Duke lands another five-star basketball recruit. This one was a major Kentucky target.
The first game hasn’t even been played in the Jon Scheyer era of Duke basketball, but the Blue Devils continue to clean up on the recruiting trail with their new head coach.
On Friday night, five-star small forward Mackenzie Mgbako announced his commitment to Duke. That pledge gives Scheyer, who will take over for the retiring Mike Krzyzewski next season, a total of eight five-star recruits to start his tenure in charge of the program.
Mgbako — a 6-foot-8 prospect from New Jersey — is the No. 3 overall player in the 2023 class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings, and he’s been mentioned as a possibility to eventually move up to No. 1 nationally.
His commitment is yet another sign that Duke basketball will continue to thrive — for now, at least — in the aftermath of Krzyzewski’s departure. This pledge was also another blow for Kentucky’s recruiting efforts.
Mgbako picked Duke from a list of four finalists that also included UK, Memphis and Ohio State, and he was one of the first players in the 2023 class to earn a Wildcats scholarship offer.
Kentucky hosted Mgbako for an official visit during Big Blue Madness weekend in October, but Duke had already emerged as the favorite for his commitment even then. He announced for the Blue Devils before the Nike Hoop Summit in Portland, Ore. on Friday night.
Mgbako is the fifth player from the 2023 class to commit to Duke, which came into the week with pledges from point guard Caleb Foster (No. 12 in the composite rankings), shooting guard Jared McCain (No. 24) and power forward Sean Stewart (No. 29). On Thursday night, Duke landed Australian combo guard Tyrese Proctor, who was immediately ranked by 247Sports as the No. 9 overall player in the 2023 class.
All of this makes the Blue Devils the early favorites to land the nation’s No. 1 class for the 2023 cycle. Duke got that spot in 2022 with six total commitments, four of those players holding five-star status.
That 2022 Duke class will include center Dereck Lively II, forward Kyle Filipowski and wing player Dariq Whitehead, all of whom hold a No. 1 ranking from at least one major national recruiting service. They’re all top-five prospects in the 247Sports composite rankings, and all six of the players in Duke’s 2022 class committed to the program knowing that Scheyer, not Krzyzewski, would be the head coach by the time they got to college.
What’s next for Kentucky?
Mgbako’s commitment to Duke wasn’t unexpected, but it’s yet another name for Kentucky to scratch off its list of possibilities for 2023, a class that UK started pursuing hard after the program’s coaching changes last season.
The commitment from Mgbako came eight days after top-five national recruit Mookie Cook picked Oregon, another blow for Kentucky, which hosted Cook for an official visit last fall and looked like the possible favorite in his recruitment at that point.
So far, in-state standout Reed Sheppard — a five-star combo guard — is Kentucky’s lone commitment for the 2023 class. With Cook and Mgbako now off the board, that leaves just six rising seniors with UK scholarship offers.
The biggest name on that list is New Jersey combo guard DJ Wagner, who is teammates with Mgbako on the Nike circuit. The pair took their official visit to Kentucky at the same time last fall, but they have not been planning to play together in college. Louisville has emerged as Kentucky’s top competition for Wagner, whose father, Dajuan, played for John Calipari at Memphis. His grandfather, Milt Wagner, played alongside Kenny Payne with the Cardinals. (The coach of the Nike team featuring Mgbako and Wagner is also coached by U of L great Pervis Ellison).
UK has also extended offers to 2023 wings Matas Buzelis, Justin Edwards and JJ Taylor, though no clear leaders have emerged for any of those players. Forward Kwame Evans Jr. also has a Kentucky offer — and recently put UK in his final five — but Oregon has come on over the past few months as a possible favorite in his recruitment, and he’ll take an official visit there later this month that recruiting analysts will be watching closely.
Kentucky also offered star point guard Robert Dillingham last fall. The Wildcats were considered heavy favorites in his recruitment before a commitment to North Carolina State in December. Dillingham backed out of that pledge last month, however, and it’s not yet clear how seriously the Wildcats will pursue him moving forward.
Other 2023 prospects will emerge as major Kentucky targets in the coming months, with Texas forward Ron Holland — a likely top-five player in the class — almost certain to join the UK offer list in the near future.
The Cats are still expected to ultimately land a few highly touted recruits in this cycle, but Duke clearly has a head start, and Mgbako is the best of the bunch so far.
