Chris Carrawell may not be able to peer up into the Cameron rafters and see his national championship banner, but this summer he earned something nearly as impressive-a gold medal.
Carrawell started for the United States' World University Games team, averaging 8.3 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, to help lead the USA to its sixth straight gold medal. The United States captured the gold July 12 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain with a 79-65 victory against Yugoslavia.
"It's great playing for your country," Carrawell said in an interview before the medal rounds began. "I've always wanted to do it, it's an honor. Besides wearing that Duke uniform, wearing USA is the next best thing. For me to win that gold medal, it can take some of the hurt away from not winning a national championship.
"It won't take it away 100 percent, but to win this gold medal, that will be my national championship. The second round of it, I guess. Not the real thing, but the next best thing."
But Carrawell still wants the real thing, and believes this international experience will help him immensely next season at Duke, when he will be expected to play a much larger role than he has in the past.
"It's a great experience," Carrawell said. "I'm going up against international competition and playing with a bunch of great players too.... This is preparing me for next year at Duke. We lost four lottery picks basically, so I know a lot of people are looking for Duke to be down. But for me getting this experience, I've learned to play with great players, how to get shots with other great players, playing great competition, and that's only going to help me coming into next year."
The tough summer competition should improve Carrawell's physical game as well as bolster his confidence, but it may help him in another way as well. Carrawell is expected to become a more vocal leader for the Blue Devils next season, so he decided to fine tune that skill while playing with 11 of the nation's best college players.
"I'm going to have to be more of a leader [at Duke], so I'm trying to talk out here, trying to be a leader among leaders," Carrawell said. "Any time I can do that, that's only going to help me for next year.
"These guys respect me and that's what it's all about. So I know if these guys respect me, I shouldn't have no problem with any freshman. If I've got the respect from the top guys in the country, I definitely think I can lead a little, bony freshman."
Before he traveled to Spain, Carrawell received advice from Trajan Langdon and Elton Brand, who both played against international competition last summer. Brand was a standout on last year's Goodwill Games team while Langdon represented the United States at the World Championships when professional stars were dropped from the roster because of the NBA lockout.
"They told me to just play," Carrawell said. "There's a little bit different rules, but it's all basketball. [They] had the past experience and told me to just go out there and play my game. I took that and ran with it."
And ran he did. Carrawell did not start the first two games, but earned a starting spot in the United States' third game against the Czech Republic. Carrawell responded with a 14-point effort on 7-of-8 shooting with six dunks. After that performance, Carrawell started every other game in the tournament.
Carrawell thinks all the attention associated with international basketball will help prepare him as he moves from Duke role player to one of the Blue Devils' main threats. And while the personal benefits of this summer are obvious, Carrawell still wanted one thing more than anything else-the gold medal he can now wear around his neck.
"If we don't win the gold, we'll be hated in the United States," Carrawell said. "We've won like 11 years in a row and if we don't win [this year], I don't think we'll be welcome back to the United States. It adds a little bit more pressure.... I don't want to be remembered as the team that blew the streak, so to speak. I'm definitely going to give it my all to make sure that it doesn't happen."
But don't think the pressure got too hard on the Blue Devils' only rising senior. Although basketball ate up a majority of his time overseas, he was able to get out enough to know he likes the country.
"It's pretty good," Carrawell said. "It's like a vacation spot. You get a lot of people from different countries coming over here to relax with the beaches and everything else. It's fun meeting new people. I don't know a lick of Spanish, but I'm learning a lot. It's a lot of fun and a great experience that I'm always going to remember."
But Carrawell is also planning on remembering something else.
"My teammates over here are teasing me, telling me Duke's going to hit rock bottom and I'm remembering that," Carrawell said. "I'm remembering that. Duke's not going to be [at the bottom], and I'm here to tell them and I'm going to show them that we're going to be back on top."
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