Duke's Mason Gillis reasons decision to join Blue Devils after 4 years with Purdue
Mason Gillis was a senior transfer from Purdue who joined the Duke Blue Devils this offseason. He spent four years with the Boilermakers and was a key player behind the team's successful seasons.
The New Castle, Indiana, native has one final year of eligibility remaining after using the COVID-19 eligibility relief rule as he embarks on the next chapter of his career.
Mason Gillis revealed key factors that played into his decision to join Jon Scheyer's squad for his final collegiate season, telling basketball analyst Andy Katz on Saturday:
"It was definitely a factor. I wanted to be in a position that, we were going to compete every single day to be the best players, and then that just results in getting to the national championship.
"We have all the best players in our country. So, that's our goal, and that was definitely on my mind."
At Purdue, Gillis won two Big Ten championships and one Big Ten tournament title and made the national championship game last season. He averaged 6.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game, earning the Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year.
Along with Mason, Duke landed Syracuse's Maliq Brown and Tulane's Sion James from the transfer portal for the upcoming season. Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach joined as freshmen.
Mason Gillis hails top recruit Cooper Flagg
Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 player in the country, has garnered praise from all corners of the basketball universe. The young phenom who joined Duke this summer is predicted to have a bright future ahead. ESPN projected Flagg as the top pick in the next year's NBA draft.
Mason Gillis played alongside Zach Edey, another rising star who went ninth overall in this year's draft. He will team up with Flagg at Duke and described the opportunity as a "blessing."
"When you have Zach — everyone watched it last year — he's impossible to guard and he's a willing passer, so it's fun to be a shooter with him," Mason said.
"Cooper can do everything on the court. So, they're going to be throwing double-teams at him, our guards are going to be great at helping him get the ball, but he's a willing passer, too. We're going to have fun beating teams by a lot this year."
Mason Gillis' final college season starts on Nov. 4 with a home game as Duke takes on Maine.