5-Star Recruit Requests Release from NLI to Duke

5-Star Recruit Requests Release from NLI to Duke

By: Bobby Cushing



5-Star recruit Mackenzie Mgbako has requested a release from his National Letter of Intent to Duke.  Mgbako is the 7th ranked player in the class of 2023, and the 3rd ranked player in New Jersey. 


On April 8, 2022, Mackenzie Mgbako committed to Duke over Kentucky, Memphis, and Ohio State. He signed his letter of intent in November of 2022, but just a year after he committed to Jon Sheyer and Duke, he requested his NLI release and reopened his recruitment, per his Twitter. 


When Mgbako committed, his ‘top 4’ were Duke, Kentucky, Memphis, and Ohio State, but he also had offers from UNC, Michigan, UConn, UCLA, and more. 


Crystal Balls from various recruiting pages still project him to return to Duke, but from everything else, it seems he “will not attend” Duke. 


Kentucky and Memphis are the two other schools Mgbako visited during his recruitment, Kentucky on October 15 and Memphis on October 29. I would imagine those two schools would be at the top of his list. 


Another school that could attract Mackenzie could be UNC. After a highly disappointing year and skipping the NIT Hubert Davis knows he has to get back to the top of the college basketball world. Mgbako’s High School teammate Simeon Wilcher is committed to North Carolina. Along with two additions from the transfer portal UNC has a chance to be a very competitive team if they add the 5-Star recruit. 


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