NEW YORK — If anyone knows about incoming Rutgers shooting guard Tyree Graham, it’s Duke’s Nolan Smith.
Graham and Smith train together in North Carolina during the offseason and Smith’s mother recently became the legal guardian for Torian Graham, Tyree’s younger brother.
So, what is Rutgers getting in the 6-foot-2 JUCO guard?
“They’re going to get an explosive scorer and a competitor,” Smith said last week while training with a college select team against Team USA. “I worked out with him when he’s down in Durham (N.C.) and he stays with me. We’re waking up early in the morning, getting shots in the gym, going running. He’s a competitor and he wants to be good.
“He wants to go into Rutgers. He’s been saying, ‘I’m back in the Big East, I’m excited’ and I try to give him as many pointers as I can just to be ready. He’s worked and gotten in great shape. He’s a really strong guard he has a better body than I do.”
A First Team All-Region 10 selection at Brunswick Community College (N.C.) this past season and a former North Carolina High School First Team All-State choice, Graham played his freshman season (2008-09) at Texas Tech.
Graham joins an incoming 2010 recruiting class that includes freshmen Gilvydas Biruta (Jonava, Lithuania), Austin Carroll (Bedford, Mass.) and Mike Poole (Springfield Gardens, N.Y.).
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