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Recruiting: 2017’s top point guard Trevon Duval re-opens recruitment

By Carmine Carcieri

Mar 29, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; General view of basketballs and the NCAA logo before the game between the Duke Blue Devils and Gonzaga Bulldogs in the finals of the south regional of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 29, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; General view of basketballs and the NCAA logo before the game between the Duke Blue Devils and Gonzaga Bulldogs in the finals of the south regional of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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Duke and Baylor are now recruiting the top point guard in the class of 2017.

The best point guard in the class of 2017, five-star prospect Trevon Duval, cut his list down to 10 schools at the end of August. Surprisingly, Duval left Duke and Kentucky off his list and eliminated the expected favorite, UCLA, at the beginning of September.

Related Story: Top five point guards in the class of 2017

A month later, Duval has re-opened his entire recruitment and has already heard from the Duke Blue Devils and Baylor Bears, according to USA Today.

"After an open gym session, Duval spoke with an assistant coach who was there recruiting one of his teammates and learned how strong the rumor had grown.“The coach said, ‘I’m not gonna recruit you, I already know where you’re going,” said Duval, the top-ranked floor general in the ESPN 100. “I was like ‘Huh?’ I couldn’t believe how many people were believing this lie. I had to do something about it.”“I’m open to everyone,” Duval said to USA Today. “It doesn’t matter if you’ve been recruiting me or if you were and fell of a little bit or if you never were and want to I’m open. I’ll treat every school like they’ve been there from day one. I just want it to be known that I have no idea where I’m going. That’s crazy.”“I feel good about it now that I’m clearing things up,” Duval said. “I want to be able to make the best decision for where I’ll play in college and I can’t do that if people are believing lies about me basically already knowing something. I’ll be setting up some officials soon and every school recruiting me has a chance. It’s about what’s best for me.”"

It was always interesting that Duval, the 5th best player in ESPN’s top 100, kept the two top recruiting programs in the country off his final list. With the slate sort of wiped clean, Duval can now take officials visits and re-set his mindset.

But assistant coaches potentially knowing where Duval was expected to commit may not be the only reason that schools were uninterested in spending time recruiting the point guard.

It’s possible that schools like Duke and Kentucky were staying away from his services due to the potential questions about Duval’s NCAA eligibility.

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The point guard attended Advanced Prep International, which is an extension of Prime Prep. Prime Prep was a school that was flagged by the NCAA and has produced products like Emmanuel Mudiay and Terrance Ferguson, who both never played college basketball due to eligibility concerns.

Duval is now attending IMG Academy for his senior season. Maybe that could clear up some concerns with the NCAA, however, Duke has yet to offer a scholarship and Kentucky hasn’t shown interest (at least as far as we know).

There is no question about Duval’s talent though. The 6’3″, 183 pound point guard handles the ball on a string, attacks the rim like it’s his final possession of his career, can play in pick-and-roll situations and is a crafty finisher around the cup. He competes on defense, is elite in transition and is a solid, consistent passer who is unselfish.

Every school in the country should want the Wilmington, Delaware native on their roster. If the eligibility issues get cleaned up, it’s only a matter of time.

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