Derryk Thornton: Duke-bound This Year after Reclassifying
Derryck Thornton was one of the most coveted prospects in the 2016 recruiting class. Well not any more as the high school junior has reclassified for the class of 2015. That means the five star point guard will be playing college ball this year.
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Thornton’s reclassification is not a shot out of thin air. Two schools had been encouraging him to do so prior to his decision. Those two schools were Louisville and Duke, two teams that needed point guard help. Duke just lost freshman Tyus Jones to the draft, along with losing four parts of their starting five. Add the already departed Rasheed Sulaimon, and that is a basically all new best five.
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So Duke was instrumental in getting Thornton to reclassify. Did it pay off? Yes. Thornton is going to Duke, where he will part of a reloading effort. His likely backcourt mate will be freshman Luke Kennard with the three man being Grayson Allen.
Or there is the chance that Duke will add another top recruit before the year starts. Duke is in play for Brandon Ingram too.
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With Thornton on board, the piece that hasn’t been replaced is Okafor. That would be the real problem that Duke will have to solve. It could be another year of playing small for Duke, with Amile Jefferson being the only real post that we’ve seen.
Among the factors that drew Thornton to Duke were the atmosphere at Cameron Indoor Stadium and visits from head man Mike Krzyzewski and top recruiter Jeff Capel. Capel, if you remember, turned down the opportunity to leave Duke for Arizona State. That enabled him to recruit Thornton.
The ACC will be interesting next year as several top teams shed seniors or NBA talent. It will be wide open to grab the double-byes in the ACC Tournament. Duke should be right there in the hunt with the addition of Thornton.