Patrick Tape Discusses His Transfer to Duke
Big man Patrick Tape provided some offseason drama for Duke, as the Columbia graduate transfer took a winding path to the Duke roster.
The 6-foot-10, 220-pound power forward sat out last season and will have one year of eligibility, this year, for Duke. He committed shortly after getting an offer from Duke, on March 23. In early April, he reconsidered his options and decommitted from the Blue Devils. Two days later, he changed his mind again and recommitted to Duke.
Tape appeared on the YouTube show The Absolute Basketball Experience With Jamie Shaw earlier this month and discussed his roller-coaster recruitment.
“It was always my dream as a kid to play for Duke,” he said. “So when I got the call from Coach (Chris) Carrawell, I was super excited and happy about the opportunity. Then in speaking with Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski) and Coach Carrawell and the whole coaching staff as well, it was just nice, because they really made an effort to get to know me and to get to know my mom and family. They really made me feel comfortable about the decision and also with my role on the team, that I could be a pretty influential player on the team coming into a senior role with my experience."
Tape then began to worry that he’d pulled the trigger too fast.
“It was maybe a week or just over a week or so after Duke contacted me that I committed the first time,” he said. “I guess it happened so quickly, and I was a little scared that I was rushing into it. So I decided to decommit. Then, after some more time of speaking with my family and coaches and people who were important to me, I realized that Duke is the best situation for me.”
A former Duke player was able to help broker the reunion between Tape and the Blue Devils.
“I actually spoke to my coach from last year—(former Columbia) assistant coach Kenny Blakeney—he’s the coach at Howard now. I asked if it would be available to me to recommit to Duke. I guess he reached out to the coaching staff and asked them. We got connected and spoke about it. I told them what my inhibitions were, what I was worried about. They accepted it. They understood and welcomed me back into the group."
