Another day, yet another Blue Devil.
Amaya Finklea-Guity announced her transfer to Duke Wednesday afternoon, making her the team’s third transfer in the past eight days and its fourth overall this year.
Finklea-Guity joins the Blue Devils as a graduate transfer, having spent the first four years of her career at Syracuse. The former ACC All-Freshman Team selectee was one of 11 players to transfer from the Orange this offseason.
The 6-foot-4 center brings a traditional rim-running presence to the Blue Devils. Her offensive game is based entirely in the paint, with a profile that’s been mostly limited to post-ups, putbacks and short basket cuts, per Synergy Sports. She’s been quite good at those, however, and for the past three seasons, has converted her at-rim shots at a stellar rate, 13% above the NCAA average, according to CBB Analytics.
Defensively, Finklea-Guity should slot in as a solid center, able to play good team defense but without adding significant rim protection. Her defense was a major weakness in her freshman year, but has improved significantly since. Per Pivot Analysis, for the past three years, Syracuse lineups have held opponents to significantly lower true shooting percentages and points per scoring attempt with her on the court.
Finklea-Guity was the Orange’s starting center from day one through the end of her junior year, but fell all the way to fourth in Syracuse’s frontcourt rotation this year. The Blue Devils were in need of more depth in their own frontcourt, but Jade Williams and Onome Akinbode-James are unproven jump shooters, and Finklea-Guity’s taken just 10 shots outside the paint over the past two years, per Pivot Analysis.
She will likely be the team’s first big off the bench, backing up Williams, while Akinbode-James plays power forward. But Duke’s frontcourt strength might result in Lexi Gordon starting at the four, putting Finklea-Guity in a fight with Akinbode-James for the second-string center gig.
Finklea-Guity’s addition puts the Blue Devils at 10 players on the 2021-22 roster. That could be a full rotation, but certainly not full enough to not consider some of the more talented players still in the transfer portal.
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