For my second installment of Duke player previews I will be focusing on the five star shooting guard out of Apple Valley, Minnesota, Gary Trent jr.
Name: Gary Trent, Jr.
Year: Freshman
Position: Shooting Guard
Age: 18
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 213
High School: Prolific Prep, Napa, California
Gary Trent Jr has the potential to be one of the best players on a star studded Duke team. He can shoot the three like an NBA guard and he can dunk the ball like LeBron James. If he is given the correct amount of minutes he has the potential to take this Duke basketball team to new heights.
Awards/Honors/Accomplishments:
- Won gold medals with USA Basketball at the 2015 FIBA Americas U16 Championship and the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship
- Scored nine points and shared the team lead with five assists to help the U.S. to a 98-87 win at the 2017 Nike Hoop Summit in Portland, Ore.
- Selected for the 2016 USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team minicamp
- Averaged 12.7 points and 3.9 rebounds during the USA’s gold-medal run at the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship
- Named MVP of the 2015 FIBA Americas U16 Championship for leading the U.S. to gold with averages of 16.8 points and 2.8 rebounds
- Ranked as the No. 8 overall recruit and No. 1 shooting guard in the 2017 high school class by ESPN
- Ranked No. 17 overall by Rivals.com and No. 20 overall – and No. 3 among shooting guards – by Scout.com
- Named the inaugural Allen Iverson National Player of the Year in 2017
- A 2017 McDonald’s All-American and Jordan Brand Classic selection
- Posted averages of 31.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists as a senior at Prolific Prep in 2017 to lead the Crew to a 29-3 record
- Earned second-team All-America honors from MaxPreps and third-team recognition from the Naismith Trophy following his senior season
- Averaged 26.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game for Apple Valley (Minn.) High School as a junior in 2016, earning first-team Junior All-America honors from MaxPreps
- Collected Gatorade Minnesota Player of the Year, USA Today Minnesota Player of the Year and first-team Minneapolis All-Metro honors in 2016
- Paced Apple Valley to the Minnesota 4A state title in 2015 with an average of 21.5 points per game on his way to first-team all-state recognition
Must Read: Duke Basketball Season Is Upon Us
Gary Trent Jr. is already a very accomplished basketball player as you can see above, and he is only a freshman. You name an honor or an award and chances are he won it. However, he has a very interesting situation ahead of him at Duke this upcoming season. There is a good chance he will either be coming off the bench, or he will be playing in a position which he does not normally play in.
With Trevon Duval being the starting point guard, and Grayson Allen being the starting shooting guard it will be tough for Trent to crack the starting lineup. If he does make it into the starting five it will have to be at small forward, a position which Trent does not play which will make it tough for him to show off his skills.
Because of this it is very tough to make predictions on how he will play this season. We don’t know what position or role he will be playing and therefor no one knows how he will perform.
If he comes off the bench I think it would be the best situation for him. Personally I think he should be backing up Trevon Duval at point guard, not Grayson Allen at shooting guard. I think Duke would benefit more by having Trent as the backup point guard and then having Alex O’Connell as the backup shooting guard. This would mean that Jordan Goldwire would be playing in the third point guard spot and Mike Buckmire in the fourth slot.
If Trent does come off the bench expect him to play a big role. He will get minutes at the 1, 2, and 3. Expect the freshman to put up about 10 points per game ultimately helping Duke to their sixth banner in April.