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Duke Basketball: Blue Devils Quietly Added Eighth Player to Freshman Class

By Chris Brown

ANAHEIM, CA - MARCH 23: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils watches practice prior to the west regional of the NCAA Basketball tournament at Honda Center on March 23, 2016 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CA - MARCH 23: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils watches practice prior to the west regional of the NCAA Basketball tournament at Honda Center on March 23, 2016 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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Duke Basketball added another player to the roster for this year’s team with an under-the-radar move adding a talented walk-on point guard.

The Blue Devils made headlines in college basketball after adding Marvin Bagley III, who has now been officially cleared by the NCAA, to this year’s freshman class. What many fans don’t know is that in the midst of their eventful summer, Duke Basketball secretly added an additional freshman to the 2017-18 roster. Point guard prospect Mike Buckmire will now be joining the team as a walk-on this fall.

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So who is Duke’s newest player and how can he help the Blue Devils? Mike Buckmire is a 6-2 guard from Germantown Friends School in Pennsylvania. He starred at GFS compiling 1,144 career points and averaging 22.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 4.2 assists his senior year.

Even though he played at a high level in high school, he was only recruited by Ivy League programs and local Division III schools. Despite having the opportunity to play at an NCAA level, Buckmire decided to attend Duke “to just be a student (and wreak havoc in intramurals)“. Fortunately he will have the opportunity to continue his career playing for the Blue Devils.

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Duke Basketball will be adding a talented offensive and defensive playmaker, who can make an impact in practice and training with the team. In particular, he will be crucial in helping freshman point guards Trevon Duval and Jordan Goldwire develop throught the season as well as the other guards on the roster. His high school coach also raved about his star player, saying “Mike is a really good player and even better leader. He’s just great, all-around”.

With a lot of hard work and improvement, Buckmire has the potential to eventually earn a scholarship, similar to redshirt sophomore Justin Robinson this offseason. The highlight reel below shows that he can score in a variety of ways, make passes to get teammates involved, and defend at a high level.

The official Duke Basketball freshman class is now made up of eight players, Buckmire, Bagley, Wendell Carter, Trevon Duval, Jordan Goldwire, Alex O’Connell, Gary Trent, and Jordan Tucker. The Blue Devils have released their official 2017-18 schedule and will kick off the year with Countdown to Craziness on October 20th.

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