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It took less than two minutes of the Nike Hoop Summit for Dame Sarr to conjure a moment that unveiled a substantial portion of his gifts as a basketball player to an American public that largely had not yet seen him play. And it happened so fast three of the nation’s top prospects could make no impact on the play.
Defended by 6-10 Nate Ament, who will play at Tennessee, Sarr advanced the ball to the left wing, spun away instantly from a teammate’s screen as Ament pondered which direction the ball might travel, then dashed through the middle of the lane for a finger-roll as forward Cameron Boozer and guard Mikel Brown held tight to their assignments.
It wasn’t the most impressive basket Sarr scored that night last month in Portland, only the first. Those who saw it, though, will not wonder why Duke and coach Jon Scheyer were eager to gain a commitment from Sarr once he made it clear he planned to play NCAA basketball in the 2025-26 season.
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“The Brotherhood, it’s a big family. And I think everyone wants everybody to succeed in basketball, outside of basketball,” Sarr told The Brotherhood Podcast following his commitment to the Blue Devils. “I talked to a lot of people, and everyone has only good words about this program. And I felt very good about it.”
Sarr, whose first name is pronounced DAH-may, grew up as a point guard, which helps explain his superior ballhandling and ability to attack the lane. He now is listed at 6-7, 190, and likely will play the small forward position held this past season by lottery-bound Kon Knueppel.
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The original replacement was to be Washington State transfer Cedric Coward, but he also entered the NBA Draft and appears headed toward status as a first-round pick. So the Devils needed a replacement for the replacement. They could not have done better than Sarr.
In the Hoop Summit, Sarr showed excellent range with a deep three midway through the second half but scored most of his 17 points in the World team’s loss to the U.S. by getting to the rim and either finishing or drawing fouls.
“This was a guy that I think, maybe a couple years ago, he’s not coming over here to play in college. He’s going to stay overseas and wait, and then get picked,” analyst Matthew Maurer of The Draft Review told Sporting News. “He’s got a great motor. He is very good in catch-and-shoot situations; I think that’s the most underrated part of his game. A lot of people talk about his length, his upside. To me, what I see in him catching and shooting, the defensive potential he has with his long arms, getting steals and creating a little bit of havoc out on the perimeter – those are all things he’s still working on, but it’s all there.”
Maurer watched Sarr frequently in his appearances for FC Barcelona in Spain’s Liga ACB and the Euroleague.
“He could challenge – and it’s early – for a very high draft pick if he comes to Duke and does what we saw him do at FC Barcelona,” Maurer said. “Duke’s been very smart about who they want. This is a huge addition for them in terms of talent, but also in just making themselves more known as a destination for getting high-level European prospects who might be looking now over to America. Duke has a national brand, and with this, they can certain spread their brand even more to the overseas demographic.”
NBA Draft analyst Krysten Peek of HoopsHype.com watched Sarr with Barca but was frustrated by only getting brief glimpses. However, she evaluated him at the FIBA U17 World Cup last summer in Turkey and at the Hoop Summit in April.
"Just seeing him in person after a year, he looked taller, he's filling out a bit more, his shoulders looked a bit more broad, and when he stepped on the court, and for that international team, he was by far the best prospect there," Peek told TSN. "He's got a ton of upside, and where Duke can help him out is as a more consistent 3-point jumpshooter ... and then just little bad habits kids pick up at an early age in terms of reaching on defense, not getting to your spot, not anticipating, not jumping to the ball. You see little mental breakdowns in his game like that ... but if you go to a program like this, you're going to get better.
"I would say when you say a player needs to clean up their jumpshot, it's not necessarily their consistency, it's more of ball placement, how quickly they get it off. He's shooting a little bit farther down. He doesn't have the high release yet. The shooting mechanics, once you clean those up, then it's about consistency."
A native of Oderzo, Italy, Sarr became a part of the FC Barcelona organization at 15 years old and spent this season as a reserve with its senior team. As a teammate of former Duke All-America Jabari Parker, he played 13 minutes a game in Liga ACB competition and averaged 5.8 points, and he shot 42.9 percent on 3-pointers even though his playing time was sporadic.
The Hoop Summit not only served as an introduction to American fans for Sarr, it also represented an “adieu” of sorts to Barca. The organization did not want him to travel to the United States for the game. They preferred he remain available for Euroleague and ACB games, including the impending rivalry clash with Real Madrid. Coach Joan Pennaroya called the situation “a huge disappointment” for Barca.
“It’s clear that working with young players and retaining them in Europe is complicated with so much money pouring in from American universities,” he said. “For those of us who are a little older, it’s disconcerting to prefer that – to play in a tournament for young players, no matter how prestigious, than in El Classico.
“Well, you have to adapt to the times.”
It doesn’t seem that long ago that the combination of the NBA Draft age limit and NCAA rules against athlete compensation led to guard Brandon Jennings leaving the United States for Italy and the opportunity to make money playing professionally directly out of high school, or Emmanuel Mudiay crossing the Pacific to play in China. Both became top-10 picks when they were draft-eligible.
When he returned, Mudiay wound up playing 302 NBA games and scoring 3,299 career points. Jennings did better, with 555 games and 7,801 points. Neither became a star. Big man Jeremy Tyler signed to play in Israel while still in high school. He did not last a full season there and wound up playing 104 NBA games over three seasons. His career since has included stops in China, Australia and Taiwan.
The introduction of NIL payments to collegiate players has repaired this element of the American development system and transformed it into the most attractive path toward the NBA, not just for U.S. high school prospects but for those in the European club system mostly waiting for the chance to play serious minutes at the senior level.
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Already, NCAA basketball offered the opportunity to gain elite developmental coaching and competition, as well as the promotional aspect of March Madness and the impact of playing in meaningful games before immense audiences. It was the venue that produced the vast majority of the sport’s greatest players.
However, the constraints upon income were onerous, especially for prospects whose families were in need. That’s no longer a problem – at all – especially for a player such as Sarr, who figures to benefit more in terms of development from getting 30-plus minutes a night with Duke than only once getting double-figures minutes in a Euroleague game and only once taking double-figure shots in the ACB.
“When I did go to Barcelona, when I started to practice with the main team, at the beginning for me it was very rough – just because they were so much more experienced than me,” Sarr said on the podcast. “I think I got a lot of experience out of it, and I’m proud of myself, because it wasn’t easy.
“I was playing for Barcelona in a big club, so I wanted to be in a big college. This is the biggest stage, and I wanted to play on the biggest stage, and I wanted to play with and against the best players, and to win.
“I saw college basketball is a big opportunity, you can play on these big stages, you can be an important player, you can improve a lot, and for me that was key.”
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