Duke basketball recruit ‘like Jayson Tatum and Grant Hill had a child’
By Matt Giles
The father of one five-star seems to appreciate Duke basketball history.
Mount Saint Joseph (Md.) sophomore Bryson Tucker already holds nearly double-digit offers, which makes sense given his lofty ranking at No. 5 on the 247Sports 2024 Composite. Last week, the Duke basketball recruiting machine officially joined the growing fray for the 6-foot-6, 195-pound five-star.
Then during a chat this week with On3 national recruiting insider Joe Tipton, Bryson Tucker’s father, Byron Tucker, who played power forward at NC State and George Mason roughly three decades ago, noted the significance of the offer from the Duke Blue Devils:
“I think it’s huge. You know, a kid in the 10th grade to pick up an offer from a blueblood, such as Duke, it’s huge. For me, being 52 years old, I know the history of Duke, and it’s more or less an honor, in a sense, for such a young kid to achieve that goal.”
Next, Byron Tucker exhibited his knowledge of past Blue Devils by comparing Bryson Tucker (wearing No. 23 in black in the highlight video below) to a mashup of two Duke legends:
“His strength right now is really his IQ and his understanding of the game…When I talked to [Duke head coach-in-waiting] Jon Scheyer, I told him it’s like Jayson Tatum and Grant Hill had a child together.”
That could work.
A potential Duke basketball package deal
Bryson Tucker has not revealed a timeline for making a decision, nor has he scheduled any visits. But as the silky playmaker suggested when speaking to Joe Tipton, it’s certainly not out of the question that he’ll join forces in college with a former teammate, Paul VI (Va.) small forward Darren Harris, an unrated prospect who happens to be on the Blue Devils’ 2024 wishlist:
“That’s my guy.”
Duke has zero 2024 pledges thus far yet has extended three offers to the class. Those targets are Bryson Tucker, Darren Harris, and Gill St. Bernard’s (N.J.) five-star small forward Naasir Cunningham, who sits atop the rankings.
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