Final predictions for Duke basketball’s remaining 2021 recruiting targets
By Matt Giles
Where will Duke basketball recruiting target Trevor Keels end up?
As recently noted here at Ball Durham, regarding the recruitment of Paul VI (Va.) shooting guard Trevor Keels, there have been multiple lead changes inside the 247Sports Crystal Ball across recent months.
The two perceived leaders? Duke and Villanova. Currently, with the 6-foot-5, 210-pound versatile playmaker ready to announce his decision on April 4, the leader between those two schools is not at all clear.
While Villanova owns the most picks with three, the other two belong to Duke, and the Crystal Ball shows the Blue Devils with a 57-43 edge when factoring in the expert level and confidence level of those who have entered their picks. And over at Rivals, the FutureCast sees Duke and Villanova in an exact tie at the moment.
Long story short, it looks to be a tight race to the end for Keels, who ranks No. 20 overall on the 247Sports 2021 Composite.
Plus, based on what has always been a relatively small supply of intel coming from the Keels camp, it might not be wise to completely count out his other two finalists in Kentucky and Virginia.
As for what Duke has going for it, Keels visited the campus last year, attending the Senior Night win over UNC, and was a backcourt teammate at Paul VI with current Blue Devil freshman Jeremy Roach, who is likely to return to Durham for a sophomore campaign as a full-time starter.
On the other hand, with both Roach and ACC All-Freshman Team guard DJ Steward likely to be back and in line for permanent starting jobs — not to mention the presence of wings Wendell Moore and Joey Baker, who would be a junior and senior, respectively, if they both return — the projected 2021-22 Duke basketball backcourt might appear a tad too crowded for Keels’ liking.
The predicted landing spot for Trevor Keels: VILLANOVA
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Again, though, of the three remaining Duke basketball targets, Trevor Keels is most likely to become a Blue Devil, even though it is not currently the expectation that he will. In other words, it wouldn’t be that much of a shock at all if this particular final prediction wound up dead wrong.