Kyle Singler entered the Bill Brill Media Room Tuesday morning grinning from ear to ear.
The Blue Devils haven’t really stopped smiling since they won the national championship two weeks ago, and the junior forward’s announcement that he will return for his senior season at Duke ensures that the team will have plenty of reasons to keep doing so in the coming year.
Singler had been noncommittal discussing his future in the past few weeks, determined to keep an open mind about entering the NBA Draft a year early or completing his fourth season as a Blue Devil. The forward was projected to be a late first-round pick were he to declare for the draft, but Singler chose to return to a team that he says has a “reasonable” chance to repeat as NCAA champions.
“I couldn’t have gone wrong with either decision. With that, the pressure was lighter,” Singler said. “Making my decision to come back to school, I feel really good about this.”
Head coach Mike Krzyzewski cited three major reasons for Singler’s decision to continue at Duke, including how much the junior loves the school and wants to experience being a senior. Singler also mentioned wanting to improve before turning professional, especially as a leader.
Krzyzewski noted that Singler will continue to play on the perimeter on offense, a role he moved into this season after playing more in the post his first two years. Krzyzewski said he envisioned using Singler in a variety of lineups, maximizing his versatility like Duke did with Grant Hill, Shane Battier and Mike Dunleavy.
On the other side of the ball, Krzyzewski anticipates Singler anchoring the team defensively, just as senior Lance Thomas did this season, especially after a stellar defensive effort in the Tournament when he bested the likes of Butler’s Gordon Hayward and West Virginia’s Da’Sean Butler.
“I see Kyle as being a captain of our defense,” Krzyzewski said. “I think he has a really great understanding of defense. He was one of the best defensive players in the country last year. We need to take of advantage of that.”
Singler addressed the issue of a potential NBA lockout in 2011-12, which could prevent him from playing for another year, but emphasized that he didn’t want to make his decision based on that possibility, even though his eventual plan is to play professionally.
“It was his dream to come to Duke,” Krzyzewski said. “I’m not sure he’s postponing a dream—I think he’s continuing one dream before he gets to another one.”
Krzyzewski also reiterated that the program supported whatever choice Singler would make, because he believes Singler will be an “outstanding” professional player.
“The obvious thing checking into this is that Kyle is going to be a professional basketball player,” Krzyzewski said. “He’d be a No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, has great credentials and he’d be an asset to any team in the NBA as he has been to Duke University.
“It’s really not about being a pro—Kyle will be a pro.... But we’re pleased that he’ll be playing next year for Duke University.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.