Mike Krzyzewski may be off the road in April as he recovers from knee replacement surgery, but that hasn’t stopped him from checking in on some of the top recruits in the Class of 2017.
Coach K called PSA Cardinals director Terrance “Munch” Williams on Monday to say he was “interested in 2017s Mohamed Bamba, Quade Green and Deng Gak. Duke has already offered Bamba, but not yet the other two.
“He’s interested in all of them,” Williams told SNY.tv.
Duke associate head coach Jeff Capel and assistants Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith have watched the three PSA Cardinals stars the last two weekends at the Nike EYBL stops in Brooklyn and Indianapolis.
The 6-foot-11 Bamba has been especially impressive through the first two stops and is in the mix for the No. ranking in the Class of 2017 — along with 7-footer DeAndre Ayton of Cal Supreme.
“It’s something I’ve been shooting for for awhile. If I were to tell somebody that I wanted to be the No. 1 player in the country last year, they would have been like, ‘ehh, I think there’s a couple of guys [ahead of you].’ But if I tell them now, they’ll take that into serious consideration,” Bamba told Bleacher Report. “That’s just a goal that I set for myself; just to be the best. I’m not playing basketball just to be one of those guys that’s just hanging around. I want to be the best.”
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Bamba is friendly with fellow 2017 forward Wendell Carter Jr. and told me in Brooklyn the two continue to talk about possibly teaming up in college.
“Nothing too serious but we both know the potential we have as a premier frontcourt,” Bamba said.
Bamba also told reporters in Indianapolis that Kentucky coach John Calipari had given him some inspiring words.
“We have a great relationship,” Bamba said. “He actually gave me a lot of confidence in myself. When you grow up in Harlem and you tell someone that you want to be a professional basketball player … they’re going to look at you and be like, ‘I don’t think you should shoot for that.’ And that’s something that’s just been hanging over my head my whole entire life.
“And Coach Cal came in and told me, ‘If you want to be a pro, freakin’ tell somebody that you want to be a pro.’ And that’s one of the things that helped me change my demeanor.”
Bamba is expected to cut his list to 10 sometime in August.
As for the 6-foot Green, two Duke assistants saw the point guard last week at Neumann-Goretti High, and he is slated to visit Syracuse this coming weekend.
He said in Brooklyn that Syracuse, Texas, Xavier, Villanova, Temple, St. Joe’s, Providence, Louisville and Michigan State were just some of the schools competing the hardest for his commitment.
He has already visited Syracuse, Villanova, Temple, Saint Joe’s and Rutgers, and said he plans to visit Louisville, Miami and Michigan State.
Williams said that Green will not cut his list before August.
As for the 7-foot Gak, who attends Blair (N.J.) Academy, he holds offers from Kansas, UConn, SMU and others. He is close with former Duke and current Miami Heat forward Luol Deng. Both are of Dinka descent.
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