Duke basketball: Three signs Coach K ends up with No. 1 recruit
By Matt Giles
As of late, a Duke basketball commit has shown his ranking needs an update.
O’Dea (Wash.) power forward Paolo Banchero is a lion. Raw power. Ferocious. Fearless. King of the court. Soon to be the pride of Duke basketball and has just the right bite in his game to potentially become the program’s best-ever one-and-done.
Right now, however, the 6-foot-9, 235-pound Seattle native with Italian roots ranks only No. 3 overall on the 247Sports 2021 Composite. Banchero sits behind Minnehaha (Minn.) center Chet Holmgren and the current No. 1 in Hamilton (Wis.) small forward Patrick Baldwin Jr., who is coming down the homestretch of his recruitment with the Blue Devils as perceived frontrunners.
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Banchero, of course, surprised insiders back in August by suddenly verbally committing to the staff in Durham. He and a fellow five-star in Archbishop Stepinac (N.Y.) small forward AJ Griffin, who ranks No. 6 and committed to the Blue Devils way back in November 2019, should make their Duke pledges official during the Nov. 11-18 early signing period.
Both Banchero and Griffin could make a case for the top billing in the class. For starters, both are significantly stronger than either Baldwin Jr. or Holmgren. Furthermore, both often appear higher on 2022 NBA mock drafts.
But in terms of recent evidence to support a No. 1 claim, Banchero has put forth the most. So let’s look at three such pieces of evidence, beginning with the most recent…