Are there any more 2021 five-stars who will become Duke basketball players?
The late signing period begins on April 14, which is now less than one month away. Meanwhile, the three remaining 2021 Duke basketball recruiting targets are all likely to unveil their college destinations at some point before that date.
But there will be no last-minute in-person visits between the recruiters and recruits since the NCAA announced in February that the dead period, which has been in effect since last spring due to the pandemic, will continue through at least May 31.
With all that in mind, before any of the three high school seniors still weighing Duke offers officially make their decisions known — assuming any of them actually know their definite decisions just yet — it is time here at Ball Durham to take one final stab at where each of the three will wind up.
All three are five-stars. All three sit among the top 30 in the class on the 247Sports 2021 Composite. All three have the Blue Devils among their finalists.
And any of the three would potentially be nice complements to the expected deep cast of returnees in Durham plus the program’s two early 2021 signees: O’Dea (Wash.) power forward Paolo Banchero and Archbishop Stepinac (N.Y.) small forward AJ Griffin, both five-stars who rank inside the top 10.
So without further ado, let’s take a look at these three Duke basketball targets, one at a time, and provide a final forecast for where each will ball in the fall…
Where will Duke basketball recruiting target Charles Bediako end up?
IMG (Fla.) center Charles Bediako, a towering force with loads of potential in the post who ranks No. 26 overall on the 247Sports 2021 Composite, has been down to a final five of Alabama, Duke, Michigan, Ohio State, and Texas ever since October.
The 6-foot-11, 220-pound Canadian hasn’t budged on that list one bit. Also not budging since then has been the 247Sports Crystal Ball and Rivals FutureCast, which both continue to unanimously show Bediako picking Alabama.
So even though Bediako has mentioned in recent months that all five of his finalists remain in contact with him, including the Duke basketball staff, it still doesn’t seem at all likely that the big fella will end up anywhere outside of Tuscaloosa.
Bediako has repeated multiple times as of late that he intends to announce a winner before the end of March.
The predicted landing spot for Charles Bediako: ALABAMA
Where will Duke basketball recruiting target Patrick Baldwin Jr. end up?
Across a span of more than two years, the Duke basketball program was the 247Sports Crystal Ball consensus leader for Hamilton (Wis.) small forward Patrick Baldwin Jr., a smooth sharpshooter who at one time ranked No. 1 overall on the 247Sports 2021 Composite but has since dropped to No. 4.
And the perception that the Blue Devils were clear frontrunners made sense. After all, way back in July 2018, head coach Mike Krzyzewski made clear his desire to reel in Baldwin when he made the 6-foot-10, 205-pound five-star the youngest in history to receive a Duke offer from him.
However, this February, the Crystal Ball suddenly shifted, now favoring Milwaukee head coach Pat Baldwin to ultimately enjoy the services of his highly touted son. Around the same time, the younger Baldwin implied his mind is made up when discussing the 10-team battle with Jason Jordan of SI:
“I think I know where I would like to go. So, I’m just kinda just sitting on it right now. I think in a few weeks or a few months, I’ll be able to say 100 percent. I’ll take as much time as I would like to.”
Now, while the Blue Devils do still own two of the eight Crystal Ball picks, it’s worth noting that no one has entered one for Duke since the summer of 2019.
The predicted landing spot for Patrick Baldwin Jr.: MILWAUKEE
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
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.