As is the case for nearly every highly-coveted high school recruit, the competition for the eventual services of 4-star prospect Shelton Henderson is going to be hotly contested. As things stand now, Henderson, a big-bodied wing who is the #18 recruit in the 2025 class according to 247Sports, has already received offers from over a dozen Division I programs, including major conference powerhouses such Texas, Kansas, Houston, Louisville, and Duke. And while traditionally, a school with such a prestigious history like Duke could rightfully be considered the favorite among these options, a recent decision made by Henderson has cast some doubt as to whether Duke is currently at the top of his list.
According to Sam Lance of ZAGSBLOG, Shelton Henderson will be pushing back his previously scheduled recruiting visit with Duke by a week in order to first visit the Texas Longhorns. Henderson, a Texas native and the #1 ranked player in the Lone Star state, also has offers from TCU, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Texas State, but the Longhorns are currently in better position than all of their in-state rivals to eventually land him.
However, just because of this scheduling snafu, it doesn't mean Duke fans should assume that Shelton Henderson won't be playing in front of the Cameron Crazies sometime soon. As a member of the Team USA U18 FIBA AmeriCup roster, Henderson was coached by Duke head coach Jon Scheyer during training camp, and apparently, the experience of being coached by Scheyer has helped Duke's cause.
“It’s been going really good lately,” Henderson told Lance. “I really like the people that they send to the league and how they can build me, see me as a player and what I can bring to that team. So just building that relationship on and on until it’s time to come down to a decision is really good.”
Shelton Henderson still has plenty of time before he needs to make his decision, and programs such as Kansas, Houston and Texas certainly won't go down without a fight. But it's certainly a possibility that Shelton Henderson will end up committing to Duke, and being a part of a Jon Scheyer recruiting class that is ranked among the best in the country.
The Jon Scheyer Era at Duke is off to a strong start
Following in the footsteps of a legend like Mike Krzyzewski is a task that not many men would have success with, but thus far, Jon Scheyer has done a reasonable job taking over for the five-time National Champion. In his first two seasons at Duke, Scheyer has completed back to back 27-9 seasons. He's accumulated four NCAA Tournament wins — with an Elite Eight appearance last year — and an ACC Tournament Championship in his first season coaching the Blue Devils.
But even more impressive than the early success that Jon Scheyer has had on the court while coaching Duke is the success he's had on the recruiting trail.
With the start of the 2024-25 season just a few months away, the Duke Blue Devils are among the betting favorites to win the National Title, in large part because they can boast the #1 recruiting class in the country for 2024. Scheyer has secured five players ranked inside the 247Sports top 20, including the presumptive #1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, Cooper Flagg, who has been turning heads and receiving rave reviews as a member of the USA Select Team that has been scrimmaging the 12-man roster that will compete for Gold in the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Yes, the program was in a much different place when Coach K took over in 1980, but it took him 11 years to raise a championship banner inside of Cameron Indoor Stadium. My guess is, it probably won't take Jon Scheyer that long to raise the next one.
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