Duke basketball recruiters land crucial piece to championship puzzle

Trevor Keels is now ready to help return Duke basketball to the main stage.

On Friday afternoon, at halftime of a GEICO High School Nationals semifinal game on ESPN2, Paul VI (Va.) shooting guard Trevor Keels announced his commitment to the Duke basketball program. He chose the Blue Devils over fellow finalists Kentucky, Villanova, and Virginia.

By doing so, the 6-foot-5, 210-pound five-star, who ranks No. 20 on the 247Sports 2021 Composite, became the third member of Duke’s class. All three prizes, including the two five-star early signees in power forward Paolo Banchero and small forward AJ Griffin, sit among the top 20 high school seniors and should be in contention for starring roles in Durham next season.

A huge pickup for the Duke basketball staff

The addition of Trevor Keels certainly gives Duke some much-needed good news following a disappointing 13-11 campaign, not to mention the departure of three transfers and one NBA Draft entrant since the season’s unfortunate end.

Now, adding the sharpshooting and versatile skill set of Trevor Keels to the equation, the 2021-22 Blue Devils could be legit title contenders.

However, Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski and his gang seemingly still have some work to do with currently only eight anticipated scholarship players for next season (assuming Matthew Hurt follows DJ Steward to the professional ranks). Nevertheless, all the Blue Devils may really need at this point is a solid transfer or two to serve as deep reserves.

Yes, sufficient star pieces now appear to be in place.

As it stands, here are the eight projected rotation players: Trevor Keels, his former Paul VI teammate in Jeremy Roach, Paolo Banchero, AJ Griffin, Mark Williams, Wendell Moore, Henry Coleman, and Joey Baker.

Six former McDonald’s All-Americans. Loads of talent. Plenty of experience. And a mission to return the Blue Devils to prominence in what many believe could be the 74-year-old Coach K’s final season before retirement.

Duke is technically still in the hunt for two more 2021 prospects in Hamilton (Wis.) five-star small forward Patrick Baldwin Jr. and IMG (Fla.) four-star center Charles Bediako. But the Crystal Ball currently forecasts Baldwin to Milwaukee and Bediako to Alabama.