Duke Basketball Journal caught up with Ray McCallum at the NBAPA Top 100 Camp. Ray was kind enough to discuss both his general and Duke recruiting experiences so far, as well as his plans for deciding on a school. Here are the takeaways:
1) McCallum mentioned that he has visited Duke twice up to this point, most recently for the Tournament of Champions. He’s spoken with Coach K a couple of times on the phone, while Coach Collins and Nate James have each individually attended workouts that McCallum has participated in. Additionally, Ray has spoken with James and Collins over the phone and via email a few times as well.
2) Last year McCallum mentioned that Kansas was his early leader. Although he still has a healthy interest in Kansas, McCallum no longer has a leader and says he is evaluating all schools equally. Coach Self and Coach Dooley visited Ray earlier this year and he continues to have an ongoing dialogue with the KU staff. Ray also noted that he likes the “style of play” at KU.
3) His list of schools is still quite long. It includes Kansas, UCLA, Oklahoma, Detroit, Michigan, Michigan State, Duke, Arizona, Notre Dame, Miami, Kentucky, Iowa, LSU, Memphis and possible a few others according to Ray.
4) When asked factors are most important to him in choosing a program McCallum stated that system and style of play were critical. Additionally, he definitely wants to the chance to compete for playing time as a freshman and hopes to make an impact from day one.
5) McCallum does not have a time frame for choosing a school. He plans on taking all 5 official visits and is not in a rush to make a decision. He also mentioned that he is interested in possibly visiting Duke again, since the last time he was there it was a recruiting dead period.
6) It does not bother Ray that Duke and other schools are recruiting other top guards such as Kyrie Irving and Brandon Knight. He’s not afraid of competition on or off the court and considers the evaluating of other guards to be “just part of the recruiting process.”
7) When asked specifically what he liked about Duke so far McCallum said “Definitely the tradition and the practice facilities at Duke. Those are two aspects that it’s hard for other schools to compete with.”
8. Ray sees himself as pure point guard in college, not a combo guard. He likes being the leader and distributor. McCallum plans to continue working on his shot in his quest to continue to improve his well rounded game.
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I am worried about this McCallum kid. He seems like he is in the Greg Paulus mold, and I do not, and will not ever, mean that as a compliment.
By this I mean he sounds like a kid who makes up for his lack of athleticism with a more highly developed set of basketball skills. In a kid like Kendall Marshall, heading to UNC, this is OK, because KM is 6-4 with long arms. His size will allow him to overcome his quickness deficiencies.
McCallum has no such qualities. He is the son of a high level Hoops coach, so he knows the game. All of which means nothing at the college games highest levels, if you can’t either stay in front of the other guy and/or get past him on O.
To be fair, the only time I have read about McCallum faltering is when he plays against the most elite PGs. Unfortunately those are the only types of players he will see come late March.
Frankly, I would love to get Jackson. He has elite athleticism, but his height and developing perimeter J almost dictate a mimimum of 2 years in college, and very possibly 3.
Knight is a one and done. I can live with this actually, because at least you KNOW it before hand. The day he committs, K would be on the phone to a high level PG from 2011 to tell him that he could take over from BK.
Irving is more iffy. I would not be shocked if he were anything from a 1-3 year player, and that is dangerous. K would not know whether or not to recruit his replacement from day 1 or not. I mean, I love this kid’s game, but there is a higher level of uncertainty with this PG than any of the others with regard to how long he sticks arround.