No. 1 recruit Jalen Duren cuts his list of basketball options. Is there a favorite?
Now one step closer to making a final announcement on his basketball future, it’s looking like No. 1 high school recruit Jalen Duren will reclassify to 2021 and, possibly, play in college this coming season.
And Kentucky remains one of the top contenders for his commitment.
Duren — a 6-foot-10 center from Philadelphia — revealed a list of his five final options Friday night. Those still in the mix: Kentucky, Memphis, Miami, the G League and the Australia-based National Basketball League.
UK wrapped up an official visit with Duren and his family Wednesday, a trip that followed similar expeditions to Miami and Memphis earlier in the month. He’s expected to earn more than $1 million for one season if he chooses to turn professional right out of high school. He’s also expected to be a top candidate to be selected with the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
Duren is coming off a season in which he was named a First Team All-American and national junior of the year by MaxPreps.com after leading Montverde (Fla.) Academy to a national championship. He averaged 14.3 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game during that campaign, and he’d be a game-changing addition for whichever basketball program — or pro league — lands his commitment.
In late May, Rivals.com moved Duren to the No. 1 spot in the 2022 class. Earlier this week, 247Sports did the same, pushing the star center past Emoni Bates, who had long been viewed as the top prospect in all of high school basketball, regardless of class.
247Sports analyst Travis Branham, who is one of the recruiting service’s voices in the rankings debate, described flipping Duren and Bates as “a very difficult decision,” and acknowledged that Bates — a smooth, 6-9 small forward from Michigan — probably still has higher upside as a professional player.
But there’s no denying what Duren has been able to do over the past year.
“Jalen has just continued to get better. He’s been dominant all season,” Branham told the Herald-Leader. “The past 12 months couldn’t have gone better for Jalen, from a development and production standpoint. He’s just been outstanding.
“So how can we not reward Jalen for all he’s done and accomplished? He’s going to be a special player in the NBA. He’s a very safe bet. At the end of the day, they’re both going to be great players in the NBA, but, right now, Jalen has won the spot.”
Like with Bates, it’s been long assumed that Duren — whenever he left high school — would skip college and jump straight to the pros. That might not be the case any longer.
“Right now, I think he’ll go college,” Branham said. “I think he’ll be one of those players that would probably be able to make — what he would earn from a salary — I think he’ll be able to earn that and then some off of name, image and likeness. So I would think that the college route is the way to go for him. Still a chance that he goes pro, but I would lean toward college.”
And he could be arriving on someone’s campus in a matter of weeks.
“I personally think he will end up in 2021,” Branham added.
Kentucky for Jalen Duren?
There are likely still a few weeks to go before Duren is ready to reveal where he’ll be playing next.
So far, the five-star recruit hasn’t even acknowledged that he’s moving to the 2021 class, taking the public stance that no final decision has been made on reclassification.
The plan is to play out the remainder of the summer with his Team Final squad, which will compete on the Nike circuit later this month, culminating in the Peach Jam finals during the final recruiting evaluation weekend set for July 23-25.
After that, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a decision from Duren within a couple of weeks. If he does indeed play college basketball this coming season, he’d want to be on campus — and his next head coach would want him to join the program — as soon as possible.
Four years ago, Marvin Bagley followed a similar path. The No. 1-ranked recruit played coy on reclassification throughout the summer before competing at Peach Jam and then announcing his commitment to Duke — and a move to the 2017 class — in mid-August.
As for a favorite in Duren’s recruitment, this is still a race that’s tough to handicap. No Crystal Ball predictions have been made since the reclassification talk ramped up several weeks ago.
“I really don’t have a favorite at this point,” Branham said. “I think all three teams that he took visits to are all in good position. … All three programs have their different selling points, and they’re all good pitches. They all bring something different to the table.
“So right now, I’m not able to gauge a leader. And I’m not sure anybody else is. They’re keeping it pretty tight-lipped.”
Miami, the first school to host Duren for a June visit, recently hired DJ Irving as one of its assistant coaches. Irving was previously a coach at Duren’s former high school in Philadelphia and has worked with Team Final. Branham also noted that Miami is the school that has been recruiting Duren the most consistently over the past two to three years, even when it looked like he was likely headed straight to the pros.
Memphis, of course, has Penny Hardaway as its head coach, a former NBA All-Star and college sensation who remains popular with younger recruits and has already gone through the process that Duren and his peers are currently navigating. Memphis is also expected to hire legendary coach Larry Brown — an NBA champion — as an assistant for this coming season.
Kentucky offers, arguably, the biggest brand in college basketball, to go along with the success that Hall of Fame head coach John Calipari has had on the court, both in general and specifically with top post players like Duren.
Name, image and likeness reforms just went into effect Thursday morning — so it will probably take a while for the possibilities there to become clear — but Kentucky basketball players are already positioning themselves to profit monetarily while still in school, and UK’s NIL pitch should dwarf what would be available to someone like Duren at Memphis or Miami.
“Kentucky is arguably going to be the best one in college basketball at it,” Branham said.
College coaches are limited in the specifics of what they can tell and promise recruits as it relates to NIL, but Calipari and his coaching staff are already selling prospects on the broad vision of what they can do to expand their reach and branding potential at Kentucky, and it’s certain that was a key element of the program’s pitch to Duren when he visited.
On the court, Duren would be a difference-maker, the type of late addition that could push the Wildcats from the back end of the preseason top 10 to a legitimate national title favorite.
And, unlike some other highly ranked recruits of the past, Branham doesn’t envision much of a learning curve for Duren, if he does indeed play college ball.
“I think that kid’s a star right away,” he said. “There’s really not much concern with him at all, when it comes to his game translating to the next level. He’s got an absolutely freakish body for a kid his age — 6-10, long, great athlete and just built. And the thing with him is he’s this built, but he’s barely started lifting weights. It’s kind of crazy. So, physically, athletically, everything — he’s very ready.
“And then, skill-set wise, his game is going to translate. He’s very efficient as a post scorer. He’s very efficient as a rebounder, defender. The kid’s highly intelligent. Instincts, everything — he’s ready to go.”
Subscribe here to receive episodes of the John Clay Podcast in the feed of your favorite podcasting app: Apple Podcasts / iHeart Radio / Spotify / Stitcher / TuneIn / Google Podcasts
