Given Duke’s reputation for keeping players in school for more than one year, it qualifies as news when Coach K tells someone he’s a one-and-done.
Such is apparently the case with 6-foot-11 Texas big man Myles Turner, who wrote this in his USA Today blog:
“I also like how Coach K talks to me.
“He handles me like I’m a pro. He says things like: ‘Myles you’re a pro and you need to carry yourself that way. You don’t need to worry about all of this media, outside stuff you need to start training your mind now. Hopefully you’ll only be in college for a year and head off to the NBA because I can see you there.’
“Coming from him that’s big for me. It gives me even more confidence in myself.”
Turner is currently projected as the No. 2 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft behind Jahlil Okafor by DraftExpress.com.
Duke hasn’t produced many one-and-dones in its history, but current freshman Jabari Parker could be the next one, as he is projected as a lottery pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.
Meantime, Turner also praised Kentucky coach John Calipari in his blog.
“Like Coach (John) Calipari is really laid back,” he wrote. “He told me straight-up: ‘Myles I’m a 50-year-old man and you’re a teenager; there’s nothing we can talk about every day. I’m not gonna be calling you seven days a week.’ I really liked that. He just told me that he really wants me and he knows what I can be there at Kentucky.”
Turner recently trimmed his list to eight schools, but could consider adding SMU back on the list after fellow Texas product Emmanuel Mudiay pledged to Larry Brown’s team on Saturday night at the Elite 24.
For more on that, click here.
