Duke Basketball: Why five-star forward Wendell Moore will soon pick Duke

Highly touted prospect Wendell Moore has his list down to five schools that are all from the Carolinas, but several factors point to the Duke basketball program soon winning the battle.

Zion Williamson, Harry Giles, and Brandon Ingram provide the most recent proof of the Duke basketball program’s dominance at landing the top recruiting targets from the Carolinas.

Five-star small forward Wendell Moore will soon supply the next piece of evidence.

Sure, it’s true that the 6-foot-6, 215-pound playmaker from the class of 2019, who lives just outside Charlotte and attends Cox Mill High School, has yet to announce anything other than the final five schools on his list: Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, and Wake Forest.

More from Ball Durham

• Duke basketball: The architect behind digital dominance
• Duke basketball prioritizing frontcourt prospects in 2025
• Duke basketball: Unmasking the hate for the Blue Devils
• Duke basketball: Countdown to Craziness lands another huge visitor
• Duke basketball fills final open scholarship

However, the inclusion of four of those programs indicates that Moore is a mature, friendly North Carolinian who is just being nice to those coaches in the Carolinas who recruited him the hardest.

The two-time state champion’s month of September will be busy as he makes official visits — most of them just to say “thank you for you trying” — to Duke, N.C. State, South Carolina, and Wake Forest. In October, Moore is scheduled to visit UNC (hopefully just to let coach Roy Williams down easy).

Chances are that as a kid growing up within a short drive of Tobacco Road and Columbia, S.C., Moore has already been to most all of the campuses on several occasions. Again, he’s probably just being nice — after all, poor Ol’ Roy has had a scholarship extended to Moore ever since he was a freshman.

According to 247 Sports’ Crystal Ball, the Blue Devils have an 88 percent chance to receive a commitment from Moore. The remaining 12 percentage points favor UNC.

Even if the Crystal Ball didn’t exist, though, Duke fans should be able to recognize the Duke-blue twinkle in Moore’s eyes just by watching him answer questions in interviews.

The way he composes himself brings back memories of former Dukies such as Grant Hill, Shane Battier, and Chris Carrawell (who happens to be the Duke assistant responsible for leading Moore’s recruitment). In other words, Moore is surely bright enough to see the advantages of attending Duke University (and hopefully sticking around for several years so that he can graduate and help the Blue Devils amass more banners).

Also, Moore must have considered that he plays a similar position to the three freshmen Blue Devils who are most likely to bolt for the NBA after just one season — Williamson, R.J. Barrett, and Cam Reddish.

If Moore intends to play right away, he must like the fact that Duke’s top returning talent at his position will likely be Jack White. No offense to White, but the Aussie serves more as a leader and a floor-diver than as a skilled playmaker.

Moore, on the other hand, has all of the tools to make plays from several positions on the court. He even seems to be one of those special breeds of forwards with enough poise to play point guard when that is where is most needed.

And his on-court decisions and demeanor appear to scream “team.” That makes Moore a perfect candidate to become the next four-year face of the Duke basketball program.

His all-around game is special. He is currently ranked first in the state and 24th in the country, according to the composite rankings at 247 Sports.

Expect Moore to announce his commitment sometime in the next six weeks.

And if he does decide to end up in Durham, he would make the Duke Blue Devils once again feel more special than their closest Carolina neighbors.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more Duke basketball recruiting updates, analysis, and predictions.