Duke basketball: Walker Kessler joins Tar Heels, Blue Devils wail

A towering 2020 talent the Duke basketball recruiters were heavy favorites to land has suddenly decided to land eight miles down Tobacco Road instead.

The trouble for Duke basketball fans with Woodward Academy (Ga.) center Walker Kessler committing to UNC late Sunday evening is four-pronged:

One, he’s likable. Two, he was supposed to be a big chunk of the answer for a 2020 Duke class desperate for big men. Three, he’ll be a problem to defend. Four, he provided Roy Williams a rare-this-decade recruiting win over Mike Krzyzewski — despite the latter having long held a commanding lead inside the Crystal Ball.

So instead of welcoming Kessler as a Blue Devil, Krzyzewski and his assistants will soon have to come up with a way for the Blue Devils to contain the 7-foot, 245-pounder — reportedly still growing. The 18-year-old ranks No. 15 on the 247Sports 2020 Composite with a soft touch from all distances in addition to elite footwork and a deep understanding of the game.

After wrapping up his official visit to Chapel Hill over the weekend — he was in Durham two weeks prior — the five-star explained to 247Sports’ Evan Daniels his choice of UNC over Duke and four other finalists: Michigan, Auburn, Gonzaga, and Cal.

"“It was weird,” Kessler said. “I knew this would probably be my last visit, maybe one more to Auburn. I didn’t think I was going to commit, I did not. I literally just had an ‘aha’ moment, and I went with it.”"

Kessler explained to Daniels that part of the ‘aha’ came from his feeling at home on the UNC campus.

"“I just felt like it was a great place,” he added. “The main thing for me, and it really was the main thing for me, without basketball I could see myself being a student there, and I would be OK, and obviously I want to play basketball, but I could still see myself enjoying life at that school.”"

Also, the way Williams and his staff used Luke Maye the past few years apparently played a key role in Kessler’s decision to commit out of the blue to the opposite shade of blue from the one experts had predicted.

"“They showed a bunch of film of Luke Maye and said, ‘This is literally how we are going to use you,’” he remarked to Daniels. “They said I was a bigger Luke Maye…Being a big that can shoot and stretch the floor was really appealing.”"

With Kessler’s commitment, the Tar Heels added to a 2020 haul that already included the nation’s No. 4 center in Day’Ron Sharpe. Those two pledges alone comprise the No. 9 class in the country, per 247Sports. While the Blue Devils’ crop sits at No. 2 and boasts three five-stars — point guard Jeremy Roach, combo guard D.J. Steward, and small forward Jalen Johnson — they will now have to focus their attention elsewhere to answer glaring paint needs.

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Considering the expiring eligibilities of senior captains Javin DeLaurier and Jack White to go along with freshmen Vernon Carey Jr. and Matthew Hurt being potential one-and-done collegians, as few as zero returning big men could be on the 2020-21 Duke basketball roster.

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Four-star power forward Henry Coleman is set to announce on Friday; Duke owns all 12 Crystal Ball picks for the workhorse at the moment, but Kessler is further proof no decision is crystal clear until the actual decision. And Mark Williams — six of seven picks favor the Blue Devils — has scheduled an official visit to Durham for the weekend of Nov. 1 and plans to announce his decision before the early signing period begins two weeks later.

The only other 2020 prospect the Duke basketball staff is strongly pursuing right now is five-star small forward Ziaire Williams, who has long been at the center of the Tar Heels’ radar. But because of what the UNC contingent just pulled off in snatching away Kessler at the last minute, expect Coach K and his cohorts to widen their scope, pronto — likely with an emphasis on offering another big or two.

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