Amid a flurry of big-time college commitments in basketball on Thursday, Duke picked up coveted five-star prospect Gary Trent Jr.
It's a significant addition for Mike Krzyzewski, who's far from done in terms of hauling in players for the 2017 class. Duke has had a top-two class in each of the past three years. If it's going to do that again, landing Trent is a nice start.
Who is Gary Trent Jr. and what does this mean for Duke now and next year? Let's discuss.
Three things to know
1. He's going to be asked to score right away, similar to how Jayson Tatum is going to be asked to score this year.
The Class of 2017 shooting guard will likely step in immediately next season and contribute, given the Blue Devils are expected to lose scorers Grayson Allen and Tatum to the NBA Draft, plus shooting guard Matt Jones is a senior, so he'll be gone as well. It's expected that Trent will pair with Frank Jackson, a freshman this season at Duke who could blossom into Krzyzewski's point guard option.
"I see myself coming in, playing my game how I've been playing my whole AAU career," Trent told Evan Daniels of Scout.com. "That's how they want me to play. That's what they talked about me doing. They want me to come in and be who I am and play the brand of basketball that I know of play."
Trent -- whose 247 Sports recruiting profile you can see here -- is ranked as the No. 11 prospect in the class of 2017. He picked Duke over Michigan State and UCLA. Trent joins four-star SG Alex O'Connell as the only commits so far to Duke's 2017 class.
2. Trent is the son of a former NBA lottery pick and a legend in the MAC.
He has pro-player in his blood. Trent, who put up 22.1 points per game on Nike's EYBL circuit in 2016, has been bred to be a Duke type of player. He'll almost certainly wind up as an NBA pick. He has played with USA Basketball, winning a gold medal with the U17 team. He might become the best shooting guard in his class.
Trent's father played at Ohio, where he was known as the "Shaq of the Mac" and parlayed his career into being taken No. 11 overall in the 1995 draft by the Milwaukee Bucks.
Trent Jr.'s origins also indicated he might lean Duke, as he played in his early high school days at the same school as former Duke player Tyus Jones.
3. Who's next on Duke's list?
Plenty to pick from, but the biggest ones: power forward Wendell Carter, point guard Quade Green and small forward Kevin Knox. All are five-star players. Green might be the best point guard in the class.
But as it happens, Trent is particularly close with Carter and Knox. He said on Thursday he'd be in his friends' ears. Hey, it worked for Harry Giles and Jayson Tatum. The two became good friends over the years, coming up on the prep circuit. After Tatum committed to Duke last year, Giles did the same soon thereafter.
"I'm going to stay in [Wendell's] ear and Kevin Know as well," Trent told Scout. "I'm going to stay in their ear. But at the end of the day they are going to do what's best for their families and we all understand that."
Carter's the kid who's debating Duke and Harvard. Many believe Duke is an inevitability. Either way, Coach K loves scorers, guys who can kill teams with runs and rain 3s. He'll have that in Gary Trent Jr.