Duke's Deron Rippey Jr. Reveals What he Wants to Learn With Blue Devils

Incoming Duke freshman Deron Rippey Jr. is viewed as one of the best recruits in the country. A five-star recruit according to most services, Rippey is going to have a real opportunity not only to make an immediate impact at Duke but also to be one of the first players selected in the 2027 NBA Draft if he comes in and plays as well as some hope he will. 

Making an immediate impact as a freshman at a big-time university like Duke, playing in the ACC, isn't an easy task, but as the Blue Devils have found out over the past few years with Cooper Flagg, Cameron Boozer, Kon Knueppel, and some other freshmen, Jon Scheyer has definitely recruited enough talent to ensure that his freshmen have a chance to come in and make that impact right away.

I don't want to say that Rippey is going to be near any of those guys because of how great their college careers were, and two of them are already playing incredibly in the NBA, and Boozer is expected to be a top-five pick, but there's definitely a lot of hype around the New Jersey native, and rightfully so.

He also seems to have the right mindset, and that's a lot of the battle for an incoming freshman. He recently spoke about what he's trying to do this summer, and he's looking to shape himself into a college player and an NBA prospect at Duke.

“The biggest thing I’m looking forward to in the summer is getting the feedback and ultimately evolving from a top high school player into a top college player. Using that feedback to shape me as a top college player to an NBA prospect as well,” Rippey said on his upcoming arrival to Duke to Slam Magazine. “That’s my biggest goal there.”

His father added that he's done nothing but win throughout his entire career, and for a young man who wants to win a national championship before hopefully going to the NBA and winning a lot there, his decision to go to Duke was rather simple because he knew he had an opportunity to win right away with him on the roster and the other moves that it has made in the past.

“I think all of this helped mold him, but his mindset as he started to play the game of basketball, it was just more about him loving the game. So, by him loving the game, he wanted to make sure everybody felt the way he felt,” Rippey Sr. says. “So, if you won a national championship, and you won a middle school, and you won three states, and you got your team to the national title, that's why you're going to Duke.”