Matthew Christensen admitted he has always been a fan of Duke basketball. But it wasn't until Wednesday afternoon that he took the final step towards becoming part of the Blue Devil program.
Surrounded by friends and family, the 6-10, 240-pound native of Belmont, Mass., made an official announcement that he will enroll at Duke in the fall of 1995. Christensen joins 6-10 Taymon Domzalski as recruits in head coach Mike Krzyzewski's class of 1999.
"I've been a Duke fan for quite a while," Christensen said in a phone interview Wednesday. "Growing up, my best friend's parents both went to North Carolina, so they kind of got me started on the whole Tar Heel-Blue Devil thing, and I've always been a fan of Duke basketball in general. I've had Duke baseball caps since fifth grade."
Like many athletes who make Duke their school of choice, Christensen said that the school's strong academic reputation was a factor in his decision. He plans to pursue a degree in engineering while at Duke. He expects to graduate this spring from Belmont High in the top 20 percent of his class, and he will enroll at Duke with a year's worth of advanced placement credits already under his belt.
Still, the decision to bring his basketball and book skills to Durham was not final until he chose the Blue Devils over Brigham Young, the one other school he was seriously considering. Though Christensen's father, Clayton, played hoops at BYU, and though Christensen still expects to spend two years on a Mormon mission (as all BYU students are required to do), Duke was still able to reel him in.
"I felt like Coach K was second to none," Christensen said. "The team and the coaching staff and everybody just seemed so close that it was really almost like a family."
The prospect of a player taking a leave of absence for two years is indeed an interesting one for a school not accustomed to such a practice. Christensen said his current plan is to play his freshman season, leave school on a mission for the next two years, red-shirt the season following that and begin play again for the 1999-2000 season with three years of eligibility still remaining. He also said the Blue Devils have no problems with his plan.
"All the schools that I got involved with seriously felt good about me going on a mission," Christensen said. "If they didn't feel good about it, that was the end of my involvement with them."
One reason the Duke coaching staff may be willing to accept Christensen's unusual plan is that his skills are an excellent fit for the Blue Devils' program. Christensen played center for Belmont, leading the squad to an 88-11 record and one state championship during his career there. He lists his primary strengths as defense, rebounding and running the floor. And because the Blue Devils return only one big man to next year's team, he should--along with Domzalski--step in to immediate playing time.
"That's a big thing for me, to be able to come in next year and contribute," Christensen said. "There will probably be more playing time. Granted, I'll still have to work very hard, but the opportunity is there."
Christensen is obviously excited to have the chance to play and contribute on a high-powered Division I program. He has thought long and hard about his plans for the future. And, despite the Blue Devils' recent slide from their status as a perennial national power, Christensen is still hopeful for his opening year in a Duke uniform.
"It's going to be a real exciting year," he said. "Last year, the team certainly didn't do as well as they would have liked, or do as well as they could have. I think it will be exciting to be on a team that I think people are going to be a little uncertain about, but that I think is going to be very good."
Jonathan Ganz and the Associated Press contributed to this story.
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