Duke basketball: Coach K extends 2 more scholarships for final season

The 2021-22 Duke basketball roster now displays a dozen scholarship pieces.

Sticktoitiveness pays. In this case, the reward is a free ride for a pair of former two-year Duke basketball walk-ons in power forward Keenan Worthington and point guard Michael Savarino, who just so happens to be Mike Krzyzewski’s grandson.

Neither the 6-foot-9, 225-pound Worthington nor the 6-foot, 185-pound Savarino saw any game action as freshmen.

Then last season, they didn’t debut for the Duke Blue Devils until the March 6 loss at UNC, with neither scoring in one minute on the floor. However, in a win over Boston College three days later at the ACC Tournament, both put their names in the points column during a few minutes of mop-up duty.

A 13-deep Duke basketball team

Despite these additional awarded scholarships for the upcoming 42nd and final season under Coach K, it’s unlikely either Worthington or Savarino see any minutes in close contests.

Krzyzewski implied as much when speaking to the media this week about the exciting options on his 2021-22 roster, which already included 10 scholarship players:

“I think all 10 of my guys can play. We did [give a] scholarship [to] both Michael Savarino and Keenan Worthington for this year. They’ve earned it. They’re both juniors. But the regular 10 scholarship players, they all give something a little bit different, and I like that.”

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Those 10 primary scholarship players are graduate senior forward Theo John, graduate senior forward Bates Jones, senior wing Joey Baker, junior forward Wendell Moore, sophomore guard Jeremy Roach, sophomore center Mark Williams, freshman guard Jaylen Blakes, freshman guard Trevor Keels, freshman forward AJ Griffin, and freshman forward Paolo Banchero.

Per GoDuke.com, a 13th piece, the 5-foot-8, 160-pound junior guard Spencer Hubbard, will be a second-year walk-on in Durham after serving on the practice squad as a freshman.