Two More Chronicle Player Profiles: Mark Mitchell And Tyrese Proctor

Two more Chronicle profiles of this year’s basketball players, this time Mark Mitchell and Tyrese Proctor.

Mitchell is immediately unusual in that he is wearing Art Heyman’s long-retired #25. Like a lot of most Scheyer recruits, versatility is his calling card.

He’s opened some eyes in practice and while it’s not clear who is going to start, he’s going to be on the court a lot. From the Chronicle’s profile: “With forward Dariq Whitehead set to miss some contests to begin the 2022-23 campaign due to injury, Mitchell should see an elevated role for the time being. While Whitehead is out, it seems likely Mitchell will slide into a forward slot alongside fellow freshman Kyle Filipowski. Getting these early minutes could be very beneficial for the Kansas City, Kan., native to refine his game and adapt to the college level.“

He’s really excelled early and will be very hard to keep off the court.

Proctor is also ginning up considerable buzz. He’s been praised for his maturity and his sophisticated grasp of the game. He may well start, which is impressive since he is a year ahead of schedule, having reclassified.

A 6-5 Aussie, his dad, Dinky, played for Jim Valvano at NC State. We’d have to think about this, but there are several Blue Devil dads who played against Duke. Off the top of our head, we can think of David Robinson (dad of Justin), we think Rowan Barrett (father of RJ), Mike Dunleavy (father of Mike, Jr) and now Proctor (we didn’t mention Shavlik Randolph. His grandfather, Ronnie Shavlik played for NC State under Everett Case and other members of his family attended UNC. When someone asked his grandmother about him playing at Duke, she hilariously said “we’re adjusting”).

Proctor was highly regarded but there is a palpable excitement around his presence at Duke.

The Chronicle on Proctor: “Not only has Proctor played at a high level of competition, he has thrived in it. This summer in the Australian U20 championships, the 18-year-old showed his craftiness, unpredictable pace and ability to score at all three levels in a dominating fashion. He averaged 27.4 points in 31.7 minutes per game and shot 46.5% from the field, living up to the hype.“

We can’t wait to see what he brings to the team.