Duke Basketball: Blue Devils biggest loser in Kennedy Chandler sweepstakes

Kennedy Chandler made the decision to play for the Tennessee Volunteers. Here’s why Duke Basketball could be in trouble at the point guard spot.

When it comes to competing for five-star caliber prospects on the recruiting trail, few teams can compete with Duke Basketball. The program landed four players in the top-30 overall in the current recruiting class, while already getting five-star forward AJ Griffin for the 2021 group.

The Blue Devils were hoping to add another five-star recruit to join Griffin, with Kennedy Chandler being a priority target. Viewed as the top overall point guard in the 2021 recruiting class, the 6’1 playmaker has been linked to Duke since the very beginning of his recruitment. At one point, they were viewed as a soft favorite to land Chandler, and be the top perimeter commit in next year’s haul of incoming freshmen.

However, the Tennessee Volunteers and their relationships with the prospect proved to be too much to overcome, landing the verbal commitment of Chandler on Friday. Duke was one of four losers technically (UNC, Memphis, and Kentucky), but an argument can be made that this news hurts them more than the others.

The dream scenario for the Blue Devils was to land Chandler for next season in case either Jeremy Roach or DJ Steward was to enter the 2021 NBA Draft after one season in college. Both players are incoming five-star combo guards, who’ll look to have the ball in their hands. The problem in this situation was that neither are locks to be 1st round picks and just like Tre Jones, could come back for another year.

The Blue Devils aren’t going to play three guards at once, so the lack of a clear starting spot for Chandler may have played a factor in picking Tennessee instead. Now, the team either has to hope for both guards to come back for another season or convince rising five-star combo guard recruit Hunter Sallis to pick them once his process kicks into gear. There aren’t any other top-50 guards Duke is in play for, so they may have to rely on a 2022 commit to reclassify in case they have to replace either Steward or Roach.

Domino effect with another top prospect?

This leads to another factor that the guard may link up with fellow five-star recruit Paolo Banchero, ranked in the top-5 overall and an elite frontcourt prospect. Rumors have been swirling that both Banchero and Chandler could play together in college, with Duke, Kentucky, and Tennessee the three teams that were in play for the duo.

In this situation, the Blue Devils were viewed as the third option if these two were to link up. Now that Chandler has made his choice first, all eyes are on the Vols to land Banchero as well. Considering that they have all senior frontcourt players, he’d have a major role for Tennessee in 2021-22. Duke has an even bigger uphill climb for the forward, who has been linked to Kentucky and Gonzaga as well among his final six.

It’s certainly not the end of the world for the Blue Devils, as they’re still in a good position to land Patrick Baldwin Jr., Caleb Houstan, and big man Charles Bediako. Five-star shooting guard Trevor Keels is someone to look at, as his possible future commitment to Duke would alleviate the need to find another top-notch guard, as long as one of those freshmen ball-handlers does in fact return in 2021-22.

It’s rare, but Duke Basketball does lose recruiting battles every once in a while. They did with Kennedy Chandler but don’t expect the losing streak to continue much longer. However, the coaching staff now has a little more work to do to shore up potential loose ends a year from now.