What makes Ryan Young’s return to Duke basketball for another season so important?
With the physical, mental and emotional wounds still fresh from Duke’s punishing NCAA Tournament loss to Tennessee last March, an important factor for this season’s Blue Devils suddenly solidified.
With an extra season of college eligibility remaining he could use to play, 6-10 center Ryan Young put any speculation to rest when, in the postgame locker room following a 65-52 loss to the Volunteers in Orlando, he said he’d be using his final year at Duke.
That’s a rarity in the current transfer portal and NIL monetization era of college basketball. Players in Young’s position have leverage. But he knew where he wanted to be and for what reasons.
“I love this place, love playing for Coach (Jon Scheyer),” Young said in an interview at Cameron Indoor Stadium last month. “I love the program. Yeah, it was never really a thought process.”
Having played three seasons at Northwestern prior to coming to Duke last year, Young knew he wouldn’t play at third school. Trying the professional route is the only thing that could have taken him away from the Blue Devils.
Instead, he’s spending another year studying at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, working toward a Master’s in Business Administration degree he plans to finish in 2024.
Needed experience inside
In basketball terms, Young gives Scheyer and the Blue Devils another experienced player in their playing rotation. With 7-1 freshman center Dereck Lively gone to the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, Young, 7-foot sophomore Kyle Filipowski and 7-1 sophomore Christian Reeves comprise Duke’s returning big men. Sean Stewart, a 6-9 freshman forward, could also be a factor.
Young played in all 36 games for the Blue Devils last season, when they went 27-9 and won the ACC championship. He started nine times and finished the season averaging 6.4 points and 5.5 rebounds while playing 17.2 minutes per game.
While Filipowski led Duke in scoring (15.1 points) and rebounding (8.9) and Reeves played in only 13 games, Young finds himself between those two in terms of production.
But his attitude, leadership and experience set him apart.
“Ryan Young, having him back, you can’t overstate how important that is,” Scheyer said. “Just anytime you call on him, he’s ready to go.”
Proving he could play
As Duke prepares for a second season under Scheyer, Young enters his second season with the Blue Devils armed with a different perspective.
When he made the tough decision to enter the transfer portal and leave Northwestern last year, Duke’s interest left him nervous as he discussed his role with Scheyer. Young only started one game in his final season with the Wildcats.
“I remember telling him, look, Duke would be a dream but I want to go somewhere where I can have an impact on the court,” Young said. “It took him a little while to really convince me that he thought that I could. There was still, not doubt, but a little bit of uncertainty of whether or not I can really have an impact, especially with so much talent here.”
Young, who’ll turn 24 this December, became an important cog for the Blue Devils, grabbing 10 or more rebounds in five different games. Three of those games were in ACC play. He made 68.5% of his shots from the field.
So now, looking ahead to the upcoming season, he has a different outlook.
“Something I learned about myself very quickly,” Young said, “that I think, going into this next year, I need to be less passive and more aggressive offensively. Defensively, I think the biggest thing is just playing as chippy as possible and being as much of a glue guy defensively as I can.”
Admittedly not blessed with the height, length or athleticism that made Lively an NBA Draft lottery pick, Young knows he can’t be as effective switching players in man-to-man defense or guarding smaller players on the perimeter.
But there’s still plenty he can add to the Blue Devils in every game and every practice.
“I saw throughout the course of the year how much of an effect I can have on our team just playing as hard as possible,” Young said. “Coach used to make a big thing about being on the ground first, diving for loose balls, taking charges. So things like that – playing gritty and getting after loose balls, hustle plays – was something that I wanted to take a lot of pride in defensively, just to be able to instill that in my teammates, especially the young guys.”
Filipowski is among four starters the Blue Devils have returning, along with 6-9 forward Mark Mitchell and guards Tyrese Proctor and Jeremy Roach.
Young projects to have a similar role as last season, the first big off the bench with spot starting assignments. Young could find himself on the court with Filipowski and Mitchell when the Blue Devils need extra height.
“Flip and Mark,” Scheyer said, “they are mismatch problems so they can play with Ryan on the floor or Christian. They can also play as the two biggest guys, even though they both have skill sets of guards.”
Now that the Blue Devils are on campus for summer school and going through the summer practices the NCAA allows, Scheyer and the coaching staff are getting a better feel for what they have.
One thing they know for sure is what Young provides, how important it is and how glad they are that he made that quick decision about staying at Duke for another season.
This story was originally published July 3, 2023 at 6:00 AM with the headline "What makes Ryan Young’s return to Duke basketball for another season so important?."