Duke basketball: Father of elite recruit talks Blue Devil fandom, more

Part Three with the father of potential Duke basketball target Isaac Traudt

Ball Durham: What are your thoughts on the Duke basketball staff’s slow approach with Isaac and others in the class?

Brandon Traudt: “Virginia hasn’t offered many in that class either. I think Gonzaga has offered maybe only two. So some of the schools that have earned the right to be patient are probably even being more patient. Because with COVID, they’re not able to see kids in person, get kids to campus, and fly out to see kids play, so I think they are probably even more patient than normal.”

Agreed.

“It’s funny because there was a Nebraska kid in Coach K’s first-ever Duke recruiting class, Bill Jackman from Grant, Neb., who was kind of a 6-10, kind of a from-nowhere kid. And so when Duke expressed some interest, Isaac heard a lot about that, that Duke had actually been to Nebraska and actually offered a Nebraska kid, even though it had been decades ago.”

So are y’all Nebraska fans, or has he been a fan of any particular school growing up?

“I only grew up a Nebraska football fan. So I actually grew up — and this is going to sound crazy — but I actually grew up liking both Duke AND North Carolina, just because I thought that was just the best game you looked forward to twice a year. I love, love watching Duke and North Carolina — like I’m a Yankees fan, but I also don’t cheer against the Red Sox — although maybe that doesn’t make much sense in your world. So when Duke reached out, that was pretty special.”

And Isaac?

“So Isaac has grown up opposite. He grew up an Oklahoma football fan, which is very odd in the state of Nebraska. Then in basketball, he’s been more of a fan of players. And one of his favorite players is Jayson Tatum, both when he was at Duke and still in the NBA. He loves Jayson Tatum. He really likes Kevin Durant and then Trae Young from Oklahoma a couple of years ago…So he’s really more of a fan of players than teams.”

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Does he have a timeline in mind for narrowing down his suitors and ultimately picking a school?

“Isaac has said he wants to keep his recruitment open because he’s hopeful that some of these dream schools for most kids might get more serious to the point of offering. I don’t see him being a kid who commits real early. I could see him doing an early signing. But he’s really in no hurry. We’ve put him in charge of his own recruiting. He does all the communication with coaches.”

Nice.

“He tells my wife and me where to show up for Zoom’s, and we want this to be his journey, not ours. It’s a good chance for him to grow up, to learn to communicate effectively with adults, and ultimately, to have to make a very tough decision. But I don’t see him being in a hurry with that at all.”

Finally, any idea how the name, image, and likeness rule might factor into his decision?

“We didn’t really know anything about that. But that has been kind of a recruiting point or selling point for schools, definitely local schools here. The director from Prep Hoops, we had a Zoom with him a couple of weeks ago, and he broke down what some of those opportunities may be. That won’t play a role in his decision. I know that it sounds great. But Isaac wants to be able to play basketball at that next level. He’s really hoping to be able to play professionally. So he cares more about finding a good fit, a good system that will develop him for that. And that name, image, likeness stuff would just be kind of a bonus.”

Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more on Isaac Traudt plus other Duke basketball recruiting news and views.