All the speculation and hand wringing came to a stop on Monday night when 2018's top player Marvin Bagley III appeared on ESPN's SportsCenter and announced that he will play his college basketball at Duke.
The 6-foot-10 Bagley didn't just make his college choice, he also made official what has been speculated for the last month or so; that he'll be enrolling as a member of the class of 2017.
What does Bagley bring to the table? What does his addition mean for the Blue Devils' 2018 chances and what does that mean for the class of 2018 who loses it's top player.
WHAT BAGLEY MEANS TO THE BLUE DEVILS
Duke is always going to be in the mix to win ACC and national championships and Bagley gives them a valuable piece that they were missing at the beginning of the day. Their primary bigs -- freshman Wendell Carter and sophomore Marques Bolden -- are more grinders and physical guys who could be tough to play together because they are at their best with their backs to the basket. By adding Bagley they have the fast twitch, high flying rim runner who can really balance things out and give them a deadly rotation of bigs and makes the Blue Devils a much more viable Final Four contender in 2017-2018. By adding Bagley, the Blue Devils recruiting class moves from No. 2 to No. 1 in 2017.
THE SCOUTING REPORT
A super athletic lefty who can play above the rim in traffic, Bagley is prototype power forward prospect. In many ways he is similar to a young Amare Stoudemire, at least athletically. Bagley doesn't have the power of a young Stoudemire but he's also more skilled so look at him as perhaps the midway point between Stoudemire and Anthony Davis when it comes to style of play.
Bagley is at his best in transition, is a flat out dominant rebounder on both ends of the floor and has the tools to develop into a very respectable mid to deep jump shooter. The key is adding strength and tightening up that jump shot.
IMPACT OF BAGLEY'S MOVE TO 2017 ON 2018
With Bagley's move to 2017, we need a new No. 1 in the class of 2017 and in an interesting twist of fate, it's another player who recently reclassified that takes over the top spot.
After a recent move from the class of 2019 to 2018, Canada native R.J. Barrett is the new No. 1 player in the country. A prototypical wing prospect with size, athleticism and all-around game, Barrett led Canada to a gold medal at the Fiba U18 World Championship this summer and is being chased by all of college basketball's best programs.
