Providence native Duke picks PC
Shooting guard adds to Friars’ 2018 haul
PROVIDENCE – A camera crew dropped by the Cushing (Mass.) Academy campus Thursday night to make a video that would be aired in conjunction with David Duke’s college announcement.
The Providence native had to make up his mind and pick between one of his two finalists – Providence College and Virginia Tech – before the camera started rolling. As part of the 90-second clip that aired on Friday night, Duke made a phone call to his future college coach, PC’s Ed Cooley.
“I could tell that when he called Cooley, a major weight was off his shoulder,” said Cushing head coach James Cormier when reached not too long after Duke posted said video to his Twitter account. “He’s definitely comfortable with Cooley. That’s his guy. The whole staff did a great job with being persistent with him, but not making him feel overwhelmed to the point where he felt detoured.”
Make way for the newest Duke of Friartown, as the four-star point guard on Friday became the latest member – and arguably the most important given his Providence address is within walking distance of the PC campus – to join Cooley’s 2018 recruiting haul. The announcement came on his 18th birthday and caps off a whirlwind recruiting process that saw Duke take official visits to Virginia Tech and Providence on back-to-to-back weekends.
“Now he’s just going to be able to do it in front of the people he grew up with in his home city.” – Cushing coach James Cormier on David Duke
The visit to the Friars’ campus occurred last weekend with Duke officially making up his mind some 24 hours after he was back on the Cushing campus.
Cormier had talked about Duke wishing to find the best possible fit, be in his hometown or elsewhere. Ultimately, the allure of becoming a household name not too far from where he grew up was simply too appealing.
“Having his family close by definitely played a role,” Cormier said. “In my opinion, he would have been successful no matter where he went. Now he’s just going to be able to do it in front of the people he grew up with in his home city.”
Before Duke climbed up the recruiting ranks and emerged as a known commodity on the grassroots circuit, he was a 5-6 freshman and weighed around 110 pounds at Providence’s Classical High School. He helped the Purple capture the 2016 Division I championship before setting his sights on the prep-school route.
“He was fundamentally sound when he first got to Classical, but when he came back for his sophomore year, he was 6-1,” said Classical head coach John Kavanagh, who mentioned that Duke received an offer from the Friars before heading to Cushing. “Because he grew so quickly, he looked like a newborn deer because he was getting used to running and jumping at that size. He developed some hamstring issues and that delayed his development heading into his junior year with us, but then he just exploded. Now the skill has caught up with his athleticism.”
Duke’s high school coaches believe he best profiles as a floor general at the next level, a position that PC appears stacked at with sophomore Maliek White and freshman Makai Ashton-Langford, who like Duke is also a product of the Mass Rivals AAU program.
“He’s a great transition player in terms of making plays with plenty of space around him,” Cormier said. “Providence is getting a two-way player whose skills and athleticism are behooving a high-level player, but he also understands the game. He’ll pick up concepts like that and he’s embracing more of a leadership role here at Cushing and hopefully he’ll continue that into his freshman year at Providence.”
Kavanagh said he spent part of his Friday texting back and forth with Duke, who came home to Providence to make the announcement with his parents and siblings in the same room.
“No inside information here, but I had a feeling it was going to be Providence,” Kavanagh said. “To see where he is as a student-athlete, a young man, and a basketball player is tremendous. He’s handled everything with such humility and just continued to work hard. It’s been great to see.
“You can see he planned this out well,” Kavanagh said with a slight chuckle when it was mentioned that Duke publicized that he was PC-bound on his birthday.
Duke plans to attend PC’s Late-Night Madness celebration on Saturday night, the first of what figures to be many chances for his new fan base to warmly embrace him.
“It’s going to be a fun weekend for him, that’s for sure,” said Cormier.