John Wall, the No. 1 basketball recruit in the nation, and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski had a phone conversation Monday night that could be the precursor to Duke offering Wall a scholarship.
“We talked about recruiting,” Wall said Tuesday in a text message.
Wall said he plans to take an unofficial visit to Duke, but it won’t be Wednesday when the Blue Devils play Lenoir-Rhyne in an exhibition.
“I’m going to visit but not this week,” said Wall, whose home is 45 minutes from the Duke campus.
With Kenny Boynton having picked Florida, Duke has now targeted the 6-foot-4 Wall to potentially replace Greg Paulus. The coaching staff recently reached out to the people in his inner circle. Duke pulled his transcripts and was pleasantly surprised. Wall took the SAT this past Saturday and he said he thinks the results will be “good.”
Wall, out of Raleigh (N.C.) Word of God, is also considering Kansas, Baylor, N.C. State, Miami, Memphis and Oregon State.
He and Derrick Favors recently visited N.C. State together unofficially, and Favors is now down to Georgia, Georgia Tech and N.C. State.
Asked if Favors’ decision would influence him, Wall said: “Not really but I would love to play with him or Renardo [Sidney].”
Wall will next visit Memphis the weekend of Nov. 14.
“I’m supposed to go to Memphis next week,” he said.
His mother suffered a mild stroke in August and had to have surgery.
Though she told him to make his college decision independent of that, remaining close to home appears to be an important part of his decision.
“She’s doing good,” Wall said of his mother. “She said she doesn’t want me to make my decision just because she’s sick. She wants me to make the best choice for me.”
Alessandro / November 3, 2008
That’s quite an interesting development.
He’s a proverbial human highlight reel. ESPN did an article on his metamorphisis over the past few years,
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Adam Zagoria / November 3, 2008
yes, it will certainly be interesting to see where he ends up…the same can be said for cheek and xavier henry.
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Alessandro / November 3, 2008
It seems as though they’re playing a game of musical chairs, which can shift balances of power.
Speaking of Cheek, do you view him as a one year college player or will he unpack his bags for 2-3 years?
My gut feeling is that he’ll choose Villanova and stay for two seasons.
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Adam Zagoria / November 3, 2008
That sound about right on Cheek. I don’t think he’s ready to be one and done. Needs to bulk up and get stronger. If Henry picks KU, I think it’s likely Dom goes to Nova.
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jncope / November 4, 2008
Adam,
Did Wall give you any indication whether Favors’ decision (NCSU vs GA Tech) will ultimately influence his decision to attend State or vice-versa? They were both in Raleigh recently and it would be interesting to know if they discussed any of these scenarios.
Thanks,
Jeff
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Adam Zagoria / November 4, 2008
Jeff:
I just updated the post to answer this question on Favors. Thanks.
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