Marvin Bagley Commits to Duke and Will Reclassify

Marvin Bagley committed to Duke just a few moments ago, saying the closeness of the program won him over. He picked Duke over USC and UCLA. This is huge news as Bagley is the best prospect in college or high school basketball, yes, even better than Michael Porter Jr., and R.J. Barrett. He’s a guy who can come in and ultimately make a team a true national title contender. He’s most likely the best recruit since Anthony Davis.

Bagley is the new age big guy. At 6’11” he has plenty of size, but can step out, beat you off the dribble and attack the rim from any standpoint. He’s drawn comparisons to Chris Bosh due to his size and ability to play away from the basket. His game is more fine-tuning at this point, as it’s more in the sense of improving more moves off the handle and being more consistent with his shot form. But he’s a strong rebounder, can finish in a variety of ways and can protect the rim while also switching out on the wing.

That’s exactly what he’s doing for Duke. He’s solidifying its front court depth as now the Blue Devils don’t have to rely on Marques Bolden, who had a very erratic freshman year and debated transferring this offseason. They will now be the likely No. 1 team in the preseason and are the favorites to win it all according to Vegas. Duke now has three of the top-10 players in the class of 2017 with Bagley, Wendell Carter and Trevon Duval to play with a top-20 player in Gary Trent and an All-American candidate in Grayson Allen.

It would be a somewhat different Duke team though as there’s simply no experience outside of Allen and possibly Bolden. Even when Duke won it all with Tyus Jones, Jahlil Okafor and Justise Winslow, they had Quinn Cook, Matt Jones, Marshall Plumlee and Amile Jefferson to provide that experience. This would be one of the true one-and-done teams that K and his staff have dealt with.

Most importantly with Bagley’s commitment to Duke and assuming the reclassification process goes through, he makes the puzzle fit. They have the proper wings in Allen and Trent. They have floor spacing. They have Bagley who can step out and beat guys off the dribble while Carter plays in the post. They finally have a point guard for what feels like the first time since Tyus Jones/Quinn Cook.

I’ve had multiple people ask me what ‘reclassifying’ means when it comes to guys like Bagley, Jontay Porter and Barrett. What it means is they are essentially skipping their senior year of high school to play college ball. This has to go through the NCAA Clearinghouse. The main thing here is this rule:

A prospective student-athlete must complete his or her core-curriculum requirements not later than the high school graduation date of the prospective student-athlete’s class [as determined by the first year of enrollment in high school (ninth grade) or the international equivalent…]. Graduation from high school or secondary school shall be based on the prospective student-athlete’s prescribed educational path in his or her country.

Essentially what that means is you have to finish the NCAA’s 16 core-classes before you’re eligible to play. There are a lot of nuanced little rules within this, but it’s the main stuff going on here. Once the Clearinghouse looks at everything you are cleared and can play.

So why does someone like Bagley reclassify? Simply put it gets him money quicker. He’s now eligible for the 2018 NBA Draft and can get his second contract a year earlier. Most importantly he’d still be eligible for the monster contracts the current CBA allows.