Update (4/16/12 1 PM ET): It's official, he's gone.
Editor's Note: This story is not confirmed, but rumors are definitely swirling. That said, @BlueDevilNation tweeted this with regard to the rumors...
@BlueDevilNation: Spoke with an assistant this afternoon who said he had heard nothing of Michael Gbinije leaving.
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Reports out of Durham, North Carolina have surfaced that 6’7 wing forward freshman, Michael Gbinije, will transfer out of Duke University. Brian McLawhorn of DevilsIllustrated.com tweeted out the news early Sunday evening. Villanova and Georgetown are among the teams that have indicated serious interest in Gbinije.
Gbinije was a player out of Benedictine College Prep (Richmond, VA) that came to Duke as a guy that could be a consistent scorer on the offensive end, as well as a lockdown defender on the other. He played in 19 of the team’s 34 total games in the 2011-12 season while averaging only 1.7 points on only 5.8 minutes per game.
Gbinije was the first commit from the 2011 Duke recruiting class that consisted of fellow freshmen Austin Rivers, Quinn Cook, Marshall Plumlee, and Alex Murphy. Rivers announced his intentions to forego the remainder of his time at Duke to place his name in the 2012 NBA Draft. Plumlee and Murphy were redshirt’s this past season, who figure to make good contributions for the Blue Devils in their sophomore years. For right now, Duke has only 6’4 shooting guard Rasheed Sulaimon committed from the 2012 recruiting class.
The Blue Devils are on the short lists of 2012 high school seniors Tony Parker and Amile Jefferson. Parker is reportedly set to end his recruitment on Friday while Jefferson has yet to set a date. Duke has expressed serious interest in both players for some time now.
Duke has also expressed interest in 6’8 F Rodney Hood who is transferring out of Mississippi State. As a freshman, Hood averaged 10.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while shooting 44 percent from the field, 66 percent from the free throw line, and 36 percent from three point range. Hood has stated in a 2009 interview that he grew up as a Duke fan.
By Chad Lykins
Lykins41@hotmail.com
@CLykinsBlog
