Blue Devil Country

What Jersey Numbers Will the New Blue Devils Wear?

Our predictions and best guesses for the freshmen and transfers

Shawn Krest

Duke has six freshmen coming in next season, as well as a walk-on and a graduate transfer. That leaves plenty of uncertainty related to playing time and the focus of the offense.

Prior to all that, however, the new Blue Devils need to choose a jersey number.

Here’s a look at how next year’s roster may shake out when it comes to their jerseys.

Already taken:

Assuming no one chooses to change their number next season (which is always an option), the following jerseys are already occupied by returning players for 2020-21:

0: Wendell Moore Jr.

13: Joey Baker

14: Jordan Goldwire

21: Matthew Hurt

30: Michael Savarino

45: Keenan Worthington

51: Mike Buckmire

Not available:

NCAA rules require all digits on a jersey to be between 0 and 5 (i.e. no number can use the digits 6, 7, 8 or 9). Plus, Duke has retired the following numbers:

4: JJ Redick

10: Dick Groat

11: Bobby Hurley

22: Jason Williams

23: Shelden Williams

24: Johnny Dawkins

25: Art Heyman

31: Shane Battier

32: Christian Laettner

33: Grant Hill

35: Danny Ferry

43: Mike Gminski

44: Jeff Mullins

Obviously, Duke could take a number out of the rafters, as it did with Ferry’s 35 for Marvin Bagley III in 2017-18, but, assuming that doesn’t happen, here are the numbers available for the new Blue Devils:

1, 2, 3, 5, 12, 15, 20, 34, 40, 41, 42, 50, 52, 53, 54, 55

So there are 16 numbers for eight players. Time to start matching them up:

Patrick Tapé: 12

Tapé wore 3 at Columbia, which is available after Tre Jones vacated it following last season. We’re trusting the team’s official Twitter account, however. In introducing Tapé after he signed, the Duke twitter account posted a picture of him wearing 12, which was worn the last four years by departed senior Javin DeLaurier.

DJ Steward: 2

The five-star guard wore 21 at Whitney Young in Chicago, but Matthew Hurt’s return blocks that from the incoming freshman, unless he can work out some type of deal with the sophomore. Instead, Steward seems to be looking at taking over the number Cassius Stanley left behind. He posed for photos in the 2 jersey during one of his visits to Duke.

steward 2

Henry Coleman: 34

Coleman wore 22 for Team Loaded, but he’d have to convince Jay Williams to allow him to wear that jersey at Duke. Instead, he donned the 34 jersey on his Duke visit.

coleman

Jalen Johnson: 5

Duke has a logjam of players looking to wear Vernon Carey Jr.’s number 1. Johnson and Jeremy Roach both wore it in high school. It appears that Duke’s compromise may be that neither of them get that jersey next season.

Jeremy Roach: 3

Roach wore 1 in high school. He also wore 5 with Team USA. It looks like he might end up with Tre Jones’ number when he arrives at Duke, at least if the Blue Devils’ tweet showing him, Williams and Steward is to be believed.

Mark Williams: 1

Williams wore 24 in high school, which is retired for Johnny Dawkins. He could have taken 12, which he wore in AAU, especially since he committed months before Tapé. According to Duke’s McDonald’s All-American Game tweet, however, he ends up with the coveted 1 jersey, while Roach and Johnson settle for other single-digit options.

Jaemyn Brakefield: 15

Like everyone else in the class, Brakefield wore 1 on his high school team. He wore 4 for summer ball, which is retired for JJ Redick. Brakefield even posed for photos wearing the 1 jersey. There are edits showing him in 0, which is unavailable, since Wendell Moore Jr. is staying. So where does he go? We’re going with the next lowest option, now available after Alex O’Connell’s transfer.

brakefield

Cason Pierce: 20

The incoming preferred walk-on wore 14 in high school, which he’s probably not going to take from senior Jordan Goldwire. He wore 0 for a summer team, which belongs to Wendell Moore Jr. Our best guess is 20, which he wore for a high school all star showcase.

Published
Shawn Krest
SHAWN KREST

Shawn Krest has covered Duke for the last decade. His work has appeared in The Sporting News, USA Today, CBSSports.com, ESPN.com and dozens of other national and regional outlets. Shawn's work has won awards from the USBWA, PFWA, BWAA and NC Press Association.

Home/Basketball