NCAA Basketball: 25 best recruiting classes since 2000

24) 2017 Duke Blue Devils

It’s easy to overlook this recruiting class Duke brought in, considering the historic group the Blue Devils landed the following year (you’ll be seeing them later in the list), but they were dominant in their only season in Durham.

Marvin Bagley III was the headliner of this seven-player class, four of whom (Bagley, Wendell Carter Jr., Gary Trent Jr., Trevon Duval) were five-star prospects. All four of those players left after their freshman season and three were drafted, but all of them played major roles on an Elite Eight team.

Bagley was named ACC Player of the Year and was a First-Team All-American after averaging 21.0 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. He holds the ACC record for most double-doubles in a season. Bagley and Carter combined to form the best frontcourt duo in the country and both wound up being selected in the top seven of the 2018 NBA Draft.

Duval and Trent were consistent starters that averaged double-digit points per game, while Alex O’Connell and Jordan Goldwire have developed into key rotation players for Coach K’s squad.

Duke did lose one member of this class fairly quickly, as Jordan Tucker transferred to Butler after one semester, but the rest of this group was able to contribute – or still is contributing – at an extremely high level.