Jake's Take: Harrison Ingram, Jakai Robinson, Duke and Providence's 2021 classes.

Welcome back to Jake’s Take, a weekly content series where I answer all of your recruiting questions that were asked via twitter. Today, I will take a look at the Harrison Ingram sweepstakes, who remain on Duke’s 2021 radar, Jakai Robinson, and the latest on Ed Cooley and Providence’s recruiting.

Harrison Ingram could have his decision announcement at literally any point. He could have picked a school right now and we wouldn’t know. You take a look at his finalists and you see Michigan, Howard, North Carolina, Stanford, Purdue, and Harvard. His finalists vary from the HBCU route to the Ivy League route to the Big Ten, all the way to the Pac-12.

As of right now if I had to choose one or two programs, maybe even three that I think Ingram could land with I’d go with Purdue, Stanford, and Michigan. All three programs have done an outstanding job with him and as far as fit and surrounding pieces go it’s these three options that make the most sense.

I wouldn’t take a Harvard or a Howard lightly though. Both of his parents attended HBCU programs and he’s spoken heavily on the possibility of keeping his family legacy going and attending an HBCU school in Howard. For Tommy Amaker and Harvard, they’re likely pitching that he’d be the face of the program and have a chance to attend one of the most prestigious schools in the world, plus, Ingram is very big on academics.

The whole country got some pretty surprising news when arguably one of America’s top-rated prospects in Paolo Banchero announced his commitment to Duke over one week ago. If both Banchero and fellow five-star AJ Griffin Jr. stay loyal to their pledges to Coach K, it could be perhaps one of the scariest 1-2 punches in the entire country.

But, who could join them makes it even scarier. Patrick Baldwin who is up there in the Top-10 with Griffin Jr. and Banchero is arguably Coach K’s top target. He took an unofficial to Cameron Indoor towards the end of this season and that was his last recruiting visit. Including Duke, he has nine other programs in Wisconsin, UCLA, Kentucky, UNC, Michigan, Milwaukee, Georgetown, Northwestern, and Virginia, that are on his final list.

Then you got some other five-stars in Trevor Keels and Caleb Houstan. Keels visited this past season as well alongside his close friend and high school teammate Jeremy Roach who enrolled at Duke this summer and is likely to nab a starting spot as a freshman. It’s been evident that Roach is pursuing his high school teammate to Duke but as is the staff who is making a major push along with Virginia, Villanova, and others.

Houstan is also a top target for Coach K and he has Gonzaga, Arizona, Oregon, and many others making a major push at him. He’s one of Montverde’s top-rated prospects over the past few seasons and Duke is no stranger to Kevin Boyle’s program and MVA’s reclass talents, as Coach K landed RJ Barrett two years ago out of Montverde and then he went straight to the NBA where he was picked third by the Knicks.

I’ve had the same Jakai Robinson prediction for months which is in favor of Seton Hall and Kevin Willard. Assistant coach Tony Skinn has done an outstanding job with his recruitment after offering him last fall. NC State, Miami, Georgetown are among the other programs making a push at Robinson.

If Seton Hall lands him that would mean another four-star prospect in the 2021 class for Kevin Willard that includes Brandon Weston, Tyler Powell, and Ryan Conway.

Ed Cooley has made it a priority to land several guys for his 2021 class. It’s evident that the two guys he really wants are Bryce Hopkins and Lucas Taylor, both Top-100 prospects. Hopkins, formerly committed to Louisville, backed off his pledge this summer and now has nine finalists including Illinois, Kentucky, and others. Taylor however, is being pursued by tons of programs currently. He has completed several zoom calls with the Friars and Cooley is making a major push to land him.

One guy who I think they will land: Kuluel Mading. He has had the interest and an offer from them for quite some time and Cooley would love to land the dynamic forward who recently put the Friars on his list of seven finalists. Others that have the Friars on their final lists include Legend Geeter and Darius Johnson.

Wouldn’t surprise me if Cooley lands a slew of prospects for his 2021 class.