Recent Duke basketball star makes surprising claim about recruitment

During the fall and winter of his junior year in high school (2019-20), Paolo Banchero took official visits to the Duke basketball program, UNC, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Gonzaga.

His October 2019 weekend trip to Durham included attending the Blue Devils' annual Countdown to Craziness in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Countless recruits whose official visits coincide with the CTC experience have committed to Duke, often soon after returning home or sometimes before they even leave campus.

Of course, Banchero, who won ACC Rookie of the Year as a Blue Devil and went No. 1 overall at the 2022 NBA Draft, did choose Duke in the end. He became the star of Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski's last team before the program's reins went to then-associate head coach Jon Scheyer.

But Banchero didn't pledge allegiance to the Blue Devils until the beginning of his senior year at O'Dea High School in Seattle, 10 months after that official visit.

Now, that delay makes perfect sense given what the Orlando Magic power forward — the leading candidate for NBA Rookie of the Year — said this week on Blue Devil legend JJ Redick's The Old Man & The Three podcast:

"If I'm being honest, Duke was actually my worst visit," Banchero admitted.

Redick then put the 20-year-old on the spot by asking which Duke basketball player served as his host that weekend.

"I don't want to throw him under the bus," Banchero answered. "I don't want to throw him under the bus, but it's [now] my dawg. It was my worst visit, if I'm being 100 percent honest. You can ask Coach Scheyer."

Last season's Duke basketball co-captain, Wendell Moore Jr., now a rookie with the Minnesota Timberwolves, later tweeted he, as a Blue Devil freshman, was Banchero's host and that "[Scheyer] let me hear it after this one..."

@JonScheyer let me hear it after this one 🤣🤣 my fault p5 🤦🏽‍♂️ https://t.co/v2qQX4iFOY
— Wendell Moore (@thewendellmoore) December 21, 2022

So what didn't Paolo Banchero like about his Duke visit? What did Wendell Moore Jr. do wrong? And what made Banchero decide to go with the Blue Devils anyway?

Well, he didn't address the first question or the second. However, he noted that the basketball-related portion of his trip gave him positive vibes that "trumped the whole experience."

And it sounds like his trust in Krzyzewski sealed the deal months later.

"[Coach K] said something to me during my recruiting process, that it was kind of a moment where I was like, Alright, this where I'm going," Banchero explained. "He was just basically like, 'Look, you're going to be a top pick wherever you go...But if you want to be the No. 1 pick, and you want to be the best player you can be, there's no other coach you should try to play for.'"

It'd be hard to argue that Coach K didn't make good on that promise.

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