Farello often describes Keels as a “cool customer.” On and off the court, he is unnaturally poised for a teenager. But he also had been a Duke fan for most of his life.
“I’m nervous. I start sweating,” Keels recalled. “I mean, it’s Coach K. I was stuttering as he was asking me questions. I didn’t even know what I was saying.”
Keels said he and Krzyzewski still laugh about that first meeting. In the two years since, the 6-foot-5 guard developed into a prized prospect and formed a connection with Krzyzewski and his program. On Friday, he fortified that relationship with a commitment to the Blue Devils.
“Coach K really trusted me and believed in me and told me things that he could do to help me get to the next level,” Keels said.
He will be joining Roach in Durham, N.C., giving the Blue Devils a backcourt pairing of close friends. Anytime Roach has been home from Duke this school year, the two spend nearly every day together working out.
“When you have somebody in the backcourt with you that you trust, that you’ve been through thick and thin with, that’s valuable,” Keels said. “We went through everything together. So I know he’s always going to ride with me and we can do great things.”
Keels also credits Roach as a major reason he attended Paul VI. As an eighth-grader he visited the program for a workout, and the gym was filled with college recruiters. They were there to see Roach, then a freshman phenom. Keels admired that and figured it might be fun to be his teammate.
It didn’t take long for Keels to start attracting his own suitors. After gathering a few scholarship offers as a freshman starter, Keels’s stock rose when he was forced into a starring role as a sophomore.
Coming into that season, Farello and his staff liked to say they had “two Batmans and a Robin.” The Batmans were senior guard Anthony Harris and Roach, a junior; Keels was the Robin. But early in the season, Harris and Roach went down with torn ACLs.
“We looked around at the team and told Trevor, ‘Okay, you have to be Batman now,’ ” Farello said.
He earned co-player of the year honors in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference while helping the Panthers to a 27-9 record. He also landed a spot on the All-Met first team, a feat he repeated as a junior.
High-level scholarship offers rolled in, and coaches and fans bombarded Keels with messages every day. He navigated the craziness with help from his parents, who told him to view it all in a positive light. He also talked often with Farello and his AAU coach, Team Takeover’s Keith Stevens.
“I’ve been really proud of how he has handled it all,” Farello said. “He’s been very respectful to and appreciative of anyone that was interested in him. He understood they were important conversations and relationships. Some people do get caught up in all the attention. He just never has. And I credit his mom and dad for that.”
In September of his senior year, he announced a final three of Duke, Villanova and Virginia. Kentucky later offered and joined that list.
He started to watch college basketball differently. He was no longer just a fan, because fans can’t just join any program they see on television. He had to start watching games as he would watch game tape. He recorded those four teams’ games and broke them down. He studied what plays they liked to run and how they handled players who had a skill set similar to his. He tried to visualize himself on the court: What would he have done on that play? Could he have made a difference?
It was a different approach from the way he used to watch Duke play. Often he would stand in front of the TV, yelling and clapping as if he were the coach. He never knew one day he would be joking with that very coach, laughing about the past as they discussed the future.
“A lot of people didn’t know that [I loved Duke]. Once I started getting offers, I had to dial it down,” Keels said. “But I’ve always wanted to get that phone call from Coach K telling me he wanted me at his school.”
More basketball news
The Paul VI girls beat Lake Highland (Fla.) on Friday in the semifinals of the prestigious Geico Nationals tournament. Junior Jaelyn Talley led the Panthers with 17 points and six rebounds. In Saturday’s final, Paul VI fell to Westlake (Ga.), 70-50.
The NCAA tournaments opened last month with 43 local players in the brackets. Just one local player made it to the Final Four: South Carolina freshman Eniya Russell, a former Pallotti star.
