Duke Has Historic NCAA Title Three-Peat in Range After Harry Giles Commitment

College basketball has changed in the 36 years Mike Krzyzewski has coached at Duke. In a climate in which teams have to reload every year, there were questions about whether the Krzyzewski reign on college basketball was over some seven years ago. Could he recruit at the level of younger coaches? With the frequency needed to annually stay in the national championship hunt?

He has answered that emphatically, winning a national championship this past April with a freshmen-laden team. More specifically, each November Krzyzewski has brought in a top-tier recruiting class. He has gone from a coach that developed championship teams into one that has recruited them.

The NBA’s draft eligibility rules have forced pro-ready high school basketball players to play at least one college basketball season. Whether you agree with the rule—I don’t, for the record—college basketball has become an arms race.

With a shout-out to the Kentucky Wildcats' John Calipari, Krzyzewski has not only proven to be the country’s elite coach but also its best recruiter.

On Friday, for the second time in three recruiting years, Krzyzewski and Duke landed the nation’s No. 1 ranked prospect. Harry Giles, considered the best recruit in the class of 2016 by Scout and ESPN (second by Rivals and 247Sports), announced on ESPN Friday that he was committing to play for the Blue Devils in 2016-17.

Gregory Payan/Associated Press

With the second-best class of the 2015 recruiting season set to begin college careers this month, we are witnessing the greatest era of Duke basketball ever. And likely the greatest college basketball dynasty since the John Wooden UCLA Bruins. Duke has a chance, one I would bet on, to be the first team to win three straight national championships since Wooden and the Bruins won seven straight from 1967-73.

The Wooden streak began during an era when freshmen weren’t eligible to play. Now you need them to win. Really not fresh men, but grown men. The kind who look like action figures and should be in the NBA but will dominate on most college basketball courts.

Every year there’s a group of incoming freshmen who are so much better than everyone else in college basketball that they decide the national championship contenders before they even register for classes (insert one-and-done joke here). Duke has the lot of those players coming the next two years.

Five of the top-eight picks in this past June’s NBA draft were one-and-done players. Two of those eight were international players. And Emmanuel Mudiay, picked seventh overall, would have been a one-and-done had he not elected to play overseas for a season.

Duke freshmen Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones, who all started on Duke’s national championship team last season, were all first-round picks this June. The next two Duke recruiting classes have the chance to, likewise, produce three first-round one-and-done players.

The Giles commitment cements Duke as the champion of the 2016 recruiting class. The Blue Devils also have commitments in the class of 2016 from fourth-ranked Jayson Tatum, No. 14 Frank Jackson and No. 39 Javin DeLaurier.

Before that class has a chance to help Duke win its third, the 2015 recruiting class needs to help the Blue Devils win their second.

Though some wouldn’t, I pick Duke, ranked No. 5 in the Associated Press preseason poll and No. 4 in the USA Today preseason coaches poll, as the favorite to win the title this coming April.

The Blue Devils will be anchored by low-post players Amile Jefferson and Marshall Plumlee, both seniors. Sophomore Grayson Allen, who scored 16 points off the bench in April’s national championship game, could lead the Blue Devils in scoring.

Gerry Broome/Associated Press

This year Duke has a quartet of top-25 players from the class of 2015 coming to play in Durham.

Four Duke freshmen from the class of 2015—third-ranked Brandon Ingram, No. 14 Derryck Thornton, No. 15 Chase Jeter and No. 21 Luke Kennard—all are potential one-and-done players with national championship-like impact. Same goes for the Giles-Tatum-Jackson-DeLuarier class.

So in the next two seasons, on paper, Duke has the talent to win national championships. It all comes down to coaching. In a draft of college coaches, who are you going to take No. 1?

No need to answer that for you.

Granted, Giles tore his right ACL on Tuesday and will be rehabbing for the remainder of his high school basketball career. But he’s also torn his left ACL. After that injury he came back just as strong and explosive. Even so, Giles may have questions to answer during his freshman season at Duke much like his coach has throughout points through his career.

Who wants to bet Giles answers them raising a championship trophy in April 2017?

Seth Gruen covers the sporting landscape for Bleacher Report. Talk sports by following him on Twitter @SethGruen.

Unless otherwise noted, recruiting rankings courtesy of 247Sports.