After watching his team unexpectedly lose to Mercer in the NCAA Tournament, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski wasted little time in hitting the recruiting trail with a fervor. Not only did Duke struggle in the paint defensively in the NCAA’s, they did so to some degree all season long.

Obviously, Duke addressed those issues and they did so quickly as their staff hit the trail running. Not even a coaching change, where they lost a long time Krzyzewski assistant in Steve Wojciechowski could halt their focus.

As had been mentioned, Duke would not only look at the current rising high school basketball players, but they’d look for a transfer provided he was a fit for the school and with that said, enter Sean Obi.

Not many Duke fans knew who Obi was and unless you followed Rice in Conference USA, you may not have realized that the 6-9 behemoth was named the leagues freshman of the year which is obviously, quite an honor.

Obi was everything Duke wanted. He was adept in the class room, a load in the paint and he showed potential and the ability to battle on the boards in both high school and at Rice.

During this past season, Obi, a native of Nigeria, averaged 11.4 points and led Conference USA in rebounding at 9.3 per game, so there is no doubt he can play.

Obi visited the campus over this past weekend and he obviously enjoyed himself which was evident on his social media accounts. Obi wasted little time showing his pleasure with his journey after the visit and later tweeted out that he would be attending Duke.

With the addition of Obi, Duke gets a proven post player who can come in and complete in practice against prized freshman Jahlil Okafor. Going up against one another in practice will benefit both of these young men, so we have dual winners in many ways, or perhaps, I should say three winners in that Duke immediately benefits from his addition as well.

Obi will also be able to team with Marshall Plumlee moving forward and many expect the third of the Plumlee clan to break out in his final two seasons.  Obi, will of course, have to sit out the coming season, but will have three years of eligibility left.

Like many of the Duke prospects, Obi impressed off the court as well and that made him both a rare, and highly desirable transfer for Duke. And when Krzyzewski goes this route, there has been proven success, like Roshown McCloud and recently Rodney Hood,

While Obi had many suitors and other visits planned, he fell for Duke and did so quickly. That helps the program in many ways for they are wrapping up this seasons incoming class quickly with USA Basketball duties beckoning for Krzyzewski in mid July.

In fact, he also will compliment one of the last two main targets in the Class of 2015, that being Chase Jeter, a player considered to really like the Blue Devils. Jeter is expected to make a decision soon, but Blue Devil Nation learned it could go a little longer into the summer or near July before he makes a pick.

With that said, here is a great video from when Obi was in high school which tells the tale of his past better than any article can. So take a look at it and know that this new marriage seems to be quite the fit for both Obi and Duke University.  Talk about this article in on of our social media outlets or as a member of  Blue Devil Nation. Get to know Sean Obi

Coach K, along with two assistants, visited key 2015 recruit Chase Jeter on Thursday in Las Vegas. was a [private] short visit with the 6’10” Bishop Gorman HS forward, too short to even watch him work out, but nevertheless was a bonding opportunity between Chase and the staff.  The Duke coaches know that they are close with Jeter, so this was far from a pressurized environment, despite the hopes of a commitment post-Luke Kennard committing earlier in the week per sources.  While Arizona in particular is still in the running, along with UCLA and Oregon, Duke has only solidified its leadership position with Jeter over the last month or so.  Jeter is still sticking to his previously-stated plan (see our previous interview) to commit in late April or early May, and with how comfortable he and his family are feeling with Duke, its staff, and the other players — and the bonding Chase did with Luke Kennard over the UNC weekend — it would be a big surprise at this point if Jeter does not become a Blue Devil.[/private]

When it comes to reporting on how national basketball recruits’ official on-campus visits have gone, the national media seems to need to trip all over each other to get the first breathless report up, even if all it says is the visit “went well.” Great information, huh? I have found that sometimes if you wait a few days, let the young man and his family get home, take a breath, and sort their feelings out, you get a much clearer view of what they may be thinking.

With Chase Jeter, the 6’10” forward out of Las Vegas (Class of 2015) who visited last weekend for the UNC game, [ even after settling back in at home with his family and having a week to think about it, he still seems to be glowing from the experience he had in [private] Durham.

It’s not that Jeter and his family did anything so unusual during the weekend. He and his mom and dad arrived on a rainy Friday morning, had lunch with Coach K and the staff, watched practice in the afternoon, and had dinner that evening with Luke Kennard and the Kennard family. On Saturday they enjoyed a campus tour, and just relaxed and hung out with the current players and some future ones before that evening’s game against the Tar Heels.

Jabari Parker was tasked with being Chase’s “shadow” for the weekend, and that can’t be bad, right? But Chase, Luke, and Myles Turner also hung out a lot with Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow, and Rasheed Sulaimon, among others. He was really impressed by what he saw all weekend, stating that the campus and the facilities exceeded his expectations – he was surprised the campus was as big as it is.

Once at Cameron for the game, Chase was essentially blown away by what he experienced, describing it as an “insane atmosphere.” It was his first time in Cameron, and in fact his first time on campus or indeed in the state of North Carolina, and he thought the fans were awesome.

But the time Chase got to spend with the coaches was a very important part of the visit as well. Of course he was able to continue to develop his relationship with his primary recruiter – Wojo – but he also took the opportunity to get to know Coaches Capel and James a whole lot better, and to connect with Coach K in his natural habitat.

The most interesting comments Chase made in today’s interview were when he described how special being a Duke basketball player would be. Why? Because he learned about, and saw up close, “the pride and passion of having Duke across your chest.” “Duke is filled with top notch students and athletes, and everyone is just genuine people, top of the line. Elite all the way.” He stated that he has not seen anywhere like it, mainly because of the quality of the people involved at the university and within the basketball program.

Chase’s parents, Kim and Chris, felt the same way; according to Chase, they “loved” the whole experience.

So where does this leave us with young Mr. Jeter? Well, he did have a great visit to Arizona recently too, though that was an unofficial visit and the trip to Duke was an official. But Sean Miller’s program is attractive to him too, as their facilities and fans impressed him. Chase stated that Arizona and Duke are his “top two maybe” but was quick to add that many other schools remain in the mix, mentioning UCLA, Oregon, Kansas, and UNC, among others. But still, even when discussing the fact that many other schools are under consideration, he mentioned again that Duke was “awesome.”

How is he going to decide? He’s a thoughtful young man, and his parents are smart and caring people too. This is not going to be a rash decision. But Chase did mention that he’ll be watching the NCAA Tournament, and that how his suitors do in the tournament may in fact be a factor for him, because he wants to be part of a winning program.

Chase refuted the rumors that he is going to be reversing field and making a quick decision. The timeline he told me he had back in January stands – he anticipates making a decision in the spring, possibly late April or early May.

There is no way to know exactly what is going through a young man’s mind when he has this many people, this many famous coaches, this much media, coming at him all the time. But Chase Jeter is a pretty grounded (off the basketball court) kid, from a great family, who obviously feels that Duke made a very positive impression on him last weekend in Durham, and can see himself fitting in on this campus and wearing the Duke blue uniform.[/private]