Rising sophomore Derryck Thornton is transferring from Duke, the school announced Sunday. Two players above him on that list – center Marshall Plumlee and swingman Brandon Ingram – won’t be with the Blue Devils next season either.
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Team strategy is the coach’s call and it would be hard to argue against one of the best in Coach K. No one seems to question the coach’s prerogative but the issue of what he promised to convince Thornton to skip his senior high school year could affect the integrity of the program in their future recruiting pitches.
Was Thornton better off staying in his own class (2016) instead of leaving early?
Thornton played in all 36 of Duke’s games as a freshman and averaged 7.1 points and 2.6 assists in 26 minutes per game.
“I want to thank my teammates and coaches for their support this year”, Thornton said.
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At that time, Thornton certainly didn’t sound like someone who meant to leave when the season ended, but that’s not the case any longer. With Grayson Allen returning, and a pair of five-star recruits – Frank Jackson and Jayson Tatum – joining the already loaded backcourt, Thornton’s playing time figured to decrease even more next season. “The relationships I have with them will always be special to me”. With a different program, he’ll likely have the opportunity to eventually carve out a starting role at the point guard position. 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.
