Duke basketball: 2 additions to roster are now official

Duke basketball now has signatures from its pair of solid transfers.

Nothing is ever official until the Duke basketball program’s Twitter account says so.

The Blue Devils waited until Monday afternoon to officially announce that two new transfer additions, who revealed their decisions in late April, signed scholarship agreements to play in Durham next season. They are former Northwestern center Ryan Young and former Harvard small forward Kale Catchings.

Both will be graduate students.

Although they can play right away, neither will likely earn a starting nod. After all, the Blue Devils are welcoming the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class while returning a couple of seasoned veterans in junior point guard Jeremy Roach and fifth-year small forward Joey Baker.

ALSO READ: Updated look at next season’s growing Blue Devil roster

However, Young and Catchings could draw a handful of minutes or more per game as grown-man reserves.

What Duke basketball expects from Ryan Young and Kale Catchings

The tweets from Duke came with brief player assessments and pictures of the transfers in their new threads.

First, here’s how the Blue Devils view Ryan Young’s game:

“Ryan is a skilled, tough, experienced forward with great low-post scoring ability. Frontcourt just got better!”

Then here’s what the Duke account noted about Kale Catchings:

“Kale is a tough, physical, experienced wing who will make the squad better! Can guard multiple positions for us too.”

https://twitter.com/DukeMBB/status/1523684267246891008

Young, a former three-star recruit, averaged 9.0 points and 4.2 rebounds in 17.1 minutes per game off the bench for the 2021-22 Wildcats. The New Jersey native shot 55.9 percent from the field and 67.6 percent from the charity stripe.

As a result of the NCAA not counting the COVID-depleted 2020-21 season against anyone’s eligibility, Young can play two more years of college ball. And the 6-foot-10, 245-pound big man noted in his commitment tweet that he intends to do just that while pursuing a graduate degree.

Meanwhile, only one year of eligibility remains for the 6-foot-6, 220-pound Catchings, the nephew of former WNBA MVP Tamika Catchings. Last season, the former unrated recruit out of Missouri started 24 games for the Crimson, averaging 9.1 points and 4.0 rebounds while shooting 49.7 percent from the field, 36.5 percent beyond the arc, and 56.1 percent from the foul line.

The Blue Devils will probably add a quality transfer to next season’s backcourt if Trevor Keels, a freshman last season, decides to keep his name in the 2022 NBA Draft (he has until June 1 to withdraw it).

Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more Duke basketball news and views.