After Grayson Allen announced last week that he would be back for his junior season at Duke there was virtually no doubt among college basketball people that the Blue Devils would open the season as the number one team in the nation. Duke is bringing in one of the top recruiting classes in the nation and also has a lot of high quality returning players so they are expected to be deep and talented.
Over the weekend though, that depth took a hit as point guard Derryck Thornton announced he would transfer out of the program. It was just a year ago that Mike Krzyzewski and his staff was begging Thornton to reclassify to 2015 so he could play point guard for them this past season and now he will move on.
Thornton said that he loved his time at Duke but he is now looking to play his college basketball closer to home. Thornton's uncle said that promises were made to him when he committed to Duke but those promises weren't kept and that is part of the reason why he is leaving. Whatever the case may be, Duke now only has one point guard on their roster for next season again.
After winning the national championship in the 2014-15 season Quinn Cook graduated and Tyus Jones entered the draft. That left Duke with no point guards which is why they needed Thornton so bad. Thornton was up and down in his freshman season as he averaged 7.1 points and 2.5 assists per game but his minutes were somewhat sporadic. There were times this past season when Coach K brought Thornton off the bench and played without a point guard for stretches.
Despite the struggles Thornton is still a former five-star recruit who is loaded with talent. The Blue Devils will replace Thornton with incoming freshman Frank Jackson, who is ranked as the 11th best prospect in the 2016 class, but they now won't have a backup point guard. Matt Jones, Allen and Luke Kennard are all guys who can handle the ball but none of them are true point guards. Thornton's role would have been diminished next season but he is the kind of player that could have been like a Quinn Cook. Cook stayed at Duke all four years and got better each season before eventually becoming a key to a national championship team.
This Duke team will be extremely good with or without Thornton next season but losing him is a bigger loss long-term than it is in the short-term. Of course Duke recruits extremely well and can continue to get the top point guards in future years but nothing is a guarantee and Thornton would have been nice to have.
On a positive note, with Thornton transferring it leaves an open scholarship for the Blue Devils to continue to pursue Marques Bolden. Bolden, a five-star center in the 2016 class, is choosing between Duke and Kentucky for where he will play next season. Duke is the heavy favorite but before Thornton decided to transfer they didn't have a scholarship available for him. Now that they do, it is very possible that Duke adds to their already stacked recruiting class.
