DBR Podcast #420 - - Jai Lucas And Ryan Young Join The Brotherhood

On this episode of the DBR Podcast, we’re breaking down two new members of the Duke Basketball family: assistant coach Jai Lucas, who joins Duke from a similar role at Kentucky, and senior transfer Ryan Young, who comes to Duke from Chris Collins and Northwestern.

Lucas is the big headline for us, though, as Duke has added an assistant without any Duke ties for the first time in almost 30 years. Lucas brings playing success, coaching success, and an impressive pedigree to Durham, where his father John Lucas II, Maryland and NBA legend, once upon a time played high school basketball. Lucas is taking Nolan Smith’s spot on the bench, and he brings plenty of recruiting chops to the role. We are all excited to see all the things that Lucas will bring to the program, as an outsider with a great resume.

Young, meanwhile, will be a backup big man for Duke, or so we think. His role on the 2023 team should primarily be spelling Dereck Lively II and Kyle Filipowski, not to mention his enormous role in the practice, preparing Lively and Filipowski for big-time college basketball. Given the extra year of eligibility for student-athletes who were in school in 2020, Young could be at Duke for two years.

We’ll be back soon for our Duke one-and-done draft, and of course as more offseason news trickles in.