Junior-college star commits to Devils

By: By Bill Cole | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: March 17, 2010

Duke made a rare move into the junior-college basketball ranks yesterday to add a player to its recruiting class.

Carrick Felix, a 6-6 forward at the College of Southern Idaho, committed at the end of his campus visit. He is the first junior-college player Duke has taken since 1974, when first-year coach Bill Foster signed George Moses.

Felix, a resident of Phoenix, Ariz., who also considered Idaho and Kent State, will have three seasons of eligibility, starting next season. His addition would seem to indicate that Duke expects to lose forward Kyle Singler to this year's NBA Draft.

Also, Luke Cothron, who had committed to N.C. State, withdrew that commitment yesterday. He had declined to sign a binding national-letter-of-intent in the NCAA's early signing period last November.

Cothron is considering mostly SEC teams now, among them Kentucky and Alabama. He averaged 31 points and 14 rebounds as a senior at Flora Macdonald Academy in Red Springs.

Felix is in his second season at Southern Idaho but did not play as a freshman after injuring a hand. He played in 31 games, starting 25, and was the No. 2 scorer with 14.8 points a game. He also averaged 4.7 rebounds and shot 51 percent from the field, 32.4 percent from 3-point range and 69.6 percent from the foul line in helping Southern Idaho finish 20-12.

"He was not a nationally known player coming out of high school, but he does provide Duke with depth in the event that Singler leaves," said Bob Gibbons, a recruiting analyst at All Star Sports in Lenoir. "He'll help fill in at that position. He's a little older than a normal high-school player."

Felix averaged 19.7 points and 13.2 rebounds as a high-school senior. He is the fourth member of Duke's 2010 recruiting class, joining fall signees Joshua Hairston, a 6-8 forward from Spotsylvania, Va.; Kyrie Irving, a 6-2 point guard from Elizabeth, N.J., and Tyler Thornton, a 6-2 point guard from Washington, D.C.

Duke also received a commitment last week for its 2011 class, from forward Michael Gbinije, a junior from Richmond, Va.

bcole@wsjournal.com