Prospect Profile

Strengths:

   * Intelligent
   * True point guard who can make others better
   * Good athlete
   * Defends
   * Can score off the dribble or with jump shot

Weaknesses:

   * Injury-plagued freshman season didn't allow him to showcase his skills as much as he might have
   * Size/strength, if you're nitpicking
 

NBA projection:
Depending on the outcome of the lottery, Irving could be the first player chosen in the draft. Like recent point guard draftees Derrick Rose and John Wall, who were the top overall picks in the 2008 and 2010 drafts, respectively, Irving should be an immediate contributor.

2010-11 Season:
A potentially great freshman season was ruined in Irving's eighth game when he suffered a freak toe injury against Butler and had to sit out the rest of the regular season and the ACC Tournament. Irving's shooting percentages in his 11-game season were off the charts and he also showed he could set up others. Twice he handed out nine assists. Irving averaged 17.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists in his first eight games, and 17.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists in the three NCAA Tournament games in which he played.

Key statistics:
17.5 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 4.3 apg, 2.5 tpg, 1.5 spg, 27.5 mpg, .529 FG, .462 3PT, .901 FT

Cool statistic:
Irving scored 31 points, to go along with six rebounds, four assists, two blocked shots and two steals, against Michigan State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. It was just the fourth time in Duke history a freshman scored 30 or more points.

Reminds me of:
Chris Paul

What Insiders Say:
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski
"This kid's got it. He's a special player."

What Outsiders Say:
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo
"His speed most impressed me. I mean he can shoot it, but the way he can handle the ball and get inside out, you've got to corral him. It's hard to corral him when you've got a [Kyle] Singler sitting over in the wing. And one time we did late. We did a heck of a job corralling him, and he finds Singler on that wing, and Singler hadn't been making shots and he made two daggers right in a row."

Chris Dortch is the editor of the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook.