Duke Reportedly Reaches Out to Ivy Big Man Patrick Tape
After reaching out to a pair of graduate transfers from the Ivy League that play the wing, Duke is now reportedly talking to a big man from the same conference.
Patrick Tape is a 6-foot-10, 232-pound forward from Charlotte who played three seasons for Columbia before sitting out this past season. In his most recent year, Tape averaged 11.3 ppg, 5.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocks, hitting two thirds of his shots from the field.
Jon Rothstein originally reported that USC, Virginia Tech and Arizona were the leaders to land Tape. In the past week or so, however, interest in Tape seems to have spiked. Maryland, Ohio State, Georgetown and Syracuse all reportedly reached out. Duke is the latest suitor to recruit him.
Tape would be a better fit for Duke’s roster than the two wings the Blue Devils were rumored to be involved with earlier—Harvard’s Seth Towns and Yale’s Jordan Bruner. Both were small forwards, and would be competing for playing time with freshmen Jalen Johnson and Jaemyn Brakefield, as well as returning Blue Devils Wendell Moore, Joey Baker, Matthew Hurt and Alex O’Connell.
With Vernon Carey likely leaving for the NBA, however, as well as power forwards Javin DeLaurier, Jack White and Justin Robinson, the Blue Devils would still like to add more size inside. Assuming Carey leaves, the biggest returning player on next year’s roster would be the 6-foot-7 Hurt. The post would be manned by seven-foot freshman Mark Williams and 6-foot-8 power forward Henry Coleman. So Tape definitely be a candidate to find minutes for the Blue Devils.
That’s assuming, of course, that he can stay on the floor. His history against power conference foes paints a picture of an accurate shooter who can’t stay out of foul trouble.
As a freshman, he had six points on 3-of-3 shooting against Miami but picked up four fouls in nine minutes.
Against Villanova his sophomore year, he scored two points on 1-of-1 shooting with three fouls in 16 minutes. He logged 24 minutes against Penn State hitting all three shots for eight points and committing four fouls. He scored six on 2-of-4 shooting with three fouls in 21 minutes against UConn. He fouled out in eight minutes with no points and a miss in his only shot attempt against Boston College.
He took a step forward in his junior year, averaging 16.7 points and 26 minutes with 3.7 fouls against B.C., Rutgers and Northwestern.
