As the biker approached, you could tell he was freshman Kyle Singler, grinning and drenched in sweat. The 6’9″ Oregon native had just purchased a new bright orange bike from a discount store way across town (over 10 miles away) and his car was too packed with his other belongings to fit the bike. He immediately greeted me, hopped off his bike and moved in to help shift some boxes around that didn’t even belong to him. This guy was at peace with the day and on a mission. If he was the slightest bit anxious about starting his first year in college over 2,850 miles from home, it surely didn’t show.
The plan was for our three freshmen to meet at our offices with their families and head over to Duke’s all-freshman East Campus together. The trio, consisting of Kyle, Taylor King and Nolan Smith, would be living together in Bassett Dorm along with a diverse mix of other Duke students from all over the world. A generously-sized triple that many other Duke Basketball players had inhabited over the years awaited them on the right side of Bassett’s first floor.
As the day progressed and East Campus was abuzz with hellos and hauling, it was easy to see that every Duke freshmen has much to learn but also arrive on campus with no limits and a clean slate. It is a group full of expectations, hopes and dreams, poised to form their own understanding of their surroundings. Outside perceptions are irrelevant as the freshmen begin to craft their own Duke stories. One might expect nerves, shaky knees and emotional good-byes to characterize the first couple of days of any freshman’s college career and probably not a resourceful bike purchase and an apparent total calmness but that is the beauty of it. Like their fellow freshmen, Kyle, Taylor and Nolan can write their own Duke stories page by page following a wide range of activities, interactions and events.
Since that scorching and successful move-in day, fresh starts, learning experiences and ramen noodles burned beyond recognition have been a part of the lives of the three Duke Freshman ball players. The group has also made clear from day one that their outlook, vitality and spirit are assets that can help make our team better.
For example, when asked about his expectations for the season, King, a California native with a friendly, laid-back personality off the court and a tough, confident personality on it, replied, “Personally, I want to just do exactly what Coach K asks me to do, anything he wants. Whatever position he wants me to play, I’ll play. Any position that puts me on the floor is what I want to do. I just want the opportunity and I want to play in front of the crowd. For the season, obviously, I want to win the ACC, the national championship my freshman year — that’d be great. Go undefeated and do as best as we can. We’re going to try to run the table.”
When Smith, a happy-go-lucky, energetic gadgets whiz from the Nation’s Capital, was asked the same question, he responded, “Individually, probably ACC First Team Defense and hopefully Freshmen First Team. Then, for the team — ACC Champs, winning the tournament in Maui, and of course, going as far as we can in the tournament.” He added later, “I am just going to go out there and play my game, and do whatever it takes to help Duke Basketball win. And if that is scoring, or making plays, or stopping the other team’s best player — that’s what I’m going to go out there and do.”
The freshmen feel like they can win at a high level but they also understand they have much to learn. “It is my first season as a college player, so I don’t know what to expect,” said Singler, a genuine, thoughtful and determined forward. “Right now, I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help the team win as many games as possible.”
Similarly, Smith stated, “I’m always being respectful to the older guys, and listening to them, because they’ve been through it. They’ve been through it for a year, two years, three years before I have.”
King feels like the three freshmen have already earned the respect of their older teammates. “Coming off the season we had last year, we lost six games by three or four. So Kyle, Nolan and I are high school All-Americans and feel like we can bring a lot to the team this year and contribute to us having a better season. The older guys know that we’re for real and we can play and so they feel like all three of us can make a big impact right away, as freshmen.”
Like King, Smith feels prepared for the college experience. When asked about his high school experience at Oak Hill Academy and serving as class president, he responded, “It prepared me for a social life. Being student body president, I had to do a lot of talking — addressing the students, addressing the president. It really helped me mature. My high school basketball has helped me prepare for the busy season, the many road trips we’re going to have and time management.”
The three freshmen, although varied in personality (Smith says they are “different guys with the same sense of humor”), seem to have formed a nice friendship and possess a collective confidence that they can compete at the college level and make the team better.
Off the court, King says, “Nolan, Kyle and I mesh really well. We knew each other before we got here, with the USA team we played on and camps and various teams. We definitely have a connection with each other. It’s been great having those guys here and we’re like best friends now. We weren’t on that level when we got here, but now with everything we’re going through, we definitely stick together.”
On the court, each player brings a skill set that certainly could have helped last year’s team win several of the close games that ended up as tough defeats. King, a 6’6″ forward out of Mater Dei, possesses a terrific outside stroke, rebounds well inside and can extend defenses due to his size. Singler, standing 6’8″, is an athletic, versatile forward out of South Medford High School who can handle and score the ball from all over the court. Smith is a 6’2″ speedy, long-armed guard capable of penetrating the lane and also defending the opposition’s quickest guards.
In order to win, the three freshmen will have to learn what it takes day in and day out, in all aspects of their lives. So far, the biggest challenge has been time management according to Singler and Smith. King says the adjustment has been great academically and the biggest challenge has been the rigors of the preseason conditioning workouts.
King also was challenged by the preparation of ramen noodles in the microwave. When King, Singler and Smith were asked to name a moment in their first weeks at Duke that was memorably embarrassing, they all jumped on King’s mishap with the microwave.
“The guys were making noodles and they were putting them in plastic cups,” said King. “I thought, ‘That smells really good, I want some.’ I put the noodles in the plastic cup and put the plastic cup in the microwave and I forgot to add water. The whole room, the hallway, and all of Bassett smelled like smoke.”
Burned microwavable cuisine, electric orange bikes, and confidence blended with a thorough eagerness to learn…. Freshmen year is right on track for Duke’s Taylor King, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith.
