It isn’t often that an athlete opts out of playing for a blue-blood college basketball program after receiving numerous offers from the best teams in the country.
Yet, five-star power forward Toni Bryant did just that, committing to the Missouri Tigers over the likes of the Kansas Jayhawks and the UNC Tar Heels, giving the Duke Blue Devils a fresh topic to laugh at their rivals about.
Duke and head coach Jon Scheyer didn’t extend an offer to Bryant, who received 25 Division I offers, including ones from the Blue Devils’ in-state rivals, the Tar Heels and the NC State Wolfpack.
Yet, despite all of the interest in Bryant, he chose to play for the Tigers, even with an official visit to North Carolina earlier this month.
Bryant is the No. 18 prospect in the class of 2026 and the No. 3 power forward in the recruiting cycle. A native of Tampa, the young power forward is the No. 2 prospect out of the state of Florida, only trailing five-star small forward Caleb Gaskins.
The Blue Devils never even hosted Bryant for an unofficial visit. However, Bryant did take official visits with UNC, Missouri, Boston College, and Ole Miss, as well as taking nine unofficial visits across the country.
Why has Duke not landed any 2026 commitments?
Scheyer and his staff have yet to discuss whether or not they ever considered recruiting him. After bringing in the No. 1 class of 2025, it appears as if Duke is being highly selective with who the program extends offers to in the next recruiting cycle.
So far, the Blue Devils have yet to land a commitment from the class of 2026, but have offered just nine prospects, seven of whom are five-star prospects and two of whom are four-star recruits. North Carolina also has yet to land a recruit from the upcoming class, but has already sent out 17 offers, including quite a few that overlap with Duke’s targets.
Bryant was the second prospect to commit to the Tigers in this cycle, joining five-star combo guard Jason Crowe Jr. in Missouri’s upcoming class.
