Duke has lost only one game this season. It was against Ohio State, with a five-point loss (71-66) to a record-breaking EJ Lidell clutch (14 points, 11 rebounds) and Zed Key (20 points).
It is no coincidence that this match against the Buckeyes is the worst of the season for Paolo Banchero, the new nugget of Duke who finished his evening at 12 points at 4/14 on shots, including a final miss for the shot equalization in the last seconds.
At 19, the superstar freshman is running at 17 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists per game, all at 49% on shots (including 34% at 3-points). The Seattle native was particularly in demand when he left high school, but it was Coach K who managed to convince the youngster to come to Duke. The last big catch of the legendary Blue Devils coach before his farewell to college basketball …
“He told me I’ll turn pro no matter where I go, there’s no doubt about that. But if I wanted to reach my full potential, I had to go [à Duke] », remembers Paolo Banchero in The Athletic. “Players like me are rare and they have to be pushed to express all their talent. That message is what tipped the scales. “
LeBron James looks
Her father, Mario, had a successful college career in US football (starting at college and ending up in Washington), while her mother, Rhonda Smith, was also a sought-after rookie, becoming the top scorer in the world. Washington College history before playing in the WNBA and pro overseas. Paolo Banchero is therefore rather spoiled in terms of athleticism, and it shows in his game. A physique à la LeBron James.
“A lot of people see it as a versatile interior”, confirms his father Mario, ” and I think he sees himself a bit like that too. “
In high school, Paolo Banchero was precisely his team’s quarterback and he was also registered in athletics, especially in the high jump. But it was when he dominated the EYBL Tour after his first season at O’Dea High School that he began to realize that he might just turn pro.
It must be said that, during the summer, Paolo had pushed to reach 2m03 and 91kg. Named MVP of the NBPA Top 100 camp, Banchero saw his phone explode the following weekend, when college coaches could start contacting potential recruits: “The floodgates have opened. And after that, I thought to myself that this stuff could really materialize. “
“We all knew he could play”, narrates Darryl Hennings, the director of the Seattle Rotary club where Paolo played, “But we didn’t think he was one of the best of his generation. “
Debut in women’s basketball
With the body of a Julius Randle or a Blake Griffin, but with the mid-range game of Jayson Tatum or Carmelo Anthony, Paolo Banchero has everything to shine. It has everything in store with its power but also a good technical quality. His passing game is also interesting for the rest.
Because, from an early age, through his mother, little Paolo was confronted with the reality of the game. And with its fundamentals. When you start your career with several humiliations in front of older girls, it is easier to keep your feet on the ground.
“I think the boys, because they’re more inclined to play on their athleticism, they skip the fundamentals a bit. But the passes on the ground, the cuts in the back, the screens, the fundamentals of the game, he did that every day. Everyday. And we made him play with the girls as he got older… and they were better than him. So he had to think about what he could do to score against them and how to play against girls who were much older than him, faster and bigger. “
Initiated very early on in the most elementary gestures of the game, and in a feminine basketball more turned towards the technique, Paolo Banchero was also entitled to an uncompromising treatment from his mother. A role that Coach K takes over willingly to climb the last stages of the Banchero rocket.
“His mother has always been sincere and frank with him: you played well, you did not play well, you were soft, you have to do this or that…”, adds Coach K. “Any kid will have a better chance of progressing if they are told the truth all the time, and if their family does that too.” I know that’s how he grew up, so we tell him things frankly too, and he accepts it. He’s ready to hear it. I love it about him, and that’s why he is progressing, and why he still has room to progress further. He will not reach his full potential at Duke, he will continue to progress year after year. “
Coach K doesn’t let him go
For a while, during the period of “seduction” between prospects and universities, Coach K and Paolo Banchero chatted three or four times a week. Coach K notably sent him a video of LeBron James going from station 1 to station 5, accompanied by the message: “Hey, you can do that too. “
“We wanted to tell him that he still has a lot of room for improvement. He’s still young, and he needed a situation where we were going to coach him and make sure he develops his potential and not just rely on his talent. We want new talents to be found: communication, leadership, that sort of thing. And he was very enthusiastic, and still is, to go down this path. “
Not spared by the criticisms of his staff, Coach K in the lead, Paolo Banchero cashed in silence. He knows that it is at this price that he will be able to optimize his potential.
Caught up by the patrol, literally, at the start of the season with a small alcoholic incident also involving Coach K’s grandson, Paolo Banchero was protected by his trainer. But in return, it must be carried out on the ground.
“Coach K really got into his lard”, tells Daryl Hennings. “He bumped into her for four or five little things. Well, little details for him, but not for Coach K, who made him understand that it was very important. P realized that K was not going to let him take a shortcut. “
He loses 3 liters of water per game!
His versatility is his great strength but Paolo Banchero will logically have to strengthen himself in certain key areas on the upper floor, such as 3-point address or defense. Held to high standards from his first year at university, the Blue Devil learns to filter the sometimes muscular messages delivered by Coach K to his attention.
“He kept his word, he doesn’t give me anything easy. He’s on my back for a lot of things, but that’s great. I love that. I’m used to coaches who are tough, I know it’s not personal. You just have to accept it. You have to remember the message, not the tone or the little extra things that can irritate you. We just need to take the message, and learn from it to move forward. “
An intense player, who claims his Italian origins on his father’s side, Paolo Banchero has one particularity, which is that he sweats a lot. He loses a little over 3 liters of water per game, just in sweat!
This is particularly why he suffered from cramps in several games at the start of the season and, according to Coach K, that he had to use an intravenous to hydrate quickly. Supported by Duke’s staff, he now drinks an oxygenated and sodium-rich fluid called BOA which should help him with this singular concern.
On a downtrend from his record at 28 points, but never falling below 12 points, Paolo Banchero hit hard for his team’s last game before Christmas, with 23 points and 8 rebounds to beat Virginia Tech ( 76-65). But, like one of his predecessors in Durham, who like him has folded a lot of circles, Paolo Banchero wants to accomplish great things collectively under the jersey of Duke.
« [Zion] obviously achieved great things here, so it’s a good comparison. But I want to try to do what he did, and win a league title too. I’m going to do it my way: play my game, be a team player and everything will be okay. “
His record at 28 points
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk5lgloObvU
His duel against Chet Holmgren and Gonzaga
