Trevor Keels provides glimpse of his capabilities
Trevor Keels put on a show at Countdown to Craziness and showed why no one should be sleeping on what he brings to the table.
Countdown to Craziness gave us our first peek at Duke’s 2021-22 roster. As one might expect, Duke fans were very anxious to get a glimpse of the freshmen in action.
For many, the player they were most excited to see was Paolo Banchero, and rightfully so. He arrived at Duke with a great deal of fanfare and high expectations. With AJ Griffin injured and forced to sit out, Trevor Keels was the other freshman that was front of mind for a lot of fans.
Others, such as Mark Williams, Jeremy Roach and transfer Theo John, had a lot of intrigue built around their presence inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.
After all, it was their first time taking the court with fans in Cameron as well. In fact, there were eight players on the roster seeing action in front of the Cameron Crazies for the first time.
“We had eight guys, for the first time, playing in front of fans in Cameron - the two grad transfers, the four freshmen, Mark and Jeremy. Kind of crazy, really,” Mike Krzyzewski said following CTC.
With that, there were undoubtedly expectations for many of us leading up to the scrimmages last Friday. The one many of us likely didn’t have was that Keels would be the star of the night. That’s not to say no one believed he had it in him, it’s just a product of Banchero’s and Williams’ presence.
Those were the two most of us expected to dominate and own the event. It didn’t necessarily play out that way, though.
Banchero was good, but not great. He finished the two scrimmages with 11 points, six rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal. Williams had 15 points and 10 rebounds and definitely let his presence be known.
No one, though, had the kind of night Keels had, who scored 19 points, grabbed five rebounds, handed out five assists and had two steals with zero turnovers. He shot 5-of-6 from the field, including 2-of-3 from long range in the first game, and a more modest 3-of-8 and 1-of-4 from deep in the second game.
“Trevor, the first day he came in here, he was a dog.” — Jeremy Roach
The bottom line with Keels is he was the most active in both games on both ends of the floor. So much so that his performance and effort were visibly notable during the game, not that the others weren’t putting forth max effort. No one needed the stat sheet to know that Keels had the best showing of the day.
“Trevor, the first day he came in here, he was a dog,” Roach said. “I talked to him a lot last year through his recruiting process and just told him something to watch out for, something to do - make sure he stays locked in. He’s adjusted real quick. He’s been doing real good.”
While we are very aware that Friday’s event was simply a scrimmage against guys Keels’ has been seeing for months, and that things are very different when it’s a true opponent taking the floor opposite of them, his play was encouraging.
What Keels presented us with is how high he sets the bar for himself and his performance. That bar? He’s not going to simply be a guy that blends in and doesn’t assert himself. He won’t sit back and be a spectator to a Mark Williams or Paolo Banchero show.
No, he is going to be the “dog” that Roach said he’s been since day one.
The good news for Duke is that mentality is spread to every aspect of his game. Defensively he’s active. Offensively he’s assertive. He plays with his eyes up, head on swivel and his hands active. He uses his physical traits to disrupt opponents - on both ends of the floor. He looks for opportunities to get others involved offensively. And he puts a ton of pressure on the defense with his ability to shoot, and willingness to get in the lane and use his physicality to create opportunities for others.
“He’s a guy that doesn’t get tired,” Krzyzewski said, “and he’s an easy guy to play with. I think he’s a big-time player. I think he’s really good.”
With Griffin out and likely to miss games early in the season, Keels answers that question of who can pick up the slack.
We received a glimpse of a potential starting lineup in the second scrimmage with Keels, Banchero, Williams, Moore and Roach taking the floor together. And to be honest, it was a dynamic group.
The lesson from Friday was don’t sleep on Keels. If opponents do, he will most definitely make them pay.
Each year someone steps up. Stanley, Steward and now Keels. Will he stay for a Soph year…