Duke basketball: Two recruiting races see sudden surge from Blue Devils

TREVOR KEELS

According to a tweet on Monday from Stock Risers recruiting insider Jake Weingarten, the entire Duke basketball staff is set to take part in a virtual meeting on Tuesday with Paul VI Catholic (Va.) shooting guard Trevor Keels, who picked up an offer from the Blue Devils back in early December.

While the 6-foot-5, 210-pound five-star was in attendance for Duke’s home win over North Carolina on March 7, that unofficial visit had remained the last nugget of news concerning the push for Keels to play his college ball in Durham. However, it surely didn’t hurt that Duke basketball signee Jeremy Roach, a five-star 2020 point guard who played alongside Keels for Paul VI Catholic, accompanied him on the trip.

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And two weeks later, during a chat with SI director of recruiting Jason Jordan, Keels made some encouraging comments about the Blue Devils:

“The environment at Duke was crazy. It was even better than people say. I talked to Coach K after the game, and he was just telling me about the game plan that night and talking to me about how I’d be used there. I had a great time.”

Keels, who sits at No. 18 overall on the 247Sports 2021 Composite, is not the most athletic guard in his class but does possess a lethal shooting stroke, extending beyond the NBA 3-point line, as well as above-average strength for his position and a diverse set of perimeter skills.

The 16-year-old has neither named finalists in his recruitment nor given a timeline for his ultimate decision. But Keels has taken official visits to Ohio State and Virginia — the latter being the 247Sports Crystal Ball favorite — and appears to be a prime target of North Carolina and Villanova as well.

Of course, considering the all-hands-on-deck call from Duke, there’s no reason to count out the Blue Devils just yet. Now, let’s move on to the program’s other virtual visitor on the schedule for this week…