Duke’s recruiting board may be about to shift again, and one of the biggest names on it is at the center of the conversation.
The Blue Devils are still working toward the 2026-27 college basketball season with an eye on another Final Four run, and the long view around the program looks strong thanks to the work Jon Scheyer and his staff have done on the recruiting trail. Duke entered last season with real momentum after losing only two regular-season games, winning both the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season and conference titles, and earning a No. 1 seed. That run ended painfully in the Elite Eight, where the Blue Devils let a 19-point lead slip away in a loss to UConn.
Even with that finish, Duke’s roster outlook remains solid, and the program’s future keeps getting brighter as more talent comes into the pipeline. That includes a developing situation involving AJ Williams, who announced earlier in the week that he was reclassifying from 2028 to 2027. He may not be the only five-star prospect making that kind of move.
One player to watch is Yann Kamagate, a Duke target in the 2028 class who is ranked No. 2 overall. The St. Francis High School (CA) big man has continued to rise as a premier prospect, but a move up a class could be coming.
"Yann Kamagate turns 18 in the fall, I believe in September," Finkelstein said. "That's relevant for two reasons. Number one, he's definitely old enough to be one-and-done eligible for the NBA, but he's not so old that he would lose eligibility off his clock in this current 5-for-5 NCAA age-based model."
"So he's got a real decision to make. If he thinks he's a pro sooner rather than later, I would expect him to reclassify up.
If he's trying to maximize his earning potential in college basketball and he sees himself staying multiple years, then it would make sense for him to stay in the class of 2028. If I were a betting man, I would probably wager on the former."
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For a program that has long sold itself on high standards across the board, that kind of showing fits the brand. The honor is reserved for student-athletes who completed graduate degree programs and met ACC participation requirements during at least one season as graduate students, which makes Dukes total less about a one-off and more about the depth of its academic culture. [Read more 🡒]