Duke basketball hears ‘craziest’ recruiting news of the year

All official visits the Duke basketball coaches host are meaningful, but only a few each year are pure “Craziness.”

Last season, three five-star Duke basketball targets were in attendance for Countdown to Craziness. From the three, Vernon Carey Jr. now headlines the freshman class in Durham while Jalen Johnson serves as the Blue Devils’ top 2020 prize thus far.

True, the third who was there, B.J. Boston, is now a Kentucky commit. But two out of three is not too shabby.

On Tuesday, O’Dea High School (Seattle) power forward Paolo Banchero became the first Duke target this year to sign up to be inside Cameron Indoor Stadium among the Cameron Crazies for the introduction of the 2019-20 Blue Devils (this annual celebration of all things Duke basketball takes place on Friday, Oct. 18).

Banchero, who ranks No. 4 on the 247Sports 2021 Composite, has not named finalists but gave hints by announcing his five official visits. In addition to being at Duke Oct. 17-20, the 6-foot-9, 235-pound five-star will visit North Carolina (Sept. 27-29), Kentucky (Oct. 11-13), Tennessee (Oct. 25-27), and Gonzaga (Jan. 18-19).

The versatile 16-year-old did not schedule a visit to Washington — probably because the campus is only a short drive from his house and he grew up going to sporting events there as the child of two former student-athletes for the Huskies. The 247Sports Crystal Ball sees Washington as the frontrunner for Banchero’s services.

A week ago, Banchero all but shut the door on reclassing to 2020; however, these early official visits suggest his latest answer to the reclass question might only have been a ruse to get people to stop asking him the question.

Immediately upon hearing of the scheduled visits for Banchero — potentially a Jabari Parker 2.0 in Durham — Rivals’ Corey Evans broke down both the coveted recruit’s reclass option and game:

"“Rumors have begun to swirl that Banchero could reclassify into the 2020 class. His production is up to par to make such a move, but for now, he remains set on enrolling in college in the fall of 2021.“What Banchero brings to the floor is an all-encompassing skillset that wreaks havoc from 20 feet and in…Banchero sets the bar for what a premier frontcourt prospect looks like and would be an immediate producer regardless of his year of enrollment and for which program that he ultimately selects.”"

Based solely on the Duke basketball staff’s success from last year at turning Countdown to Craziness visits into commitments, the chance Banchero selects Duke is roughly 67 percent.

The only scheduled fall visits to Durham so far are all from 2020 targets: four-star power forward Henry Coleman will be at Duke the weekend of Aug. 31, five-star center Walker Kessler is set for the weekend of Sept. 6, and four-star big man Mark Williams will be a guest of the Blue Devils the weekend of Nov. 1.

In addition to Banchero, the 2021 prospects holding Duke basketball offers are all five-stars: small forward Jonathan Kuminga, small forward Patrick Baldwin Jr., small forward A.J. Griffin, and shooting guard Max Christie.

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