Jaemyn Brakefield Zooms With The Media
Duke freshman on where he and his team are
Duke freshman Jaemyn Brakefield got a chance to introduce himself to the Duke media and fan base Thursday morning in a Zoom interview that touched on a number of topics.
Brakefield is one of Duke’s six freshmen. His recruitment to Duke was less publicized than that of most of his classmates and he began the season somewhat under the radar.
But Brakefield was a major catch. He’s a native of Jackson, Mississippi but prepped at Huntington Prep in West Virginia. He was West Virginia’s Gatorade Player of the Year three times and was selected to play in the eventually-canceled Jordan Brand Classic. He also played AAU ball with current Duke teammate Jalen Johnson and says that helps the duo “know each others games, know each others tendencies.”
ESPN ranked him as the 29th best player in his class. He would have been the key recruit in almost any other school’s class.
Brakefield is a versatile 6-8, 216-pound lefty from Mississippi. Sound familiar? The last Duke player to meet that description was Rodney Hood and Hood was an All-ACC player and first round NBA draft pick in 2014.
Not surprisingly the two know each other.
“We trained with the same trainers, grew up around the same people,” Brakefield says. “We talked before I got here about how to get better, how to handle myself better and now that I’m at this stage what to do here and how to prepare myself for every game.”
Brakefield describes his game.
“I’m working on everything, every part of my game. One thing I bring every game is effort and energy. On the defensive side of the ball our trainers have done a great job of helping me get my hips lower. Coming from high school I wasn’t seen as a defensive player but that’s something you’ve got to lock in in college and that’s something I take ownership of here in college. It’s really all about the want. Now, I feel like I want to guard anybody in the country.”
Strengths?
“Doing the things you can’t coach, playing with energy and effort, just playing to win. It doesn’t matter when I get on the floor, I’m going to play my best, play my hardest.”
He says Duke’s coaches use him as a positionless player.
Brakefield has come off the bench in Duke’s first two games but certainly has made a case for increased playing time. He uses words like “effort” and “energy” a lot and that certainly describes lots of bench players describing what they hope to bring when they come into a game. But Brakefield also brought production against the Spartans, 11 points and four rebounds in 15 minutes, more production that some of Duke’s more experienced players.
“Being on the floor is a blessing,” he says of that game. “Soak it in and don’t take it for granted, I think I played pretty well. I played with energy and effort.”
Duke is trying to learn from that loss and move on to better days. Brakefield says that Duke’s defense was solid but work needs to be done on the offensive end.
Especially ball movement.
“That’s something we looked at during film, just something we’ve got to get better at. We’ve got to play smarter, play harder, take care of the ball. . . . move better off the ball, take better shots.”
Brakefield says his young team is still learning and growing and better things are down the road.
“Don’t think about the last game, just do everything better the next game. Be a better leader, make sure everybody is on the same page, do the little things, play smart.”