Duke Basketball: 3 takeaways after Trevor Keels departs for NBA Draft

The current state of the roster

Clearly, Trevor Keels is not the only stud the Blue Devils lose from last year’s Final Four team. Paolo Banchero was never coming back for his sophomore season, and he’s not the only former star moving on to greener pastures. Wendell Moore, Mark Williams, and AJ Griffin are all gone as well, all of them established starters who could star at the next level. The Blue Devils are also replacing seniors like Joey Baker and Theo John, who were talented role players on that squad.

Jeremy Roach is the only starter from last season who will return next year, having averaged 8.6 points per game. However, there’s no reason for panic as Scheyer has brought in the best freshman recruiting class in the country. The Blue Devils landed three highly-talented 5-star recruits in center Dereck Lively, forward Dariq Whitehead, and center Kyle FIlipowski.

Banchero and the others will not be easily forgotten, but the young talent coming to Duke next season is phenomenal. This team also adds talented transfers in Ryan Young from Northwestern and Kale Catchings from Harvard.

This is a Duke roster with size and athleticism, but one on which Keels could have played an enormous role. Roach and Whitehead will likely be the starters at guard, especially with Whitehead’s ability to score from all over the court, but this is still a Blue Devils team that’s young and could use some more depth before the season begins. Still, it’s a roster that’s going to have Duke ranked near the top of the nation for most of the year.