Duke Freshman Tyrese Proctor Is Making An Impression

Tyrese Proctor had generated a lot of interest as a young player in Australia but as Duke coach Jon Scheyer says here, he’s ahead of the curve:

“He’s tough,” Scheyer told the Durham Herald-Sun. “You can’t tell on film, you know, how does a person talk? Do they use their body all the time? He still can talk more, by the way. That for me is something he can definitely do. But just his feel and his attention to detail on any play — it can be offensively or defensively, he has a high understanding of how to play the game.”

He may also be the prototype Scheyer recruit. Over his decades at Duke, Mike Krzyzewski emphasized versatility as Scheyer does, but he periodically recruited players with great strengths and some limitations when they graduated from high school. Think Robert Brickey, who was strong enough to man the post at 6-5, Billy King, who couldn’t hit a jump shot if his life depended on it but who was one of the great defenders in college basketball history, or more recently, Jaylen Blakes, who is clearly talented but not polished yet.

We have two classes to consider with Scheyer and while none of them have taken the court yet, making it impossible to fully assess, he’s targeting people with advanced skills and a higher level of versatility. To us, this seems like the key to understanding Scheyer’s priorities.“...just his feel and his attention to detail on any play — it can be offensively or defensively, he has a high understanding of how to play the game.”

Would he have gone after King? Probably - the man was a defensive savant. But Brickey? That’s harder to say. He had great strengths but also significant weaknesses.

Not to say that one approach is better than the other. They’re just different. It’s going to be fascinating to see where Duke goes from here.