Duke Basketball Could Be Getting Recruiting Boost From Familiar Face

We are still months away from the start of the 2026-27 college basketball season but the excitement is very high. As Jon Scheyer's team is looking to rebound from a disappointing exit in the Elite Eight a year ago, the hope is that they can finally get over the hump and back to the Final Four. 

Scheyer and the Blue Devils will have another really good roster, landing the No. 1 overall recruiting class, a good transfer portal class as well as bringing back some key players. 

But the future of the program is still important as well. 

In terms of the 2027 recruiting class, Duke has one commitment as Kager Knueppel became the first player to join the class. Duke still has several offers out to other prospects, including to the top overall player in Beckham Black.

Duke is in pursuit of Black and now, they might be getting some help from a former player. 

Field of 68 recruiting analyst Sam Lance appeared on HogvilleNET podcast, discussing top guards and recruits in the 2027 class. They discussed Black who is being pursued by both Arkansas and Duke. 

Lance says he believes Duke will take one of the top guards in the class and then offered some interesting insight on Black and the recruiting efforts. 

"Beckham turns into that top guard on Duke's board. I think it's going to be really hard, if Duke wants to push for Beckham Black, I would see it being hard to say no," Lance said. "It's Duke. Paolo Banchero, obviously on the same as Beckham Black's older brother, Anthony Black in the NBA; he and Beckham are pretty close. He and Paolo, Beckham told me he's been telling him, 'You better go.' Of course, Arkansas, is where Anthony went to school. It's John Calipari with guards."

Interesting. 

Lance went on to say that Duke, Arkansas and Texas are the three schools he believes have the chance to land Black. With Banchero being in Black's ear, he's trying to help his former school land a big-time player. 

Let's see if the recruiting effort will pay off.