Kyrie Irving: “I’m leaning toward Duke”
Words. dimemag
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that St. Patrick’s High (N.J.) point guard (and Bounce Magazine cover guy) Kyrie Irving told us last night that he was “leaning toward Duke.”
Remember we reported a while ago that Irving, who is rated the No. 6 prospect in the High School Hoop Top-50, would commit to Duke either during his official visit to Durham, which happened this past weekend, or shortly thereafter. It appears he’s going with the latter.
We caught up with Irving last night and asked him the tough, straightforward questions about his big visit, which included a matchup against former Duke great Jason Williams.
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HighSchoolHoop: So you get there Friday night, then what?
Kyrie Irving: Basically, I got to play with the guys on Friday, and I got a chance to know everybody. Then we went to the step show that night and just hung out. Saturday we went to the football game and played again. We basically just hung out. It was cool.
HSH: You didn’t get your party on?
KI: A little bit…
HSH: So talk to me about the pickup games. Who did you play with?
KI: Me, Nolan, Nathan, Andre and I forgot the last person. We played against Jay Will, Zoubek, Scheyer, Curry and McClure.
HSH: Who won?
KI: On Friday we won a couple of games, but Saturday we couldn’t win a game for anything.
HSH: Who did you check?
KI: I was checking Jay Will.
HSH: So how did you do against him and just in general?
KI: I did pretty well. It was my first time playing against high level college guys. I did pretty well out there.
HSH: We heard Jay was trying to make a comeback, so be a GM for a second and tell us if he’s ready for the league?
KI: Right now he’s showing signs of being ready, but man I think he will always be NBA ready. His talent is just crazy. He’s one of the greatest college players ever.
HSH: So the last time we talked you told us about how coach Mike Krzyzewski compared you to Jay so it’s interesting that he was there this weekend. Did you talk with him about the comparison?
KI: No, we didn’t really bring that up.
HSH: So let’s get to it, since you dropped Indiana everyone’s pretty much picking out what number you’re going to wear at Duke. Thoughts?
KI: Well, I’ve got that feeling with Duke, but I want to go on a few more visits to compare it all. I’m not ready to commit yet. I just want to make sure everything is right. Duke and Indiana were my top two schools, and Duke is up there, but I like the other schools too.
HSH: Interesting. I talked to Austin Rivers recently and he said that the two of you spoke after his visit to Duke. He said you guys talked about how fun it would be to play together there.
KI: Yeah. We talk like every other day. We developed a relationship over the summer. It would just be real cool to play with another great point guard. It would make the transition to college a lot easier. Especially a guy like him, he can shoot the crap out of the ball. It would be really cool to play with him in college.
HSH: You want to study journalism, right?
KI: Yes.
HSH: So let’s switch roles — you’re the reporter and I’m the baller — with the same situations. Would you think I was going to Duke?
KI: I see what you’re saying. I guess you could say that I’m leaning toward Duke. I’m just not ready to commit. It was my first visit and of course I’m really high on them and like I said I have that feeling, but I think it’s only smart to compare it to something.
HSH: I concur. What is your next visit?
KI: Oct. 9 to Texas A&M.
HSH: I’ll be honest, that was the school on your list that threw me for a loop a bit.
KI: Well, that was the school that gave me my first scholarship offer going into my sophomore year. So you’ve got to show love to the school that found you first.
HSH: Indeed. What about the rest of your visits?
KI: After that I’m going to Kentucky on Oct. 16 then Georgia Tech on the 23rd and Seton Hall on the 30th.
HSH: So are you absolutely going to make it to the Seton Hall visit?
KI: I’m not sure yet.
HSH: Give me something that really stood out to you about the Duke visit.
KI: One thing I thought was real cool was when we were touring the underground tunnels we went with one of the janitors and he was real cool. You know people really don’t show janitors that much love, but everyone loved him. He was a real character.
Got a burning question for Jason? Email him: JasonJ@DimeMag.com
All of this “interview” was you trying to bait Kyrie into saying that he is going to Duke to fulfill some half-assed prediction that you made. Kyrie has also talked many times about playing at UK with Michael Gilchrist, and as far as anyone knows River is still a firm Florida commit.
^you sound like someone in total denial.
[...] 1. Irving: ”I’m leaning towards Duke” [...]
Not in denial lol.
Irving can ake a look and see that Duke sends their PG’s to play QB at Syracuse and Calipari sends his PG’s to the NBA.
By the way, it’s October 7 and still no commit from Irving. I thought this was a done deal on 9/27. Who’s in denial now?