Former Duke Blue Devils point guard Derryck Thornton announced he would transfer earlier this month, sensing he would be benched in favor of incoming five-star recruit Frank Jackson. Now, ESPN's Jeff Borzello reports that Thornton has narrowed his list of potential destinations for four - USC, Washington, Miami and Kansas.
Though Thornton hasn't given any indication of which way he's leaning, Kansas certainly appears to be the favorite on paper.
Due to NCAA transfer rules, he will have to sit out next season and won't be eligible until the 2017-18 season, and the Jayhawks just so happen to have a glaring hole at point guard going into that season. Frank Mason III will have graduated, and if Devonte' Graham enters the 2017 NBA Draft, as is expected, KU won't have an experienced point guard on their roster.
Kansas currently has two point guard targets in the 2017 recruiting class - Troy Brown (Las Vegas, NV) and Trae Young (Norman, OK). Both are five-star prospects.
Thornton, a Southern California native who played his high school ball at Findlay Prep in Las Vegas, reclassifed from the 2016 class to enroll a year early at Duke last season. He was ranked as the No. 3 point guard and No. 14 overall prospect in the 2015 class, according to 247sports rankings.
Thornton started 20 games and played in all 36 for the Blue Devils last season, averaging 7.1 points and 2.6 assists per game.
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