Five-star Mark Mitchell visits, considers four programs

Mark Mitchell emerged very early in his high school career as an elite prospect in the 2022 class. The scholarship offers came in early and they kept coming throughout the last few years from schools all over the country.

But with his senior year upon him, the five-star small forward decided to trim his list down to a final four that included Duke, Kansas, Missouri and UCLA. He took official visits to all four schools this summer and is in the process of taking advantage of his official visit clock resetting at the beginning of July by taking another visit to each school.

UCLA hosted him this past weekend, and Kansas will get him back on the weekend of Oct. 2, followed by Missouri and Duke the next two weekends.

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2022 Rankings: Rivals150 | Team | Position

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Duke: “I think the transition there has been pretty smooth. They were really transparent with me from the beginning. My relationship with coach (Jon) Scheyer is great. We talk all the time. And Duke basketball is just different. It’s almost like the mecca of college basketball.”

Kansas: “They’ve been recruiting me the longest. I have a great relationship with (assistant) coach Norm (Roberts) and I’ve gotten to know coach (Bill) Self well, too. It’s close to home. My roommate, Gradey Dick, is going there. They have a lot offer as far as being close to home and availability at my position.”

Missouri: “That staff feels like family. I loved it down there. My visit really surprised me. Columbia is a great college town, and the staff is like family. The facilities are nice. Everything about Mizzou is a good atmosphere and I feel like if I went there, I could help change the culture. I’ve known Aidan Shaw for a while. We played together in middle school and our parents are good friends.”

UCLA: “Coach (Mick) Cronin is just a real dude. There is no fake in his talk. I love how he approaches the game and how he sees the game. I think he can get me ready for the NBA. Just being around him and hearing him talk and hearing his knowledge about the game is unreal. I also love L.A., and my brother lives out there. It’s definitely somewhere I could see myself going and teaming up with Amari (Bailey) and Dylan Andrews and hopefully a couple guys from this year’s team back.”

Once he finishes his next round of official visits, Mitchell plans to take some time before coming to a final decision. His current plan is to wait until at least into December to see how the beginning of the college basketball season plays out. There is a lot of speculation about Duke having the edge going into this next round of visits, which could very well be the case, but UCLA made another really strong impression this past weekend and Kansas and Missouri are very much on his mind.