Duke Pulls Closer to No. 1 Kentucky in 2020 Recruiting Rankings With 5-Star DJ Steward Commitment

After Kentucky seemingly separated themselves atop the 2020 recruiting rankings (per 247sports), Duke is slowly but surely forming a dominant class of their own to compete with John Calipari and Co.

5-star combo guard DJ Steward out of Chicago has committed to play with Mike Krzyzewski, joining an already-impressive class which features the likes of Jalen Johnson and Jeremy Roach, two fellow top talents who rank even higher than their new teammate.

“I’ll be heading to Duke University to play under Coach K… Me and my family went on the visit this weekend and it was amazing. We love the principles of Duke and how united Duke was as a program," Steward said.

Steward mentioned Duke's player development program as a key contributing factor as to why he took his talents to Durham.

“I will get to chase my goals and be one step closer to my dream of playing in the NBA. Also, I will be able to develop as a person off the court as well as a player while playing under the most winningest coach in history, Coach K," Steward continued.

Sure, Krzyzewski will never top his 2018 class, in which he landed the top three recruits in RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish and Zion Williamson, all of whom went on to be lottery picks. Yet, Duke's modern style of rebuilding every season with a dominant recruiting class is forward-thinking in the final years of the one-and-done era.