Duke lands commitment from No. 3-rated center Patrick Ngongba II - ESPN

Five-star center Patrick Ngongba II announced his commitment to Duke on Saturday, giving the Blue Devils their second five-star pickup of the week and further solidifying their hold on the No. 1 recruiting class in the country.

Ngongba chose Duke over Kansas State and Kentucky. He also took visits to Michigan and UConn this fall. Kansas State recruited him the longest because of Ngongba's strong ties to Jerome Tang and assistant coach Jareem Dowling, who was at North Texas when the Mean Green gave Ngongba his first scholarship offer.

But Jon Scheyer zeroed in on Ngongba as his top big man target and welcomed him on campus twice, including at last month's Countdown to Craziness, when No. 1 recruit Cooper Flagg — who committed to Duke on Monday — was also in Durham.

«I chose Duke because it felt like home,» Ngongba told ESPN. «I like their plan for me, and I trust the coaches. It is a place where we can win and help me get to the next level.»

A 6-foot-11 center from Paul VI High School (Virginia), Ngongba is one of the few true post players in the 2024 class. He is ranked No. 19 overall in the ESPN 100 and the No. 3 center in the class.

Ngongba comes from a basketball family. Both of his parents played at George Washington, with his mother, Tajama, setting the program record for career points scored before being selected in the 1997 WNBA draft. She's been a college basketball coach at five different schools since 2000, including a five-year stint as head coach at Radford from 2008-13.

«As parents, we were looking for coaches who would push Pat outside of his comfort zone,» Tajama Ngongba said. «Pat is a composed player who has a steadiness about him and tries to do the little things well.»

He enjoyed a breakout spring and