Harry Giles 'close' to return from injury, says Duke assistant Jeff Capel

Star freshman hasn't appeared this season, but we could see him very soon.

The Duke Blue Devils are nearly back to full strength. They have welcomed back Jayson Tatum and Marques Bolden, and Grayson Allen is finally 100 percent and doing absurd things on the hardwood.

The final piece of the puzzle is Harry Giles, the nation's No. 1-ranked recruit who has not played since undergoing a minor procedure before the season began.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski updated Giles' status recently with a hope that he would appear soon.

"Harry's participating," Krzyzewski said of Giles' workouts and practice habits on Dec. 7. "He hasn't had as much contact yet. We're hoping before Christmas, those two games. But I don't want to put a gun to his head, like, 'You have to do it.' I want to see what he's [able to do] during the same period with a little more contact, before we go forward."

Christmas is nine days away and counting. And assistant coach Jeff Capel is as hopeful as Coach K that Giles will make his debut very soon. Here is what Capel said during a radio interview on the David Glenn Show on Giles' status.

We think he's close, but we're not exactly sure when he'll be back. The main thing is, we don't want to put him out there where he could re-injure himself. One of the big things when you're coming back from injury, especially for him because he hasn't done any 5-on-5 in a game in like 15 or 16 months. So there's a mental hurdle. Physically, we think he's there but there's a mental hurdle that you have to get through. Anyone that's been at our games and you watch him in warm-ups and you see him, he certainly looks like he's ready. But there's a mental part. So that's what we're doing. What's hurt us is that he hasn't been able to do 5-on-5 because we haven't been able to do 5-on-5 because we've been hurt. The night before UNLV was the first time in maybe a month that we've been able to do 5-on-5 and we just did a little bit of it. This Monday, we did a little bit more. I think if we can put some of that together and then that gives him confidence, where you're getting over the mental thing then that can happen sooner, but we do think that it will happen at some point this season.

It sounds like at this point that half of the decision could be coming from a mental standpoint. Suffering a knee injury then going back to full speed is a big jump mentally and physically. But Giles is cleared for practice. He has gone through 5-on-5. Next step: Season debut.

If he does return, it could happen as early as Monday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Duke's next two games: Monday vs. Tennessee State and Wednesday at Elon.