The Duke Blue Devils have landed the No. 1 recruit in the country, as forward Harry Giles committed to the illustrious program.
The Duke Blue Devils have landed another top talent. On Friday, the No. 1 recruit in the 2016 class, Harry Giles, announced that he was going to commit to Duke.
Giles turned down offers from other top schools such as Kentucky and Kansas to go play with the Blue Devils. The 6-foot-10 forward isn’t playing this season for Oak Hill Academy as he tries to get healthy with his future at Duke in mind after suffering an ACL injury.
According to ESPN, a big reason that Giles decided to commit to Duke was his relationship with Jayson Tatum. Tatum was the ESPN No. 2 ranked recruit in the nation right behind Giles, and has already committed to playing with the Blue Devils.
"An important factor in Giles’ decision was the relationship with ESPN No. 2 recruit Jayson Tatum, the St. Louis-area star and Giles’ teammate in international play. Both players were part of an under-19 group that won a gold medal for USA Basketball in Greece at this summer’s world championship.“We were roommates in USA Basketball this past season,” Tatum told ESPN. “When you spend over 30 days together, you either grow closer or apart. We got closer.”"
With Giles and Tatum both committing from the 2016 class, the future of Duke basketball continues to shine as bright ever, and in 2016 the team could put out yet another deep talented team, that also features a couple of other top-50 recruits.
By landing Giles, the Blue Devils have now successfully landed the top recruit in two of the last three years. The last No. 1 recruit they landed was Jahlil Okafor, who went onto to help lead Duke to a championship. If Okafor is any indication, Giles will be in great position to succeed under Mike Krzyzewski’s system.
The Duke Blue Devils are focusing on defending their championship this upcoming season, but they have to be excited about the team that they are going to have next year, with Giles and Tatum in the fold.