Devils Illustrated - Kelly discusses decision

October 10, 2008

Brian McLawhorn
Devils Illustrated Publisher

Friday morning, Duke basketball's newest commitment, five-star forward Ryan Kelly, met with the media to discuss his decision and how he came to his final choice. The future Blue Devil touched on everything from his faith to his relationships with player and the recruiting process in general.

Below you will find a transcript of the majority of Kelly's interview.

For more on Kelly's decision click here.

On why he chose Duke

I think Duke, academically and sports-wise for basketball, it can't be beat - the two of them together. There weren't many negatives in any of the schools I was looking at, and it was really just between ranking them what I thought was the best because every school seems really good. I felt very comfortable when I went over to Duke with all the players and everything and it just ended up making the decision pretty easy with the whole gut feeling.

On his three best qualities on and off the court

What I said on ESPNU, I think is true - my integrity, my drive to excel and my faith. And I can always bring those to the table and those will never go away.

For me it's a belief in God and a belief that He's going to put me in the right place and He has a plan for me. When I come in the gym or come to a game I pick out two seats - I pick out one where Jesus is watching me and I pick out one where my grandpa is sitting there watching me. And no matter how good or how bad I'm playing I know they will always be there.

On relationships with players already in the program and how big of a role it played

It was very big, but at the same time I would say I thought it was going to be bigger, because I found out a little bit about myself. I can fit into a pretty wide range of people. I'm a pretty laid back guy so a lot of people seem to like me a little bit. More so than I thought when I went on these visits - they like you. They like you, they're gonna act a little bit. You kinda have to read through what they are saying. So in the end it comes down to more so how much you like them. They're all good guys and it comes down to that feeling of how comfortable you are and I felt real comfortable.

On visiting Duke and was he leaning toward them

Really, I just hadn't visited Duke that much and I was trying to make everything basically as equal as possible when I looked at all these schools and I felt like I needed all those times to get an equal amount of information that I had gotten from the other schools. Going into this past weekend, when I sat down and at least put it all out, all these schools were even. I hadn't even compared them. I had just been gathering as much information and looking at them very separately and then this week when I sat down we kinda put out everything on the board and my parents and Coach Billerman basically said 'take your time, whenever you feel like your ready to make your decision let us know.'

On Mike Krzyzewski's reaction

He was just excited for me and proud that I made the decision, what he felt was the best decision, and I told him it was a complete gut feeling and he was very proud of me for that. He's excited and happy and looking forward to being my coach.

On if it got difficult staying the course and remaining methodical

It was at times, just because you have so much coming at you at once. Not many kids do it the way I did, but I think it was the best way to do it. I got to visit all the schools and I really got all the information I possibly could, I think. I don't think my brain could've held any more. But that made my decision the most educated and I'm sure I made the best one.

On whether or not his list was narrowed from the final six at any point

Actually, no. We laid it all out - all six schools - pluses and minuses and did my kind of tentative rankings of every different thing they had. But really when it comes down to it I knew I was going to see all that, but it came down to when I saw all that it didn't really have to matter. I could've gone to the school that I ranked sixth and I could've been happy there. So, it was more after looking at all that - it helped - but it was more that gut feeling and where I felt most comfortable.

On what stuck out when he played pickup at Duke

They were just more intense than everybody else to be honest. They wanted to win more than anything and I saw that. When guys are trying that hard in a pickup game you're going to get better quicker than anywhere else. I can see myself blossoming into the best player I can be over there.

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