Duke Basketball: 10 biggest storylines heading into 2020-21 season

7. Kennedy Chandler is Duke’s priority 2021 recruit

The Blue Devils are already on board in next year’s class with AJ Griffin, a five-star wing ranked No. 6 overall for 247sportsComposite. While he can play both forward positions, he’ll essentially be the replacement for Jalen Johnson on the wing. Now, the team can focus on an even bigger need in the 2021 recruiting class.

With the frontcourt not featuring “one and done” players, finding another point guard to potentially replace either Roach or Steward is very important. And at the moment, the team is looking at only one ball-handler in the 2021 group in Kennedy Chandler. The five-star point guard is considered one of the best overall backcourt players in the group and has Duke among his five finalists, along with Kentucky, Tennessee, Memphis, and UNC.

This is a tough group for even the Blue Devils to beat out. Hated rivals North Carolina and Kentucky will certainly be in play, while Penny Hardaway has already turned Memphis into a five-star factory himself. But the current favorite seems to be Tennessee, the local option for Chandler and who has brought in a trio of five-star guards most recently as well.

If Chandler does indeed got to the Vols or somewhere else, that leaves the Blue Devils without many options if one of those guards go pro. And with Goldwire set to graduate, depth on the perimeter becomes a much bigger concern for the team. They would have to go to the transfer portal and hope to land a top-tier guard or possibly convince a class of 2022 star to reclassify and join Duke a year early. They would hope to just land Chandler to end that kind of speculation but if not, it’ll be interesting to see how they reload on the outside.