John Blackwell's decision to go to the Duke Blue Devils is not surprising. It's been the rumored destination since he announced he was jumping in the portal. Maybe even before that. However, what he told Field of 68 for why he went to Duke is insane. It's actually hard to fathom such a statement coming out, as it doesn't make any sense at any level.
He told Jeff Goodman, "For me, I want to be more on the ball. I'm 6'4", so I'm naturally a point guard. That's just the things I didn't do at Wisconsin. No knock to them, it's just how I want to elevate my game to go to the next level."
He is being lit up by Badger fans on social media for this. Read the comments on this post, and you will see for yourself. It's wrong for three major reasons. Honestly, just say you wanted more money and be done with it. You don't have to go out of your way to spew nonsense.
1. He played PG at Wisconsin 2 seasons ago
The first reason this quote is insane is that he played point guard for an entire season at Wisconsin and didn't do well enough to be moved to shooting guard the next season. Greg Gard had to go out and get Nick Boyd after a season of trying Blackwell "on the ball" a lot more.
Two seasons ago, the starting lineup was John Blackwell, John Tonje, Max Klesmit, Steven Crowl, and Nolan Winter. The person who brought the ball up the court and ran the offense was...Blackwell, you guessed it.
2. Duke won't use him as the PG
It would be shocking to see John Blackwell be Duke's point guard. In some ways, you almost hope it happens just to see the chaos. Duke fans may lose their minds watching Blackwell be the primary ball-handler. There are three point guards ahead of Blackwell on the roster: Cayden Boozer, Caleb Foster, and their 5-star recruit Deron Rippey Jr.
Maybe they lied to him or he's lying to himself, but he's going to keep playing off the ball.
3. He's not that good at being the PG
Here's what probably happened: the NBA told him he was most likely to be in the league as a point guard because of his size. So, he's projecting that out there. But the problem is, he wasn't very good at it when he was the point guard, and at times, he revealed during the season, even last year, that he's not the best ball-handler on the court.
As a case in point, he had five turnovers in the NCAA Tournament game against High Point and one that cost Wisconsin late in the game on an inbound pass. He's just not a point guard, and there's no shade on that; he's an elite shooting guard. Own it, wear it, make money on it, and move on.
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