Gary Parrish of CBS Sports says Duke has pulled ahead of Kentucky as the recruiting rivalry between the two programs has intensified.
The Blue Devils and Wildcats have secured the top two recruiting classes in college basketball for the last three years.
Here’s an excerpt of Parrish’s thoughts:
“It’s abundantly clear,” said Evan Daniels, Scout.com’s director of basketball recruiting. “Duke and Kentucky are in a tier of their own when it comes to recruiting right now — and the results prove that.”
Indeed, they do.
Here are the past three years’ final recruiting rankings, according to 247 Sports:
- 2014: 1. Duke, 2. Kentucky
- 2015: 1. Kentucky, 2. Duke
- 2016: 1. Duke, 2. Kentucky
First and second, every year.
Kentucky has signed 12 five-star prospects in its past three classes. Duke has signed 11. And nobody else has signed more than seven in the same span. Consequently, the Wildcats and Blue Devils are ranked first and second in the CBS Sports Top 25 (and one). And they’re also the schools with the best odds to win the 2017 national championship, according to Sportsbook.ag. In other words, Duke and Kentucky are competing for the same prospects off the court and the same trophies on the court. So is it any surprise the two staffs are starting to get on each others nerves?
The most recent back-and-forth played out publicly — and ended hilariously.
