The Duke Blue Devils won the National Championship last season, and even though they lost the four best players from that team, they were still ranked in the preseason top 10 this year thanks to a great recruiting class. Duke's 2015 recruiting class was ranked the second best in the nation behind Kentucky, headlined by Brandon Ingram.
Fast forward to this year and the 2016 recruiting class, and Duke sits at number two again, right behind Kentucky. The Blue Devils have received commitments from two of the top five players already for 2016, but head coach Mike Krzyzewski shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Australian forward Jack White announced his commitment to Duke Thursday night, giving them their fifth commitment for 2016. White will join a class that includes three five-star prospects (Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum and Frank Jackson) and one four-star prospect (Javin DeLaurier). White is just a three-star prospect himself and was only ranked as the 221st best player in the nation, but Duke clearly saw something that they liked in him to offer him a scholarship.
White chose Duke over Boise State and Mercer among other schools, and it is definitely an interesting decision for him. Not only does Duke have all of those highly rated recruits coming in next year, but they have players from this year's team that will likely stick around. Marshall Plumlee and Amile Jefferson will graduate, and Ingram will likely enter the NBA Draft. Besides them, Grayson Allen could stay at Duke, while Chase Jeter, Derryck Thornton, Matt Jones and Luke Kennard are all but guaranteed to be back next year, which could mean little opportunity for playing time.
As for why White chose Duke considering playing time may be hard to come by, he said that he has a great relationship with the staff and that it felt right.
"It's just a very prestigious program. A lot of great players have gone there. I think it'll be a great challenge for myself. I enjoyed the visit and it seemed like the right place for me," White said.
White is a 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward who is versatile enough to play the shooting guard position and has great size for that spot. He did play for Australia in the U19 World Championships, and he averaged 8.3 points and 3.9 rebounds in seven games. This is the second consecutive year that Duke has given out a scholarship to a three-star prospect, which is a bit strange for them considering they attract the top talent in the nation. Last year's three-star, Antonio Vrankovic, has appeared in just five games for a total of 14 minutes in his freshman season.
