A key Duke basketball target is about ready to address his overflowing offer sheet.
On Sunday, Briarcrest Christian (Tenn.) junior point guard Kennedy Chandler announced via tweet, “Top schools coming soon.” Regardless of how long “soon” turns out to be or the length of the list, the Duke basketball coaches, who officially entered the race with an offer on Dec. 10, should have every reason to believe they’ll survive the cut.
Foremost, Chandler once told 247Sports that Duke was “a dream school.” Furthermore, the 6-foot-1, 165-pound five-star and No. 15 overall prospect on the 247Sports 2021 Composite intends to be in attendance on Jan. 18 — as part of his unofficial visit — when said dream school hosts Louisville.
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Throw in the fact that Chandler has openly discussed joining forces in college with his five-star buddy, O’Dea (Wash.) junior power forward Paolo Banchero, who was in attendance at Countdown to Craziness during an official visit to Duke in October and has the Blue Devils among his nine finalists (will certainly be interesting to compare Chandler’s upcoming list to Banchero’s).
With now almost three dozen suitors, it makes sense that Chandler would want to do some trimming. After all, the sturdy speedster — in the mold of former Duke basketball great Jason Williams — may now land on more wishlists after leading a high-profile upset win on Saturday night over powerhouse IMG Academy (Fla.) and 2020 Duke commit Mark Williams.
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Prior to picking up a Duke offer, Chandler had already either taken or scheduled all five of his allotted official visits for his junior year: to Tennessee, Syracuse, and Ole Miss back in the fall plus planned trips to Florida State and Michigan in February. The Memphis native’s Crystal Ball contains zero insider picks at the moment.
Finally, though Chandler hasn’t provided an exact timeline for choosing a destination, the coming list may be a sign the decision is increasingly on his mind.
Duke currently boasts one 2021 commit in Archbishop Stepinac (N.Y.) five-star small forward A.J. Griffin, still the only five-star from the class to have pledged anywhere.
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Invites to become Blue Devils remain on the table for Chandler, Banchero, Rolling Meadows (Ill.) five-star shooting guard Max Christie, Paul VI Catholic (Va.) four-star shooting guard Trevor Keels, The Patrick School (N.J.) five-star small forward Jonathan Kuminga, Hamilton (Wis.) five-star small forward Patrick Baldwin Jr., and Andrews Osborne Academy (Ohio) four-star center Charles Bediako.
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Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more Duke basketball recruiting updates, analyses, opinions, and predictions.