Duke announces freshman phenom Dariq Whitehead will make season debut vs Delaware
Great news for Duke hoops. The school confirmed Friday afternoon that five-star Blue Devil freshman Dariq Whitehead will make his collegiate debut against Delaware tonight after missing Duke’s first three games.
Here was the announcement that Whitehead is returning, via the Duke Men’s Basketball Twitter account:
Whitehead hadn’t played yet this season due to a foot injury. He had surgery on it back in August and was in the final stages of recovery when the season began.
A massive addition to the Duke lineup. As a recruit, Dariq Whitehead was the No. 5 overall player in the 2022 recruiting class, according to On3’s own rankings. However, he ranked second overall in the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average of the top recruiting sites. In short: he’s a stud.
Duke fans and NBA scouts around the country are anxious to see the star youngster finally show his chops. Blue Devils take on the Delaware Blue Hens tonight at 7 p.m.
Jon Scheyer calls Champions Classic loss a great learning experience for him, team
Duke head coach Scheyer spoke following his team’s loss to Kansas in the Champions Classic about how invaluable the experience of getting to watch, and then play against some of the best competition in the country did for his team Tuesday night.
There’s no question that’s the best form of learning,” Scheyer said about the loss. “Just being in these moments, there’s no way to simulate it. That doesn’t mean I’m happy or I’m enjoying this loss by any means. You have to hate it and learn from it, grow from it.
“But playing in the Champions Classic every year, of course you want to come away winning, but you probably learn more when you lose. Even if we won that game, we would’ve won not being at our best with the way we took care of the ball and some of the plays we can make and do a better job of. But absolutely playing in this makes you better as a team and as a program.”
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The loss might be the first, but it won’t be the last – but that’s what makes champions. The ability to triumph after tragedy is something Mike Krzyzewski embodied for over four decades at the helm of the Blue Devils’ program, and it will be important to see how Scheyer and his first Blue Devils team responds to the tough loss.