Asa Montgomery’s commitment to Duke on Wednesday afternoon didn’t exactly qualify as a recruiting shock. It was more of a formality that had been building for weeks.
The five-star 2027 forward chose the Blue Devils over North Carolina, UConn, Georgia Tech, LSU, and other contenders, giving Jon Scheyer another high-level piece in what is already shaping up as a strong 2027 class. Montgomery is listed at 6-foot-7 and ranked No. 3 overall in the 2027 class by Rivals.
North Carolina made its pitch. Montgomery took his official visit to Chapel Hill on September 25, and the Tar Heels had a chance to sell him on the program and its vision. But the trail quickly moved in Duke’s direction when Montgomery’s next official stop came just eight miles down Tobacco Road.
His official visit to Duke followed the next week, when he attended the Blue Devils’ Countdown to Craziness event. From there, the momentum around this recruitment shifted hard. Crystal Ball predictions for Duke started coming in shortly after that trip, and then Montgomery canceled previously scheduled visits to Arizona and Louisville.
By the time Wednesday arrived, the destination was pretty clear.
Montgomery now joins Kager Knueppel and Luke Paul in Duke’s 2027 recruiting class, adding another major name to a group that keeps getting stronger. His rise has been fast, too, as he has climbed the recruiting rankings over the last several months and established himself as one of the premier prospects in his class.
For North Carolina, the focus now turns elsewhere. DeMarcus Henry and CJ Rosser remain the names the Tar Heels have treated as priorities, and while they would have loved to land Montgomery, the staff had already moved on to other top-tier targets. Now the attention shifts to Henry, with UNC hoping he becomes the program’s first 2027 commit on Friday.
In Other News...
UConns Depth Just Sent A Strong Message Before The Real Games
The final tune-up before the real thing looked a lot like what has made UConn such a difficult team to pin down in recent years: size, depth and enough scoring options to keep rolling even when the rotation opens up. The No. 4 Huskies closed their exhibition slate with a 76-53 win over Purdue at PeoplesBank Arena, moving through the preseason unbeaten and getting a strong all-around showing from a bench that kept the pressure on throughout.
Colben Landrew was the loudest of those second-unit sparks, finishing with 15 points in just 18 minutes, while Jayden Ross, Oskar Giltay and Silas Demary Jr. also reached double figures. Just as encouraging for Dan Hurleys group was the defensive edge, as UConn held Purdue to 32.8 percent shooting overall and barely gave the Boilermakers anything from outside, a reminder that the Huskies may already be close to their regular-season form. [Read more 🡒]
UConn Is Walking Into A Big East Grind Fans Can't Ignore
The Big East is shaping up as the kind of league that can wear a team down before March even arrives, and UConn is right in the middle of it. St. Johns enters the 2026-27 season with a chance to chase a third straight Big East regular-season and tournament title, but Rick Pitinos point about the conference getting better across the board is the bigger warning sign for everyone else. Xavier, Georgetown, Providence, Creighton and Marquette all drew mention as teams on the rise, which is a reminder that there may not be many easy nights left on the schedule.
Preseason rankings only add to the sense that the conference is loaded from top to bottom, with UConn and St. Johns standing out nationally while other Big East programs sit firmly in the mix. For UConn, that means every trip through the league will demand focus, depth and the kind of consistency that separates title contenders from teams that merely survive the grind. The challenge is not just beating the usual suspects, but navigating a conference where almost every opponent arrives with enough quality to make a slip cost plenty. [Read more 🡒]
UConn Showed Promise Against Purdue But Bigger Answers Come Next
UConn closed the preseason with a 3-0 record and a convincing 76-53 win over Purdue, a result that offered a real glimpse of the teams depth and versatility heading into the regular season. The Huskies got production from across the roster, including transfers Najai Hines and Oskar Giltay working inside, while freshman Colben Landrew led the scoring in the finale and helped reinforce the feeling that this group has more than one way to beat teams.
Braylon Mullins also returned from injury and logged his first extended run of the preseason, another encouraging sign as UConn turns to games that will say much more about where it stands. Gardner-Webb is next, but the real measuring stick comes soon after, when the Huskies start seeing a string of Power Four opponents early in the schedule and the questions about their frontcourt rotation and overall ceiling get a lot harder to avoid. [Read more 🡒]