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Jeremy Roach said something revealing for a teen-ager that loves college basketball, particularly one that is a 5-star recruit committed to Duke.
It was as simple as naming his favorite Duke player.
It wasn’t Zion Williamson, the supernova, as you might expect. Williamson played the 2018-19 season, Roach’s junior season at Leesburg (Va.) Paul VI, when he committed to the Blue Devils.
Tre Jones, the 2020 ACC Player of the Year?
He might have driven Duke to a national title last season if not for the COVD-19 pandemic ending the season.
No.
Marvin Bagley? He was a 2018 first-team All-American pick and the second choice of the NBA draft? Grayson Allen, a Duke bad-boy?
No and no.
You have to go back to the 2014-15 season, when Roach was a seventh-grader, which isn’t that surprising. Kids often bond with a team or player before their high school years.
Duke won the 2105 NCAA title behind the play of three one-and-dones, Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones. But it wasn’t one of them.
It’s Quinn Cook, a role player.
“My favorite Duke player growing up to watch was Quinn Cook,” said Roach in a GoDuke.com website video. “He was leader, a scorer and a scrapper. I’m a lead guard and get my teammates involved, play defense and can also score. I’ll do everything it takes to win.”
In 2014-15, Cook was a returning starting point guard pushed into the background by the trumpeted incoming freshmen. Instead of mentally struggling with his place on the team, he welcomed Jones – Tre’s older brother – to take over the point guard duties.
He accepted his value as the off-guard and spelling Jones. He was the scrappy guy. Imagine Cook’s mentality in Roach’s athletic 6-foot-2, 180-pound body.
Duke might have someone special to lead another top-ranked recruiting class.
“The six (freshmen) we have, in my eyes, are second to none,” said sophomore Wendell Moore, without mentioning Roach specifically, when speaking Wednesday on a Zoom call. “We have versatility with all six of them. Patrick (Tape, a transfer), even though he’s not a freshman, he’s considered a new guy here and he’s obviously a big piece of what we’re trying to do here. Those seven guys have been coming around really well.”
In addition to Roach, three other 5-star freshmen are Mark Williams (7-0, 230), D.J. Steward (6-2, 165) and Jalen Johnson (6-8, 215). Two 4-stars are Jaemyn Brakefield (6-8, 215) and Henry Coleman III (6-7, 210).
Tape (6-10, 230) is the graduate transfer from Columbia by way of Queens Grant in Charlotte.
If Roach plays with Cook’s grittiness, he’ll fit in well with Jordan Goldwire, a senior next season. In 2019-20, Last year, Goldwire was Tre Jones’ Quinn Cook. He wasn’t as steady shooting as Cook, but he was a strong defender that could spell Tre Jones. And hit some hot streaks scoring.
Cook and Tyus Jones provided the glue Duke needed en route to its NCAA title. The Blue Devils never found that adhesive from incoming freshman point guards in 2015-16, Derryck Thornton; 2016-17, Frank Jackson; 2017-18, Trevon Duval.
Tre Jones was a freshman in 2018-19, but the ball spent so much time in the hands of a trio one-and-dones — R.J. Barrett, Williamson and Cam Reddish — Jones couldn’t highlight his skills and leadership to click with a backcourt partner.
He did last year, rising to ACC Player of the Year.
In Duke’s 2015 championship season, Cook fit in so well he ended up second on the team in scoring and assists at 15.3 points and 2.6 assists a game. He shot .453 from the field and .395 from the three-point range – often from the corner when double-teaming others left him open.
Cook wasn’t drafted, but he didn’t let his fans down, working his way through the NBA Developmental League (G-League) to the NBA. He’s the only Duke player from the 2014-15 national champions with a world championship – 2017-18 with the Golden State Warriors. He’s now in his third NBA season with the Los Angeles Lakers.
He hasn’t let down Roach.
***
Moore spoke on Zoom following his selection to National Association of Basketball Coaches Player Development Coalition.
“Coach Mike Krzyzewski approached with me the opportunity,” Moore said. “He figured this was something I would be good at and something for me to improve my leadership skills and use my voice to be heard throughout the country.”
The other members are North Carolina’s Armando Bacot, Michigan State’s Josh Langford, Colorado’s Evan Battey, Kentucky’s Keion Brooks, Jr., Harvard’s Kale Catchings, Villanova’s Collin Gillespie, Gonzaga’s Corey Kispert, Duke’s Moore, TCU’s RJ Nembhard, Syracuse’s Bourama Sidibe and High Point’s John-Michael Wright.
“Our priority as coaches is to support student-athlete development both on and off the court,” said NABC Executive Director Craig Robinson. “As the NABC continues its advocacy and policy work on issues impacting our game, it’s vital that input from student-athletes be central to those efforts. Whether it’s NIL, transfer parameters, social justice, COVID-19 or a host of other important topics currently impacting college basketball, we will make sure student-athletes’ voices are heard. We will also structure the Player Development Coalition to be an impactful experience that benefits these young men well beyond their college years.”
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I invite you to follow me on Twitter @shanny4055
Tom Shanahan, Author: Raye of Light http://tinyurl.com/knsqtqu
— Book on Michigan State’s leading role in the integration of college football. It explains Duffy Daugherty’s untold pioneering role and debunks myths that steered recognition away from him to Bear Bryant.
http://shanahan.report/a/the-case-for-duffy-and-medal-of-freedom
Don’t believe the myths at Duffy Daugherty’s expense about Bear Bryant’s motivation to play the 1970 USC-Alabama game or myths about the Charlie Thornhill-for-Joe Namath trade. Bear Bryant knew nothing about black talent in the South while he dragged his feet on segregation.
http://www.shanahan.report/a/forty-four-underground-railroad-legacy-facts
http://shanahan.report/a/myths-that-grew-out-of-1970-alabama-game-with-usc
http://shanahan.report/a/mystery-solved-in-thornhill-and-namath-myth
David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize winner and biographer; “History writes people out of the story. It’s our job to write them back in.”
Raye of Light: Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, The Integration of College Football, and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans
https://www.augustpublications.com/
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