Harry Giles got some bad news on Thursday when he found out he tore the ACL in his right knee but with that news came his decision to move his college announcement up to Friday afternoon. Giles announced that decision on Sportscenter and said he is headed to Duke for 2016. Giles also stated that he will rehab the knee injury with Duke's training staff as they are considered some of the best in the country.
All along Duke was considered the favorite to land a commitment from Giles but he made it official on Friday when he appeared on ESPN.
"I felt like Duke was the place for me. Every time I go to Duke it feels like home. Every time I sit down and talk to Coach K it's a special feeling. Every time we talk, it's always the same feeling, it feels great. Not different vibes every time we talk, it's always the same thing. So I felt like family was at Duke and I just felt comfortable there," said Giles, according to Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
Giles' commitment to Duke makes their 2016 class the best in the nation as of right now as he is the third five-star prospect to commit. He will join good friend and number two overall prospect Jayson Tatum (small forward) top ten recruit Frank Jackson (point guard) and four-star top 50 recruit Javin DeLaurier (power forward.) The class is already loaded but Duke also isn't done as they are considered the favorites for five-star center Marques Bolden as well, according to 247 Sports.
As for Giles' knee injury, this isn't the first time he has dealt with a torn ACL as he tore the ACL and MCL in his left knee during his sophomore year of high school and was able to make a full recovery. That injury was more severe than this one and he is given a 6-9 month timetable for a return which should have him ready to start his freshman season at Duke. ESPN's injury analyst Stephania Bell said that Duke has no reason not to believe Giles will fully recover from this injury.
"He recovered well enough from the first one so there's no reason to think he won't recover just as well from this one. And Duke has a fantastic rehab team. They were the first Division 1 sports fellowship in the country so they know how to do rehab and they know how to do basketball, so I think he'll be just fine there," said Bell.
While it is unfortunate that Giles will miss his senior season of high school it doesn't seem like the injury will affect his future in basketball at Duke or potentially in the NBA. The only thing this injury did was move Giles from the number one projected pick in the 2017 NBA Draft to the number two pick, according to DraftExpress.com. The player that replaced him at number one? Fellow Duke commit Jayson Tatum.
