By MATT WHITFIELD
COLORADO SPRINGS, Col. — Grant Duggins, the 6-foot-10 center from Greensboro (NC) Day and a consensus top-15 recruit in the Class of 2029, made his first appearance at USA Basketball Junior National Team Minicamp and the youngster was impressed – and impressive.
The 16-year-old Duggins also has a lot of Blue Blood programs interested in him early on.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” he said. “There’s no other camp like it. You got the top players in each grade of all high school, so it’s the best level of competition you can possibly get.”
The skilled, versatile Duggins has recently picked up some offers from two very well-regarded programs.
“I just picked up an offer from Kansas and Iowa lately and I went on some unofficial visits to Duke and UNC,” said Duggins. “I loved the talk I had with the coaches [of Kansas and Iowa]. Hopefully, I’ll be able to make it over there. I’m not sure, maybe next year.”
At Duke, Duggins had a chance to meet the coaching staff and play with their current squad.
“At Duke, I met the whole team and met the coaches,” he said. “It was great to go there. I was just there for a day. They were having their pro pickups, but none of the pros played; it was just the college guys, and I got a chance to play a little with them and meet all the guys.”
At North Carolina he also met the coaches and the team.
“At UNC I got a chance to go to their practice and meet the coaches and players,” he said of Mike Malone’s program.
Growing up, much of his family were North Carolina fans and he leaned that way, but now he just appreciates good basketball.
“My family and extended family were UNC fans and I kind of leaned towards UNC, but right now I’m neutral,” he said. “I cheer for good basketball.”
There are no leaders for Duggins, and he has no visits planned but he mentioned seven schools that are recruiting him.
“Duke, UNC, a little bit of Florida, Kansas, Iowa, Florida State, NC State,” he said.
Duggins says his game is a mix between Florida’s Thomas Haugh and former Stanford and current Sacramento Kings big man Maxime Raynaud. And right now, the 16-year-old big just wants to keep working on improving.
“I want to work on expanding my game even more,” he said. “Right now I am a bit of a Swiss army knife, and I just keep want to keep elevating each part of my game.”
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