Five Duke basketball players likely to bolt after season
By Matt Giles
About a third of the Duke basketball squad will probably leave come spring.
Any Duke basketball talent who opts to bolt at the end of this season will technically do so with eligibility remaining.
How so? Well, in October, the NCAA Division I Council voted to grant an extra year of eligibility to all winter athletes, including seniors, who compete at any point during their 2020-21 campaigns. Basically, the measure equates to a free redshirt for all without anyone having to sit out. The decision, of course, stems from the uncertainty surrounding the impact of the ongoing pandemic.
But it remains to be seen if any Blue Devils intend to take advantage of the unprecedented gift. And those question marks have surely thrown a wrench into some plans of Mike Krzyzewski and his staff when trying to compile a 2021 recruiting class.
Thus far, Duke boasts two signatures from high school seniors in five-star forwards Paolo Banchero and AJ Griffin. Plus, offers are still on the table to a trio of undecided five-star prospects: center Charles Bediako, forward Patrick Baldwin Jr., and guard Trevor Keels.
Though Coach K and his assistants aren’t likely to add all three of those remaining targets to their already two-deep haul, five does seem to be the magic number when it comes to anticipated departures from the current roster. So which five Blue Devils presently appear to be wearing the “likely to leave” tag? Let’s look, one at a time, beginning with the most obvious…