Five-star Duke basketball target laughs after Blue Devils loss

An elite high school junior who holds a Duke basketball offer responded to the NCAA’s biggest upset so far this season in a way that might be a bad sign for the Blue Devils’ hopes to land him.

O’Dea High School (Wash.) power forward and 2021 Duke basketball target Paolo Banchero seems to actively engage with funny tweets of various nature about once or twice a day.

Therefore, maybe Banchero’s retweet on Tuesday night after No. 1 Duke fell at home to Stephen F. Austin — nearly a 30-point underdog — doesn’t mean anything more than the fact that the 6-foot-9, 235-pound five-star enjoys seeing ultra-opinionated Barstool Twitter accounts have to eat their own words.

In this instance, the since-deleted tweet came from Barstool Blue Devils an hour or so prior to the Blue Devils tipping off against the Lumberjacks. The tweet read, “150 straight non-conference home wins but yes, I’m sure the school named ‘Stephen F. Austin’ will be the ones to snap that.”

After the Lumberjacks were indeed the ones to do so, Banchero retweeted the then-not-yet-deleted Barstool sarcasm with three crying-from-laughing emojis. Naturally, as a result, a few Duke haters — a.k.a., UNC fans — began commenting under his retweet with anti-Duke propaganda, including a gif of former Tar Heel Danny Green dunking over former Blue Devil Greg Paulus inside Cameron Indoor Stadium and a gif of UNC coach Roy Williams giving a thumbs up.

Banchero, who ranks No. 3 on the 247Sports 2021 Composite, attended Countdown to Craziness on Oct. 18 during his official visit to Duke, and while in Durham, he tweeted pics of himself wearing a Duke basketball jersey and a message that could have any of a couple of possible meanings: “It’s different here in Durham!”

A month prior to his Duke visit — he has also been on official trips to UNC, Kentucky, and Tennessee and is set to take one to Gonzaga in January — Banchero named his nine finalists. In addition to those schools he visited or plans to visit, the 17-year-old — who has repeatedly denied any possibility of a reclass — is also still considering Georgetown, Baylor, Memphis, and Washington (both his parents were Huskies, and all eight Crystal Ball picks currently peg him to be one also).

ALSO READ: Paolo Banchero extinguishes rumors from Kentucky fans

In light of Banchero’s use of emojis after Duke’s loss and the general assumption beforehand that the Blue Devils are not among his top favorites, the chances he ends up in Durham appear to be shrinking at this point.

Further supporting the prediction Banchero will land elsewhere is the fact he has often discussed the possibility of teaming up in college with his close friend, five-star 2021 point guard Kennedy Chandler, who does not yet hold a Duke basketball offer but has drawn some interest from the Blue Devils (Chandler picked up an offer from UNC earlier this week).

ALSO READ: Five-star still awaits dream offer from Blue Devils

If the Blue Devils were to pull off the recruiting upset to snag Banchero, then they would surely benefit from his elite strength and length that complement his diverse skills and allow him to fill in at multiple positions. His game and frame spark memories of former Duke basketball one-and-done Jabari Parker.

Thus far, Duke has only reeled in one 2021 commit: five-star A.J. Griffin, a chiseled, aggressive small forward who hails from New York and boasts a No. 8 composite ranking.

Outside of Banchero, the Duke basketball staff is awaiting answers from 2021 offers to three five-stars: shooting guard Max Christie in addition to small forwards Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Jonathan Kuminga.

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