PROVIDENCE, R.I.—For a while, Duke and Yale have been worlds apart in the realm of athletics, even as the two schools vied for spots in the U.S. News and World Report's top 10 universities. The Blue Devils are coming off a national championship, and before this year, the Bulldogs had not reached the NCAA tournament in 53 years.
But just a few years ago, both schools were on the table for Yale sophomore guard Makai Mason and Duke freshman walk-on Brennan Besser.
Mason—the Bulldogs' leading scorer at 16.3 points per game—deposited 31 points in a 79-75 victory against Baylor Thursday in the opening round of the tournament. In ninth grade, though, things were a little different—he had his sights set on Duke.
The Greenfield, Mass., native came to Durham for a camp, and Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski attended one of Mason's AAU tournaments. But the Blue Devils already had their eyes on a talented point guard named Tyus Jones, and they were not going to offer two scholarships to floor generals in the Class of 2014.
“We knew of Makai and his background. He’s grown up in basketball. I’m not sure that we would have recruited him," Krzyzewski said Friday. "We were very impressed with him, and we’re not surprised about what he’s accomplished."
Mason did not play well in front of Krzyzewski, and Duke moved on—Jones committed to Durham and led the Blue Devils to the national title.
“It’s easy for him to move on, which I definitely understand,” Mason said. “They ended up getting Tyus Jones, who was a pretty good player as well, so I can’t really argue.”
Besser expressed interest in Duke as a potential walk-on, but he also strongly considered playing somewhere that might yield more playing time. The Chicago native and Mason—as well as a number of Bulldogs who were only briefly looked at by schools like Stanford—shifted their attention to the Ivy League.
The Ivy League boasts some of the best teams in the country in sports like lacrosse, rowing and hockey. In basketball—except for the historic Princeton upset of defending national champion UCLA in the first round of the 1996 NCAA tournament—the conference struggled for years against major conference teams after earning an automatic bid to the postseason.
“The national media and the attention that we get from the NCAA doesn’t do us justice in terms of who I think we are,” Yale head coach James Jones said of the conference. “Our league is well-coached. We have a lot of good players there.... The coaches do a really good job of getting the most out of them.”
An accumulation of talent since 2010—including the emergence of former Harvard star Jeremy Lin—resulted in Ivy League teams going 4-3 in opening round games, with the Crimson beating top-5 seeded teams in consecutive years and Cornell easing past Temple and Wisconsin in the Rounds of 64 and 32 by a combined 31 points.
Mason ultimately bought into Jones’ vision, but Besser—with an opportunity to walk on at Duke and trips to Ivy League camps and talks with Yale coaches also under his belt—chose to be a Blue Devil.
“The only reason why I decided Duke was just, once the opportunity was granted to me, being a part of the legacy, the family, Coach K—it just surpassed what I thought just for how I would fit in the system [at Yale],” Besser said.
Mason helped Yale to a second-place finish in the conference last year—the first time in more than 20 years the team finished at least in the top three in the conference in consecutive years. This year, playing more than 32 minutes a game, he has spearheaded the Bulldogs to their first NCAA tournament win in program history with 31 points against Baylor.
Besser has also been a part of a team that has excelled, but he has understandably played a different role.
“As a walk-on, you can have great influence, just based upon the communication that you have with the teammates,” Besser said. “We’re all very close in here, and I definitely am able to influence things in a positive way, just upon the things that I say to them, ‘We’ve got to stay focused. Stay sharp. Let’s get this done.’”
Besser’s and Mason’s fates will cross Saturday for the second time this year, with Duke defeating Yale 80-61 Nov. 25 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. But for Mason, the rematch will be more than just about getting even. He will have a chip on his shoulder to finish better than Duke this year and make the Sweet 16.
“Whenever you’re not recruited by a team or you think you should be, it obviously gives you a little bit of edge,” Mason said. “I think I can say that for most of our team.”
The sophomore will also have another chance to impress Krzyzewski—this time on the biggest of stages.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.