AJ Reeves and David Duke Jr. Taking to the Floor Together as Opponents Conjures Memories of 2018
"I love these moments because it is kind of surreal seeing both of us take steps towards achieving the goals and dreams we set out from that young age.”
In the final home game of AJ Reeves’ high school career at Brimmer and May, he faced off against his future Providence teammate — and friend — David Duke Jr.
Duke led a Cushing Academy team with far more talent to a relatively comfortable victory over Brimmer that night, but from a Providence lens it felt so much bigger at the time. It was a potential “I was in the building” moment, being one of maybe 300 people in attendance to witness the future of Providence basketball going head-to-head as their prep careers — so intertwined as AAU running-mates and future Friars — neared a conclusion.
I thought back to that Friday evening in Brimmer’s tiny, overstuffed gym while watching Reeves and Duke take to the court together in the Las Vegas Summer League on Saturday night.
I thought about how well Providence was positioned as a program in March 2018, the ups and downs that ensued, and the paths Reeves and Duke took in getting to last night.
March 2018 feels so long ago now.
While Reeves and Duke were putting the finishing touches on stellar prep careers, Ed Cooley and his Friars were in the midst of a thrilling run to the Big East Championship game. Providence kicked off the 2018 Big East tourney with an overtime win over Creighton, came back from 17 down to take out third ranked Xavier in OT, then lost in the final minute of yet another overtime to eventual national champion Villanova.
It was an exhilarating run that embodied everything the Friars had come to be known for under Cooley. Despite the opponent, the score, the venue, reputation, an apparent talent disparity, or whatever else was thrown at them, you knew Cooley’s Friars were going to fight.
And for three days in Manhattan they fought like hell behind an overlooked point guard in Kyron Cartwright, a steady group of veterans, and some promising underclassmen.
Less than a week later, they were bounced by Robert Williams and Texas A&M in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It was disappointing, yes, but the 2018 Big East Tournament provided a thrill, and the loss was softened because Providence seemed poised to take the next step as a program.
Alpha Diallo was a versatile and productive sophomore at the time, while classmates Kalif Young and Maliek White were looking like solid four-year contributors. Nate Watson, just a freshman, came on strong late in the season, and there was hope that Makai Ashton-Langford could find his footing in his second year in the program.
With Duke and Reeves on the way (flanked by a pair of relative unknowns in the class of 2018 in forwards Jimmy Nichols and Kris Monroe) the future was certainly bright. Providence was an NCAA Tournament fixture, but it was time to start stringing together a few wins in March.
The freshman season of Duke and Reeves saw the program struggle to find consistency at point guard, and as a result, the Friars did not make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013.
Everything came together midway through their sophomore year, however. After stumbling out of the gate, Providence finished 12-6 in the Big East (the 12 wins were a school record at the time), closing the season with wins in eight of their final ten games. Five of those victories came over nationally ranked opponents.
They defended like crazy (Duke, Diallo, White, and Young were all outstanding on that end), and once graduate transfer point guard Luwane Pipkins found his stroke, they were the team no one in the Big East wanted to see. They were confident the rest of the country would find out why come March.
The last time that group took to the floor together they capped off a six-game winning streak by overwhelming DePaul, 93-55, on Senior Night. Reeves led the way with 19 points.
The earliest stages of the pandemic meant that the Providence team with more momentum heading into the postseason than we’d seen in years was left to forever wonder what might have been. Both the Big East Tournament and NCAA Tournament were cancelled in 2020.
It also meant that Duke and Reeves would have to wait another year for a shot at March glory.
In some ways, that opportunity never came. Their junior year will be largely remembered for echoing, empty gyms in a COVID-interrupted season that felt like a string of exhibitions.
Duke played well enough (16.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists) to earn all-league honors, and at season’s end he decided it was time to end his time at Providence to chase his NBA dream. That dream resulted with him signing a two-way contract with the Brooklyn Nets and splitting time between the big club and their G League affiliate.
Reeves’ junior year left him questioning his future with one season of college basketball left. A transfer wasn’t out of the question.
With Duke off living his dream, Reeves returned to Providence to begin working to rebuild his.
He strung together an outstanding stretch of basketball in December before fracturing his finger in a New Year’s Day win at DePaul. It took a few months before he found his groove again, but over the final five games of the season Reeves shot 21-38 from beyond the arc for a Friar team that started the season 21-2, broke a school record with 14 conference wins, won the Big East regular season title, and reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1997.
The next step had been taken for Providence as a program.
A few months later, Reeves was seeing his first significant minutes of the Summer League for his hometown Celtics against, of all people, Duke and the Nets.
Reeves buried two of his first three 3-point attempts, while Duke continued to shine in his second season of Summer League ball with 24 points, five rebounds, five assists, and one thunderous dunk. He flummoxed Celtics rookie point guard JD Davison at times defensively, and finished through traffic with force.
Earlier this summer, Duke bet on himself, once again, and turned down a second Nets’ two-way contract in hopes of getting a standard contract. With his play this summer, he’s positioned himself well to find a spot either with the Nets, or elsewhere. He left Vegas with averages of 19.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game.
Saturday marked Reeves’ first extended look of the summer and he responded with six points and three rebounds in 18 minutes of action. Like Duke, his landing spot for the 2022-23 season has yet to be determined.
“Playing against Duke is always fun because I’m playing with family,” Reeves said of going up against his former Mass Rivals and Providence teammate. “And so I love these moments because it is kind of surreal seeing both of us take steps towards achieving the goals and dreams we set out from that young age.”
Sitting through the team’s first three games in Vegas proved to be a challenge, but Reeves’ mentality was to use it as a learning experience.
“The biggest takeaways from this experience was being patient and continue to trust in yourself. As a competitor I would have loved to play more, but me being a young guy I understand that this is really a grind,” Reeves said.
“So, I had to stay ready and try and play hard in the minutes that I got. This experience was just as much hard mentally as it was physically. (I was) just trying to take away all the knowledge I could from the coaches and the other players on the team.”
In so many ways, 2018 feels like a lifetime ago. No one could have guessed the journey Reeves, Duke, and the program they represented would endure since the last time they took to the floor as opponents — and it was hard not to reflect on it a bit on Saturday night.
Terriffic article, as always.
I also had the opportunity to see that Brimmer v Cushing game. Time flies.
great read!