It’s not a surprise at this point, not by any means, to hear that Cedric Coward has decided stay in the NBA Draft rather than play for Duke next season.
And it’s okay, too.
Coward, who started at D-III Willamette before transferring to Eastern Washington and then Washington State, is one of the most intriguing players in the draft.
He was injured last season but looked as if he would make a huge contribution to Duke. That won’t happen now but he made a graceful exit, saying this: “Even though I am staying in the draft, I picked Duke for a reason. I feel like I’m halfway in the brotherhood. This was a difficult decision at first, but after the combine, it became a lot easier with the path I wanted to take.
“This was always the main goal. Even if I went to Duke, it would have been in order to get to this level. I feel like I am ready. It didn’t hurt that I did pretty well at the combine.”
Jon Scheyer has recruited well, but Coward’s decision, along with Shelton Henderson’s decision to follow former Duke assistant Jai Lucas to Miami, presented some real challenges.
Scheyer recovered very well, getting Italian star Dame Sarr and 6-8 Sebastian Wilkins to commit this week, joining Carlos and Cayden Boozer and Nikolas Khamenia in what many will now rank as the best recruiting class in the nation - again.
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