I bet you thought they were finished, didn’t you? I bet you thought Duke was done adding transfers. I bet you said to yourself well certainly twelve scholarship players is enough! Boy, I bet you feel silly now.
The Blue Devils added yet another highly-touted talent to the roster on Friday, in the form of Canadian point guard Shayeann Day-Wilson. The 5-foot-5 Toronto native is coming off of a FIBA U19 World Cup in which she averaged 18.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game to help lead Canada to a fifth-place finish.
Day-Wilson is an offense-minded point guard with an advanced handle, and can score comfortably both downhill and pulling up from outside. She sees the court well too, though the knock on her is that she can be a bit wild—particularly on the defensive side.
Originally committed to Syracuse to play with her friend Latasha Lattimore, Day-Wilson left the program after head coach Quentin Hillsman resigned after a report by The Athletic detailed serious accusations of his abuse and improper conduct. Day-Wilson was one of eighteen players to transfer or decommit from the program since February.
A team spokesperson confirmed that Day-Wilson will be eligible for the 2021-22 season. Duke now rosters 13 scholarship athletes—two below the max—for each of the next two years, including as many as eight backcourt players in 2022 and seven in 2023 (depending on their use of the fifth year of eligibility and what you consider a “backcourt player”). It might be safe to say that the book is closed on 2022 recruiting targets such as K.K. Bransford, Ruby Whitehorn and Talaysia Cooper.
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