Duke basketball pledge can now pitch No. 1 recruit in person

Paolo Banchero may defeat and then woo a possible Duke basketball teammate.

At 6:50 p.m. EST Saturday, as part of this weekend’s Grassroots Showcase in Indianapolis, Duke basketball commit Paolo Banchero will square off against Patrick Baldwin Jr., a fellow 2021 five-star he is apparently trying his darndest to sell on joining him as a Blue Devil.

Banchero, an O’Dea (Wash.) power forward who sits No. 3 overall on the 247Sports 2021 Composite, will lead his Seattle Rotary AAU squad against the Phenom University Team Herro of Baldwin Jr., a Hamilton (Wis.) small forward who ranks No. 1 among high school seniors and has been at the center of the Duke basketball radar for more than two years now.

Naturally, the clash should allow fans to judge whether Baldwin Jr. is indeed a smidge better than Banchero, as their ratings suggest. Yet it should also give the 6-foot-9, 235-pound light-footed big man another opportunity to make his pitch for the 6-foot-10, 205-pound smooth-operator sniper to be on his team in college — where neither is likely to stay more than a year.

ALSO READ: Has Duke already landed the top 2021 recruit?

Moments after suddenly announcing his unexpected pledge to Duke in August, Banchero unveiled to ESPN’s Paul Biancardi the names he’s pursuing the hardest:

“My two main ones to join me and [five-star small forward AJ Griffin] are definitely Patrick Baldwin and Trevor Keels. I just got done texting with Trevor a couple of minutes ago, so those two are my two that I’m focusing on…They’re both people I would love to play with, so hopefully, we can get that done.”

In addition to Baldwin Jr. and Keels, a five-star shooting guard for Paul VI (Va.), Duke still has offers on the table to IMG (Fla.) five-star center Charles Bediako and Montverde (Fla.) five-star small forward Caleb Houstan. But Banchero made clear to Biancardi that he’s keen on helping Mike Krzyzewski and his assistants win the Baldwin Jr. race (they own the 247Sports Crystal Ball lead):

“I got a chance to bond with Patrick over the AAU and camp circuit…[We] have played together on the same team, so Patrick, you know, we play well off each other like no other, bro. I’m going to see you [and] all that.”

How to watch Duke basketball’s top commit and top target in action

Sure enough, Banchero will see Baldwin Jr., up close but on the opposing side Saturday evening. Here’s a link to the teams’ full schedules, including a few more games for each spread throughout the weekend. And here’s how to purchase the event’s entire live stream for $50; one might expect, though, that highlights will quickly become freely available for “Banchero vs. Baldwin Jr.”

Beyond their battle, Banchero and Baldwin Jr. ought to have a chance to hang out inside the Indiana Convention Center at some point on Saturday or Sunday in between their other games.

Assuming Banchero is able to close the deal with Baldwin Jr. and then do the same with Keels down the road — with Griffin already in tow and potentially several former five-stars returning for the 2021-22 Duke basketball season — then as the 17-year-old phenom explained to Biancardi, the expectation in Durham would be quite simple:

“I think we can really make a push and win a national championship.”

Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more Duke basketball recruiting news and views.