The Duke men’s basketball program received a big boost for next season on Monday morning when point guard Tyrese Proctor told ESPN that he will be returning to the Blue Devils for next season. By staying in Durham, Proctor is turning down potentially being a first-round draft pick in this summer’s NBA Draft.
The freshman out of Australia averaged 9.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 3.3 assists this season for the Blue Devils.
Proctor came on strong for the Blue Devils as their season went on including having double-digit scoring efforts in seven of their last nine games including a 16-point effort in their 65-52 loss to Tennessee in the Round of 32.
Proctor returning is big for the Blue Devils as they’re already expected to lose strong forward Dariq Whitehead and power forward Kyle Flipowski to the NBA Draft. Both prospects are borderline first-round draft picks.
On the opposite side, however, Jon Scheyer’s program is expected to return guard Jeremy Roach, forward Mark Mitchell, and centers Ryan Young and Dereck Lively II. After an up-and-down start to their 2022-23 season, the Blue Devils finished their regular season strong winning each of their last six games before winning the ACC Tournament with wins over Pittsburgh, Miami (FL), and Virginia.
The Blue Devils will likely enter next season as a preseason top-10 team and one of the favorites to make a deep NCAA Tournament run especially with one of the country’s top recruiting classes set to enroll this offseason as well.
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