David McCormack, Devon Dotson, and Silvio De Sousa Sign With Kansas
Center David McCormack and guard Devon Dotson
Center David McCormack and guard Devon Dotson
Approximately 75 NBA personnel are expected on Tuesday for the Champions Classic at Chicago’s United Center, a source close to the event told ZAGSBLOG.
Duke, No. 1 in the AP Preseason Poll, faces No. 2 Michigan State at 7 p.m. ET, followed by No. 4 Kansas vs. No. 5 Kentucky.
The event features five of the Top 11 projected picks on the 2018 ESPN Mock Draft — No. 3 Marvin Bagley III (Duke), No. 6 Miles Bridges (Michigan) State), No. 9 Jaren Jackson (Michigan State), No. 10 Wendell Carter Jr. (Duke) and No. 11 Trevon Duval (Duke).
Other projected first-round picks in the event include No. 17 Hamidou Diallo (Kentucky), No. 22 Nick Richards (Kentucky) and No. 24 Grayson Allen (Duke).
Projected second-rounders include No. 33 Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk (Kansas) and No. 36 Devonte’ Graham (Kansas).
Because he hasn’t played in a national all-star game like the McDonald’s All-American Game or the Nike Hoop Summit, and because he hasn’t played for any USA Basketball national teams, Bagley III remains a relative unknown to a many NBA GMs and scouts.
Bagley is coming off a summer in which he averaged 25.8 points, a league-high 14.9 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game for the Nike Phamily in the EYBL, but no NBA scouts were able to watch him at last summers Peach Jam, where he was named to the All-Peach Jam First Team.
“He hasn’t played at anything an NBA scout has ever been at,” one NBA scout told ZAGSBLOG. “There’s just AAU and Drew League film floating around so I think everyone is waiting to see how real the hype is.”
By JACOB POLACHECK
For the second consecutive year, the Duke Blue Devils will open the season as the No. 1 ranked team in the AP Preseason Top-25 poll, with Michigan State, Arizona, Kansas, and Kentucky rounding out the rest of the top-five. Duke had 33 of 65 first-place votes.
“It is an honor to be picked No. 1 in your sport,” Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski told the Associated Press Wednesday. “At this time of the year, it truly is a prediction, so you haven’t earned No. 1 yet. More than likely, past teams that have played at Duke have put this team in a position where people might say, ‘How is that team going to do?’ or ‘They have a lot of talent’ and all of the sudden, you’re No. 1. Certainly, it’s an honor and we’ll look forward to trying to achieve and earn that ranking at some time during the season, hopefully at the end.”
Matthew Hurt, the 6-foot-9 forward from Rochester (MN) John Marshall High, had an eventful recruiting weekend with unofficial visits to both Duke and North Carolina.
The No. 5 player in the 2019 ESPN 60, Hurt had previously visited Kentucky and Indiana in September.
On Monday, Kansas coach Bill Self and his entire staff flew in and sat down with Hurt, his father, Richard, told ZAGSBLOG. It was Self’s second visit to see Hurt inside a month. (Self and the Kansas staff also visited with 2018 point guard Quentin Grimes.)
“They talked about their success with big guards/wings over the years like [Andrew] Wiggins, [Kelly] Oubre, [Josh] Jackson, etc.,” Richard Hurt said “Also said they have a way of getting guys out of their comfort zone to help them achieve success at the next level. It was a good visit and conversation.”
Hurt will trip to Kansas Nov. 17 for the South Dakota State game.
“We did the ‘Late Night in the Phog’ deal last year,” Richard said. “I think we’re going to go down in mid-November to a game at Kansas against South Dakota State.”
As for the Duke trip on Friday, Hurt was on campus for “Countdown to Craziness” when 2018 star Zion Williamson visited along with 2019 guys like Armando Bacot and Joey Baker and 2020 Isaiah Todd.
