Sarr knows what it takes to play in the states after last year.
Whenever guys come from overseas in college basketball, there are always many questions about whether they're actually going to be as good as they were in a different country.
While playing professionally in other countries is always a good sign for teams like Duke and some of the players it recruits, it doesn't guarantee that guys are going to come in and have an immediate impact. One player who has a lot of questions surrounding him is Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, who certainly has a lot of talent.
He actually grew up in the United States, spending time in Chicago, Florida, and Delaware.
However, he moved to Spain at 14 and played for FC Barcelona throughout his early career. He now comes to Duke as just a 17-year-old with a boatload of talent, but because of that age and lack of history in American basketball, some have questioned whether he's going to have as big of an impact as many want. According to the latest, it sounds like there's a lot of belief that he's going to do exactly that and more.
“Boumtje Boumtje said he’s still adjusting to both college basketball and American basketball — especially after the last three years at FC Barcelona — and especially the physicality of both, but added he’s happy to play whatever role is asked of him this season. Which, based on the early reviews from his teammates, might be a sizable one.
“Sophomore wing Dame Sarr — who also came to Duke via FC Barcelona and who helped the program recruit Boumtje Boumtje — said he’d have loved to be where Boumtje Boumtje is at this point last season,” The Athletic wrote.
Hearing a guy like Dame Sarr say these things is a very good sign because Sarr knows what it takes to play in the college basketball ranks, especially after coming over from FC Barcelona.
They have a good relationship, and he might just be saying this for the sake of sticking up for his friend, but Sarr does understand what it takes to play at this level, and if Boumtje Boumtje needs somebody to bounce his thoughts off of, he has the perfect guy to do so in the Italian native who is 20 years old.
