Duke isn’t just home to the Cameron Crazies. It’s also the stomping grounds of one of the more recent college basketball legacies, the Plumlee’s.
Yeah, it’s a stretch to call the Plumlee family a legacy, but considering what the three brothers have meant to Duke over the last decade, you can’t argue their significance.
The trio of brothers are made up of Marshall, Miles, and Mason. The latter two are former first-round NBA draft picks. Marshall is blossoming into a potential role player at the next level himself, as he has taken his play to another level for the Blue Devils this season.
However, despite his early season emergence, Marshall Plumlee won’t be drafted during next year’s NBA Draft. Instead, Plumlee will join the U.S. Army after completing his ROTC requirements at Duke in 2016.
It’s a heroic feat by the seven footer to serve his country. The Duke Observer reported that Plumlee gathered the inspiration to join the Army after a 2012 trip to Fort Bragg, where coach Mike Krzyzewski put the team through a rigorous training regimen.
The decision to forgo the potential of the NBA to join the Army isn’t one that many in Plumlee’s position have gone through with. It’s likely he would have been drafted by an NBA team, and as mentioned previously, could be a solid role player in the league.
The 2015-16 season has been Plumlee’s best of his Duke career. He averages 6.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game, which included a 12 point, 10 rebound, 6 block performance against top-ranked Kentucky.
While Duke will rely heavily on the likes of Brandon Ingram and Grayson Allen, it’s Plumlee that has been the teams x-factor. He has proven to be a leader on the court for the Blue Devils, and he undoubtedly will bring those same qualities to the U.S. Army.