Jacob Grandison to Duke

All signs are pointing to the Kentucky Wildcats being set when it comes to the 2022-23 roster, so it should come as no surprise to see a potential transfer option land elsewhere.

Today, Illinois graduate transfer Jacob Grandison announced his commitment to the Duke Blue Devils. He previously announced a list of schools in consideration that also included Kentucky, Michigan, Oregon, USC, BYU, UCLA, DePaul, Arizona, and Iowa State.

Duke was the only school who ended up receiving a visit.

Grandison, a California native, will be a sixth-year senior this fall thanks to the free COVID season. He’ll also be immediately eligible because he’s a grad transfer, so he doesn’t have to worry about the May 1st NCAA deadline to enter the portal and be automatically eligible next season.

The 6-foot-6, 210-pound guard spent his first two college seasons at Holy Cross, transferred to Illinois, redshirted, then became a key rotational player over the last two seasons.

Grandison averaged 9.6 points in 25 minutes per game this past season while shooting 45.5%, including 41% from deep. He averaged 4.6 points in 15.3 minutes per game in 2020-21 shooting 52.6%, including 41.5% from deep.

Once Grandison entered the portal, Kentucky was expected to be a player, largely due to the ties to assistant coaches Orlando Antigua and Chin Coleman, who were with Grandison at Illinois from 2019-21.

But while Grandison listed Kentucky as a school he was considering, it never felt like John Calipari was making a real push, as he’s very happy with the roster he has now, even if it is just 10 scholarship players.