Duke, UNC gather more talent
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As is typically the case, Duke and North Carolina stand above the rest of the ACC on the 2011 recruiting front. Ranked No. 3 nationally, Duke landed the No. 1 prospect in the country, Austin Rivers, to go with four-star prospects Quinn Cook, Michael Gbinije and Marshall Plumlee. Right behind Duke at No. 4 is North Carolina with the five-star inside/outside tandem of James McAdoo and P.J. Hairston. Versatile forward Dorian Finney-Smith is the top prospect in Virginia Tech's nationally ranked class. Florida State also made the national rankings with a four-man class that includes three four-stars. Four-star prospects Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia), Joseph Uchebo (North Carolina State), Nick Faust (Maryland), Bernard Sullivan (Clemson) and Julian Royal (Georgia Tech) enter the conference next year as well.
Best recruiting battle
There really wasn't a major recruiting battle in the ACC, but the recruitment of Austin Rivers was the most intriguing. A long-time Florida commitment, Rivers was rumored to be involved with Duke for months before he eventually officially decommitted. Then North Carolina and Kansas jumped into the picture, but many analysts felt this was just posturing by Rivers to make it look like he didn't just decommit from Florida so he could go to Duke. In the end Rivers did choose Duke, and whether or not there was in fact even a recruiting battle at all is very much in question.
Top heavy
The top five prospects headed to the ACC are going to the traditional powers of the conference, Duke or North Carolina. And in the best by category section of this breakdown, the only other school besides Duke or North Carolina to have representatives is Virginia Tech.
Where is the point?
There is actually only one ranked point guard going to the ACC. Top 30 lead guard Quinn Cook is headed to Duke, but even Cook is known for his scoring ability. That is right in line with the recruiting trend of the ACC which is scoring perimeter players. Led by Rivers, fourteen prospects out of the Rivals150 who are known as scoring perimeter players are headed to the ACC.
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