Duke basketball: Detailed observations on Dariq Whitehead's status

The Duke basketball freshman's recovery looks nothing short of encouraging.

Duke basketball small forward Dariq Whitehead (Landon Bost-USA TODAY Sports)

At the Duke basketball preseason media day on Tuesday, freshman small forward Dariq Whitehead gave every indication of a smooth recovery-in-progress from a fracture in his right foot that he suffered and underwent surgery for in late August.

All in all, Whitehead's comments and body language seemed upbeat, even when recounting the injury.

"We were doing a drill, and I landed the wrong way," Whitehead said. "It was a little painful. Nothing crazy, but it was painful...I thought I was going to be fine [by the next day], that I was going to tape it up, come back to practice, and we went to get the X-ray, and you know..."

Whitehead's participation level, albeit limited, throughout the 15 minutes of practice that we had permission to watch on Tuesday suggests the 6-foot-6, 190-pound projected one-and-done lottery pick may well be at or near full strength when the Blue Devils tip off their regular season on Nov. 7 at home against Jacksonville.

Of course, only time will tell.

Still, Dariq Whitehead's walking boot is already off, which first-year head coach Jon Scheyer noted in the favorable update he provided during his opening remarks to the media.

"Dariq had an X-ray today — really positive news," Scheyer said. "He's moving in a great direction. He's right on schedule as far as his recovery, if not even ahead. So we'll just continue to work. He'll be able to start to progress, to do more on the floor, more on the court. He's out of the boot. And he's doing great, working his butt off, and [we] can't wait to get him back."

However, Scheyer refrained from placing a specific timeline on Whitehead's return.

"We'll continue to monitor him and bring him along, obviously, as fast as we can. We want him back out there but as safely as possible. There's no rush on our end. We want him to be fully healthy and all the way back before he plays."

So what does fully healthy look like for Whitehead? Well, have a peek at the light-footed playmaker's oh-so-explosive senior-year mixtape at Montverde Academy (Fla.):

Does Whitehead look like he would be comfortable flying around with that lightning speed and highly competitive intensity right now as a Duke basketball player?

Well, no. Even so, there were plenty of positive signs throughout media day.

When walking to and from his designated spot for interviews in Cameron Indoor Stadium, the bootless Dariq Whitehead displayed no noticeable hitch in his step other than perhaps a little extra care in pacing his walk.

Then in the practice facility, in what was the squad's second official preseason practice, he was in workout gear and looked comfortable stretching with resistance bands on the ground alongside his teammates.

Although Whitehead didn't do the lateral-movement warmups with the team, he cheered them on and worked out individually minutes later, moving side to side with resistance bands. He did so relatively seamlessly, considering the 18-year-old is only a month removed from surgery.

Plus, he did some solo shooting from close range, without much grimacing, while seemingly testing his form and its impact on the comfort level of his right foot.

Before that, he stood at midcourt and acted as a first-pass initiator and communicator for his teammates' live-action halfcourt drills that were taking place on both ends of the floor.

Again, it's worth noting that Whitehead did all of the above with an infectious smile and chirpy enthusiasm.

Duke basketball's Countdown to Craziness is on Oct. 21, a little more than three weeks from now. It might be overly ambitious to expect Dariq Whitehead to play in the Blue-White scrimmages that night.

Nevertheless, perhaps there's a chance.

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Scheyer alluded to an expectation of a lot more data on the way beforehand.

"There are a few steps he has to take still in order to get there," Scheyer said. "But it's going to be sometime this fall...I think we'll really see these next couple of weeks as he starts to get on the floor and starts to put pressure on his foot a little bit more and see what it looks like. But he's in a great spot, and definitely expect him to be back sooner rather than later."

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