The Eastern Kentucky coach had been recruiting him for months. Dan McHale loved the kid. Loved the way he ran a team, the way he picked up full-court, the way he saw the floor. Jordan Goldwire was supposed to be EKU's starting point guard from day one. The handshake had been worked. The fit was perfect. Then, in late April 2017, Duke called.
"We recruited (Goldwire) hard for months," McHale said afterward. "Duke recruited him for days, hours. But it was Duke. What are you going to do?"
What Jordan Goldwire did was commit to Duke on May 1, 2017.
He was born June 18, 1999 in Lawrenceville, Georgia, the son of Courtney and Connie Goldwire, with one sister, Jaylen. The family runs basketball through it — his cousin Devin Mitchell played at Georgia State, his cousin Jalen Mitchell at Clark Atlanta. But the kid from Norcross who'd later wear Duke blue at Cameron Indoor came up at one of the most loaded high schools in the country. Norcross High School in Norcross, Georgia, where Jordan suited up alongside future Power Five recruits Rayshaun Hammonds (Georgia), Lance Thomas (Louisville/Memphis), JoJo Toppin (Georgia/Georgia State), Kyle Sturdivant (USC/Georgia Tech), and Brandon Boston Jr. (Kentucky). The Norcross roster wasn't a high school team. It was a small-college program in disguise.
They went 26-4 his junior year and 26-6 his senior year, finishing as Georgia 7A state runners-up after losing the championship game in front of a crowd of more than 10,000 at McCamish Pavilion on the Georgia Tech campus. As a senior, Goldwire averaged 12.8 points, 8.3 assists, and 2.1 steals per game. He was named All-Region, All-Gwinnett County, and All-State. He was a consensus three-star recruit, ranked outside the national top 100. Power-five interest was real but not overwhelming. Eastern Kentucky was the offer that fit. He committed there.
Then Duke called.
The thinking, as it became clear later, was that Mike Krzyzewski wanted insurance. He wanted someone who could run the second unit on a 2017 class headlined by Marvin Bagley III, Wendell Carter Jr., Trevon Duval, and Gary Trent Jr. — a class that was already widely considered one of the best recruiting hauls in college basketball history. Duke had brought in lottery talent before and would again. Krzyzewski had also brought in players like Tyler Thornton and Andre Buckner, role players who could come off the bench, run a unit, defend two positions, and not need the ball. Goldwire fit that profile.
What no one expected was that the kid who almost ended up in Richmond, Kentucky would end up second in the ACC in steals, ninth all-time at Duke for single-season thefts, and a player Coach K would publicly say the Duke fans owed their respect.