Duke men's basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski has never taken a player via transfer.
That could soon change.
Roshown McLeod, a sophomore at St. John's University in Jamaica, N.Y., will transfer following this school year. McLeod, a 6-8 1/2 power forward from St. Anthony's High School in Jersey City, N.J., has been cleared by St. John's to look at other schools. He will visit Duke early next week, according to Bob Hurley, Sr., who coached McLeod in high school.
"He's definitely going to leave St. John's," Hurley said Tuesday in a phone interview. "If he likes the visit [to Duke], then he's not going to make any other visits."
Hurley said that McLeod will arrive on campus Sunday and will attend the team's post-season awards banquet Monday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Plenty of other schools have shown interest in the talented power forward, and he may visit Arizona the following weekend--depending on how the Duke visit goes. Schools such as Florida, Florida State and Oregon have also shown interest.
Hurley has been in continuous contact with McLeod--who has not been talking to the media--and has helped him with the transfer process. Because of that, Duke may have an edge.
Hurley's oldest son, Bobby, played at Duke and was the All-American point guard on the Blue Devils' back-to-back national championship teams in 1991-92. The elder Hurley often attended Duke games and became close to Krzyzewski and his staff.
"[Krzyzewski has] never considered a transfer before," Hurley said. "But because Bobby played there and because of my association and relationship with the coaches at Duke, I recommended him very highly to them."
McLeod saw the Duke campus in high school when St. Anthony's played in a tournament in Raleigh. But this will be his first visit to Durham since enrolling at St. John's.
"I would think that if the [Duke] visit goes well, then he won't visit Arizona," Hurley said. "I spoke to the Arizona coaches today, and they're prepared for him to come in next weekend if he's still not sure at the end of this week."
McLeod was a National Honor Society student in high school who Hurley said is a "well-rounded kid."
"He's an excellent student," Hurley said. "That's why Duke may change its course."
On the court, McLeod has never been able to consistently break into the Red Storm's starting lineup. As a freshman, he averaged 6.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. He improved his statistics slightly this season (7.8 points per game in 1994-95), but it still wasn't enough to earn him a prominent role on a 14-12 squad.
"We're all very disappointed that he's transferring, because he's the most talented player on the team," said Joe Schad, sports editor of the St. John's student newspaper, The Torch. "He can dribble the basketball, he can rebound, he can shoot the three--he hit a couple of big ones this season.
"He's got so much talent. For two years, everyone has said, `Just wait until he blossoms. Just wait until he bulks up.' He has gotten bigger, but everyone was anticipating next year to be the breakout season for him."
Now the Red Storm will have to watch McLeod develop elsewhere.
Apparently, McLeod's unhappiness at St. John's was in part due to the way that head coach Brian Mahoney used him in the rotation.
In high school, he was the Most Valuable Player in the state tournament and led his team to a No. 4 ranking in the national poll. But as the stats show, big-time success has not yet followed him to college.
"He's a young man who clearly is one of their better players, and he was coming in off the bench," Hurley said. "It was a very confusing situation.
"He also has aspirations of being a professional player, and I don't think that's unrealistic for him. So he's being a little bit selfish here. He's got an opportunity perhaps to have a professional career and earn some significant money, and it wasn't going well at St. John's. So he made a decision to try it in another place."
Also, McLeod has not been happy with the St. John's campus life--or lack thereof. St. John's is a commuter school in the city.
"There's virtually nothing to do on campus," Hurley said. "A good part of the year, he's not a basketball player--he's a regular student. Everybody else is going home, so since they don't have dorms, he's really just sitting in an apartment off campus. He just has not enjoyed that at all."
The Duke coaches are not allowed to comment on possible transfers. But according to Hurley, Krzyzewski is serious about McLeod.
All of the factors--Hurley's influence, McLeod's reputation both on and off the court and Duke's void at the power forward slot--have created what seems like a perfect fit.
"They wouldn't bring him down there if they weren't sure that they'd like to sign him right now," Hurley said. "You don't bring a transfer in unless you're really prepared to do it. They've studied this for a couple of weeks, discussed it, and it's something that I think makes sense for them."
After transferring, McLeod will have to sit out one season, although he will still be able to practice with the team he joins. He will then be eligible to play in the fall of 1996 and would have two years of eligibility remaining.
At Duke, McLeod would become part of the Class of 1998, which currently includes freshmen Steve Wojciechowski, Trajan Langdon and Ricky Price.
"There's a chance, with his redshirt year, that he could turn out to be a very good player in his last two years," Hurley said.
Cheryl Fricchione contributed to this story.
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