Irving ready to lead Duke

THIS IS THE FIRST OF SEVERAL STORIES ON THE INCOMING BASKETBALL RECRUITS FOR DUKE, N.C. STATE AND UNC.

Jason Williams was making shots, and Kyrie Irving was trying to get under his skin.

The tension rose as the former Duke point guard and the point guard who's the Next Big Thing at Duke fired away in a game of H-O-R-S-E.

Williams was in Massachusetts to work as a TV analyst for a high school game benefiting the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in January. Irving, who had signed with Duke, would be playing in the game for St. Patrick High of Elizabeth, N.J., against fellow national power Findlay Prep.

Their game of H-O-R-S-E began innocently, but then Williams hit a couple of wild shots.

"He started talking to me, started trying to get me out of my game," Williams said, "and that's the kind of stuff I love. ... He has that edge. He has that element of cockiness to him. Or confidence is a better word."

"Confidence" is not a word often associated with freshman point guards headed to the ACC. But it keeps coming up with Irving.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who's known for being demanding of point guards and cautious in his predictions for freshmen, heaped unusually high praise on Irving during his yearly summer news conference.

"Kyrie will be very, very good right away," Krzyzewski said. "There's absolutely no question about that. He's that good a basketball player."

Krzyzewski has made no secret of his plans to completely reinvent the Blue Devils after they won the 2010 NCAA title with a deliberate, bruising halfcourt game.

Irving's ability to lead the fast break and penetrate to score and set up teammates will be the cornerstone of Duke's plans. It's an unusually ambitious plan for a freshman.

But Irving is no ordinary freshman.

Family matters

For starters, Irving has good genes.

Drederick Irving, Kyrie's father, still ranks second all-time on Boston University's career scoring list with 1,931 points.

Kyrie Irving, whose mother Elizabeth Irving died before he was 6, is extremely close to his father. For his bio on the USA Basketball website, Irving was asked to name the best player he has ever faced.

He named his father.

While attending summer school at Duke, Irving admitted, he has missed his father. At the same time, he was enjoying himself as he got to know his way around Durham.

He confessed to an affinity for trips to the Waffle House late at night, when there's perhaps less of a chance that he will be spotted by fans seeking autographs while he enjoys a favorite treat - double chocolate chip waffles.

And it didn't take him long to avail himself of Duke's facilities.

"Being away from home and having access 24/7 to the gym at Duke, there's nothing better," he said. "I love playing the game of basketball, and choosing Duke was the best decision for me and opportunity."

This is the side of Irving that's easily overlooked. There's no doubt that he has inherited his father's talent. Irving averaged 24 points, seven assists and five rebounds as a high school senior and scored 13 points in 18 minutes in the McDonald's All-American game.

In the gold medal game of the FIBA Americas Under-18 tournament in June, Irving scored a team-leading 21 points with 10 rebounds and five assists in a come-from-behind, 81-78 win for Team USA over Brazil.

The game looks so natural to him that it's easy to forget the work he cheerfully puts in.

"Man, I love the gym," he announced on his Twitter page Monday. "I could stay here all day."

Many of the posts on his popular (he has more than 7,000 followers) and frequently updated Twitter page also include the three-character motto that he said he lives by.

"H&H" is short for "Hungry and Humble." It seems odd that humility would be a source of pride for a player who has demonstrated that he can be so bold.

He wasn't afraid to chat up Williams while they played H-O-R-S-E. He has been seen exchanging playful banter with top North Carolina recruit Harrison Barnes at the S.J.G. Greater NC Pro-Am summer league in Durham.

Irving admits that the talk that he'll leave for the NBA after just one season is in the back of his mind, although he said he's not thinking seriously yet about when he might leave Duke.

But he can be humble, too. Irving held his tongue in the locker room at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 6 as Duke's players celebrated their 82-50 blowout of rival North Carolina.

Senior forward Lance Thomas talked about the value of having Duke's recruits there that night.

"Them being here and seeing what this feels like, getting a taste of it before you even get here, is big time," Thomas said. "Because when they get here, they're going to have to do everything in their power to get this feeling again.

"This is something that me and my team will share. They haven't felt this yet. They didn't earn this yet. So when they come, they know what they will have to do to be in this position."

Irving sat quietly near Thomas and listened. He didn't even crack a smile.

Jersey boy

After scoring 33 points in a ProAm game last month, Irving stripped off his jersey, revealing a tattoo with angel wings and a halo on his chest that honors his mother.

He signed autographs, posed for pictures with fans, then walked back behind the bleachers at N.C. Central's gym to talk to reporters.

A fan grabbed his hand and shook it.

"There's a Jersey boy," the fan said.

Jason Williams also played in New Jersey at St. Joseph's High in Plainfield and has urged Irving to uphold their home state's rich point-guard tradition at Duke.

Bobby Hurley distributed the ball as Duke won back-to-back NCAA titles in 1991 and 1992. Williams led Duke to the 2001 NCAA title and was named national player of the year in 2002.

Now Williams is encouraging Irving to direct Duke to yet another NCAA title.

"He knows what I was able to accomplish here, a level of him really listens," Williams said. "[He] really listens to what you have to say, and then goes out and copies it and will do it and work on it. And also another level of him is, 'I'm going to do it better.' "

Irving is humble enough to listen and hungry enough to do the work he is told to do. But above all, he is confident.

And why shouldn't he be?

"My head coach has confidence in me," Irving said. "That's what I'm going to need, especially for my freshman season. There are a lot of expectations on my shoulders. I plan to exceed those expectations, but the most important thing is getting Coach K behind me and my teammates, and I think it's going to be a great season."