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Nobody agrees on the #1 player in 2022, but they do know he’s going to Duke

Ben McCormick

February 22, 2022

As the high school basketball season is coming to a close, and the McDonald's All-American game is just around the bend, sites are constantly updating their rankings. The class of 2022 is an interesting one because it has seen its fair share of players occupy the top spot. At first Memphis forward Emoni Bates was the consensus top prospect in the class until he reclassified to play for Penny Hardaway. After Bates (and Jalen Duren who was ranked #2) left for Memphis, Kentucky commit Shaedon Sharpe became the consensus number one player in the class. Sharpe has since reclassified and is on John Calipari's bench right now. Regardless of whether Sharpe enters the 2022 NBA Draft or he plays a freshman season in Lexington next year, he is no longer in high school and cannot be ranked as a high school prospect any longer.

Now for a third time, sites have been tasked with finding out who the best high school basketball player in the country is. The near consensus number two player in the class to Sharpe was 7'2' center Dereck Lively II: a Duke commit. And at first, Lively assumed the top spot on nearly every meaningful ranking system. Although recently, there has been a lot of movement at the top. There is a lot of talent at the top of the class of 2022, but there is not really a clear number one prospect. Any of the top five prospects (as well as Kentucky's Sharpe) could make a case for the second overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft (#1 essentially a lock for French freak athlete Victor Wembanyama). As sites update their recruiting rankings, there is nowhere near a consensus as to which player that should be. But, there does seem to be one commonality.

The top college prospect in the class of 2022 is headed to Durham, NC.

247sports BB Recruiting class of 2022 rankings

Whenever I am tweeting, I typically cite 247sports' recruiting rankings. While they did not push the shot blocking extraordinaire Lively from the top spot, other Blue Devils had some movement in the top four. Stretch big man Kyle Filipowski has been one of the most rapidly rising players in the class. Already a five star, Kyle "Flip" Filipowski shot all the way up to second. Jon Scheyer's future front court occupied the top two spots in 247's rankings. Not only that, SF Dariq Whitehead comes up fourth to give the Blue Devils three of the top four prospects. Believe it or not, this is not even the most glowing review of Scheyer's upcoming number one class.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the other three commitments Duke has for the class of 2022. On most sites, fellow 5 star Mark Mitchell falls tenth. Mitchell's addition gives Duke an outstanding four top ten prospects, a feat that has happened twice before in a moment in time (although never in the final rankings). The class of 2017 featured consensus top ten players Marvin Bagley III, Wendell Carter Jr, and Trevon Duval. Additionally, prior to final rankings Gary Trent Jr. was typically found in the top ten as well. Likewise the class of 2018 had the top three prospects in Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, and Cam Reddish. And at a point in time Tre Jones rounded out the top ten. All that said, if Mitchell hangs on to a top ten position by the time final rankings roll around the Blue Devils will have four signees in the top ten of a final ranking for the first time ever. Not bad for a first class as head coach Jon!

Scheyer also has commitments from top 50 sharp shooter Jaden Schutt (4 star) and 7'1' Oak Hill center Christian Reeves (3 star) who reportedly intends to redshirt his freshman season in Durham.

ESPN 100 Class of 2022

Similar to 247, Lively tops the ESPN 100. This ranking makes Dereck Lively II the most common number one player among the primary four recruiting ranking sites (247sports, ESPN, Rivals, and On3). Still, he is nowhere near the consensus.

ESPN is the least flattering to the Blue Devils top three commits, placing Whitehead at fourth and Filipowski at just fifth. I say "just fifth", but that's one nice problem to have. Being able to debate that you should have the top three players in stead of "just" three of the top five is the type of luxury most first time head coaches do not find themselves with. But Jon Scheyer is not like most first time head coaches. He has inherited a blue blood program and all of the recruiting perks that come with it. Contrary to popular belief, the retirement of Mike Krzyzewski has certainly not marked the end to Duke's dominant recruiting success.

Rivals 150 for Class of 2022

In fact, Scheyer's first class rivals Mike Krzyzewski's most highly touted in the fact that two sites even rate future Blue Devils as the first, second, and third best players in the class (as aforementioned Zion, RJ, and Cam gave Coach K this merit in 2018). But this class has one key variance to 2018, it also had three number one prospects.

Let's start with Rivals who rates Dariq Whitehead as the number one player. Flip comes in at two and Lively at three. Whitehead saw a major jump of eight spots from Rivals' previous ranking. It's not often that one school captures the entire top three, but it is a first time that the same school has multiple players occupying the top spot while maintaining the entire top three.

On3 150 Class of 2022

Similar to Rivals, On3 moved away from Lively in the top spot (albeit still second) and named Kyle Filipowski their number one overall player. Dariq Whitehead comes in at three to give the Blue Devils their second nod at the entire top three. Across all platforms Lively ranks as follows: 1st (247 & ESPN), 2nd (On3), and 3rd (Rivals) for an average rank of 1.75. Filiposki ranks: 1st (On3), 2nd (Rivals & 247), and 5th (ESPN) for an average rank of 2.5. Finally, Whitehead ranks: 1st (Rivals), 3rd (On3), 4th (247 & ESPN) for an average rank of 3. On average, all three players rank in the top three and would be ordered 1. Lively, 2. Filipowski, 3. Whitehead, if all sites are taken into account.

This class is unprecedented regardless of context. When you consider that this is Jon Scheyer's first ever class is when things get even more mindboggling. One thing is for sure, the recruiting scene has set Jon Scheyer up for success in his inaugural season as head coach. Now only time will tell what comes next.





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