Kentucky working to flip Duke basketball commit Paolo Banchero?

Someone may wanna tell Duke basketball’s recruiting rival to get over it.

Kentucky may have a better shot at forgetting “The Shot” from Duke basketball legend Christian Laettner than nullifying the oh-so-sweet announcement tweet from O’Dea (Wash.) rising senior Paolo Banchero, a five-star power forward who ranks No. 3 overall on the 247Sports 2021 Composite.

In case you somehow missed the Thursday news, Banchero joined Archbishop Stepinac (N.Y.) five-star small forward AJ Griffin (No. 6) in choosing #TheBrotherhood, giving the Blue Devils the nation’s only two top 10 pledges to date from the class.

ALSO READ: Coach K compares Paolo Banchero to Duke great

Granted, there’s no evidence — yet — of the staff in Lexington trying to change Banchero’s mind about his surprise commitment to Duke over presumed frontrunners Kentucky and Tennessee (plus closer-to-home finalists Arizona, Gonzaga, and Washington). But John Calipari’s latest commit, four-star guard Nolan Hickman, has already attempted to do exactly that.

Shortly after announcing his own decision on Saturday, Hickman targeted Banchero on Instagram by reposting comments he made during an interview with Kentucky writer Kyle Tucker of The Athletic:

“You know, I’m working on [recruiting Banchero]. That’s my guy. We talk almost every day, so you know I’m going to put Kentucky in his ear, of course. We’ll see what I can do.”

Above those words, Hickman wrote to Banchero, “…whatcha say Kentucky breakfast?” So how did Banchero respond? Well, we’ll get to that in a second. First, for comedic purposes only, let’s look at what UK recruiting expert Jason Marcum of A Sea of Blue  penned after seeing Hickman’s quote:

“There’s an unwritten rule in college basketball that coaches don’t recruit committed players. But when it comes to recruits recruiting other recruits, all bets are off until a national letter of intent is signed. I doubt Banchero will ultimately flip to Kentucky, but it’s good to hear Hickman is already setting his sights high when it comes to recruiting 2021 players to join him in Lexington.”

The Duke basketball prize left no wiggle room

Now, back to Banchero’s thoughts on Hickman’s proposal. Based on the polite reply from the 6-foot-9, 235-pound Swiss Army Knife, Big Blue Nation might be wise to quickly seek help in recuperating from this latest heartbreaking punch to the gut at the hands of Duke:

“You know I love u brother but ima blue devil 😈😈😈.”

Case closed. So much for that pipe dream. Yet that didn’t stop Hickman from setting the stage for their scheduled meeting in their first-ever college game at the 2021 Champions Classic:

“It’s okay…see ya first game in NY.”

Early prediction for that: Banchero’s Blue Devils, 118-84.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham for much more on Paolo Banchero plus other Duke basketball recruiting news and views.