova and Virginia.
Coach K has now been in to see Battle twice and Duke assistants have been in two other times.
“It is a fact that Tyus is a critical component to their 2016 class,” Gary said. “He’s not the only one, but they’re not recruiting two guys at his position. To do what he does, they’re recruiting him to be a versatile basketball player. Coach K plays guys interchangeably, and Tyus would primarily be a wing, two or three, but he’s a versatile basketball player. So he’ll be able to dribble and facilitate as well as doing some stuff in the post once in a while, be a mismatch, so that’s kind of attractive to us in a variety of ways.
“And he’s going to be able to do what he does on the perimeter, which I think is really important for him to get to the next level. He’ll be able to make shots and defend. Kind of a new brand of basketball, that Euro/American brand of basketball that’s going on now.”
Gary Battle said he may be at Madison Square Garden Tuesday for the Jimmy V Classic so he can watch Villanova play Illinois and Louisville play Indiana.
After that, he said, “I may go to Michigan on January 10th to see them play [against Minnesota], see if I can get Tyus to come depending on how it fits. Other than that, I’m sure we’ll take in a game or two here and there.”
