While the 2024-25 college basketball regular season is coming to a conclusion, three five-star prospects from the 2025 class remain uncommitted: Brayden Burries, Koa Peat, and Nate Ament, the class’s No. 4 recruit.
Ament recently paid a visit to Lexington, as many believe his recruiting will come down to Duke and Kentucky. However, the Wildcats’ former head coach is making a late push for the 6-foot-9 forward from Warrenton, Va.
While John Calipari struggles on the court in his first season as the Arkansas Razorbacks’ head coach, Coach Cal continues to dominate the recruiting trail. Arkansas has the fifth-ranked class in 2025, with two five-star recruits, Darius Acuff Jr. and Meleek Thomas, and four-star Isaiah Sealy, but he may not be finished yet.
Nate Ament is really cooking tonight.
On Monday night, Calipari went to the five-star’s high school game. Ament allegedly put on a show for the national championship-winning head coach, scoring 32 points, 11 rebounds, and four blocks.
Calipari has his hands busy preparing the Razorbacks for a Wednesday night game against No. 1 Auburn, following a 69-61 loss to No. 8 Texas A&M on Saturday. At 15-10 and 4-8 in conference play, the Razorbacks are firmly on the bubble according to ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lundari, who has Coach Cal’s club in his “last four in.”
Despite having a tournament spot on the line in the remaining six games of the regular season, Calipari is favoring Ament, who would add a lot of excitement to Year 2 of the Coach Cal era in Fayetteville. Nonetheless, Arkansas is likely third in the sweepstakes for the five-star forward, following only Duke and Kentucky.
Calipari has always prioritized talent acquisition, and if he wants the Razorbacks to challenge for an SEC title, he will need to consistently recruit guys like Ament. This is his first major recruitment test for Cal at Arkansas, so it will be fascinating to see whether he can still compete with the Blue Bloods while wearing Razorback red.
Duke Basketball confronts old Blue Devil on Virginia bench.
TJ Power, a one-year Duke basketball player, is generating season figures comparable to his brief stint with the Blue Devils.
Duke basketball (22-3, 14-1 ACC) plays its first of three straight road games against the Virginia Cavaliers (13-12, 6-8 ACC) at 8 p.m. ET Monday (ESPN). TJ Power has never sat on a bench opposite Jon Scheyer and his crew before.
Speaking of Virginia’s bench, the 6-foot-9 Power has been there since early February. Following his 2023-24 Duke rookie season, he watched his minutes steadily fall to zero after his third zero-point outing in a row — his tenth in 21 Cavalier appearances, including five early starts.
Power is averaging 1.5 points and 1.2 rebounds for Virginia in 10.4 minutes per game, shooting 20.9 percent from the field, 18.8 percent from three, and 8-for-8 from the charity line.
As a Blue Devil, the former composite five-star prep from Worcester Academy (Mass.) came off the bench in 26 games, averaging 2.1 points and 0.7 rebounds in 7.0 minutes per game while shooting 33.3 percent from the field, 35.7 percent from beyond the arc, and 6-for-7 at the free throw line.
The 2024-25 Blue Devils are 2-1 in ACC games against three of the seven transfers from Duke’s 2023-24 basketball lineup. Most recently, two games after losing on the road to Clemson and Christian Reeves, Scheyer’s team trounced Stanford and Jaylen Blakes 106-70 on Saturday.
ESPN’s newest NBA mock draft has three Duke basketball players among the top seven.
Head coach Jon Scheyer recruited four five-star players in the Class of 2024, headlined by prodigy Cooper Flagg, and the Blue Devils have started three rookies this season
Flagg, whom ESPN’s Jonathan Givony named the best player in the country on Wednesday, has scored at least 20 points in 12 of his 23 collegiate games and improved as a 3-point shooter and offensive facilitator since December 31.
Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach, the other first-year starters, have showed signs of being potential superstars in their own way. Knueppel is averaging 15.2 points over his previous 12 games despite not scoring against Boston College, a scoring rate that would increase to 16.5 points without that game, while Maluach posted back-to-back double-doubles against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Miami Hurricanes last month.
Givony and Jeremy Woo produced a new NBA mock draft on Wednesday morning, and all three aforementioned freshmen were off the board by the seventh pick. See where they (and three other colleagues) ended up below.
2024-25 statistics: 19.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.5 steals, 1.3 blocks, 47.9% FG, 36.4% 3PT.
Flagg, the most dynamic player in the country, distinguishes himself from other prospects regarded as generational talents by his ability to become whatever Duke need in a given game. He’s set an ACC rookie record with 42 points in a single game, taken only seven shots in a conference away game owing to increased defensive attention, and handed out four assists in the opening five minutes of a rivalry game against the North Carolina Tar Heels.
2024-25 statistics: 7.8 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.1 blocks, 72.4% FG
Maluach, who is 7 feet 2 inches tall and with a wingspan of 7 feet 5, has been one of the nation’s top rim protectors since the beginning. On offense, he is effective with the ball in his hands, frequently scoring with one or two dribbles, and his lateral quickness allows him to transition out to the perimeter with ease.
2024-25 statistics: 11.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 0.7 steals, 42.1% FG, 39.6% 3PT.
Each Duke squad need an experienced starter to show up in critical occasions, and Proctor has settled into that role nicely. He nailed two huge 3-pointers in the December win against the Auburn Tigers, including one near the halfcourt line at the end of the shot clock, and he scored 16 points before halftime to keep the Blue Devils in the game against the Clemson Tigers.
2024-25 statistics: 7.9 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.0 steals, 51.2% FG, 37.5% 3PT.
James, to use a cliché, is your favorite basketball player’s favorite basketball player. He’s a Swiss Army knife for head coach Jon Scheyer, as seen by his statistics. He grabbed 11 boards against Virginia Tech, eight assists against SMU, and 13 points in two straight games against NC State and the Tar Heels.
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