Duke’s Jayson Tatum and Harry Giles are living up to the hype ahead of March Madness

BROOKLYN, NY — In the span of just over a minute on Saturday, Harry Giles and Jayson Tatum twice sent the Barclays Center crowd into a frenzy. First, Giles slammed home a lob from Grayson Allen for his second basket in as many possessions. Then, Tatum cleaned up a missed three with a rim-rattling dunk when no one boxed him out.

Those two plays got Duke going as the Blue Devils took an early lead and eventually defeated Notre Dame, 75-69, in Brooklyn to win their first ACC championship since 2011.

It was not the first time that Tatum and Giles have shared a stage.

The two teammates have known each other since eighth grade, and they quickly became close friends. The duo competed against each other on the AAU circuit and with each other for USA Basketball. As the recruiting process heated up, so did the talk of the two of them potentially committing to the same school.

“We always knew we could play together,” Giles said. “Our games complement each other. We knew we could make it work, so why not?”

One of their more memorable meetings before arriving in Durham came when the two squared off 20 months ago in the Nike Peach Jam semifinals, the summer before they began their senior years of high school. Tatum’s St. Louis Eagles slipped past Giles and Team CP3 that day en route to the most prestigious championship of the summer.

After the semifinal, Tatum sat in the North Augusta gym in front of a makeshift ESPN set and committed to Duke. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski was seated in the bleachers, maybe 50 feet away, flanked by assistants Jeff Capel and Jon Scheyer.

Per NCAA rules, they weren’t allowed to comment on the commitment at the time, but their excitement was visible. Scheyer, who had spent two years watching Tatum play, knew exactly what he was getting.

On Saturday, as the team celebrated the ACC title, Scheyer thought back to the first time he saw Tatum play.

“I watched Jayson for about seven seconds, and I said, ‘this kid is perfect for Duke,’” Scheyer said. “His feel for the game is just so mature for his age.”

It was only a matter of time until Giles followed.

ESPN ranked the pair first and third overall in the class of 2016. They joined a Duke recruiting class with Frank Jackson (10th), Marques Bolden (16th), and Javin DeLaurier (44th). Adding that class to an already talented roster made the Blue Devils nearly invincible on paper.

But nearly a year before the 2016-17 team took the court for the first time, things started heading south. It began with Giles tearing his ACL for the second time that November, shortly before he committed.

The road back has been a slow one, further complicated by knee surgery in the preseason that caused him to miss the first 11 games. He’s still far from 100 percent and has struggled at times to ease into the college game, especially considering the rest of his team and competition had the benefit of an entire preseason and pre-conference season.

That’s part of the reason why many outside the program believed Giles shouldn’t play at all this season. His talent is undeniable, so he would surely be a high NBA draft pick based on potential alone. There isn’t much he could gain personally by playing half a season at Duke and further jeopardizing his health.

Coach Krzyzewski said that didn’t matter.

“Harry wants to be at Duke,” he said “I love him for that, and these guys know that too, and they love him. He’s always up. He’s got such a good personality.”

Slowly, Giles has built himself back up. Late in Duke’s semifinal win over North Carolina, he caught another lob from Allen, and that moment sparked a memory for Tatum.

“That was a flashback of what he used to do all the time,” Tatum said.

Krzyzewski also noticed a difference in Giles in recent weeks, and it started with him being more enthusiastic and trusting his abilities.

“Instead of being methodical and trying to think about everything, he’s been more athletic,” Krzyzewski said. “I’m so happy for him. And us too.”

Giles will admit that it’s hard not to compete against his former self, but comparing 2017 Giles to 2015 Giles becomes tough to avoid when he shows those bursts of brilliance.

Tatum dealt with injury problems of his own, missing the first eight games of the season after hurting his foot. After a so-so debut against Maine on Dec. 3, he broke out against Florida for 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Fast forward to the ACC Tournament, and he was a first-team all-tournament honoree. Krzyzewski said after the title game that Tatum could have shared the MVP award with winner Luke Kennard.

For Giles, it was something he’s seen so many times before.

“He’s Big Play J,” Giles said. “He’s going to get it done every time. I know him.”

Scheyer added that Tatum’s progress from his injury-slowed start to the postseason has turned him into one of the toughest players in the country to guard.

“He’s a guy who’s so versatile,” Scheyer said. “If you have basketball instincts like his, you just have to let him go sometimes.”

With Tatum starting and starring and Giles coming off the bench to provide increasingly more valuable minutes, Duke is morphing into the team it was supposed to be in the preseason, and it’s happening at the right time. This isn’t a traditional Blue Devils team — Tatum and Giles provide a little more flash than Duke may have had previously — but it’s made it nearly impossible to put them away.

Duke trailed Louisville, North Carolina, and Notre Dame in the second half during the ACC Tournament on consecutive nights. Each time, Duke fought back behind clutch shooting and tough defense.

Allen might get the most attention from the media and Kennard might have the MVP trophy on his shelf, but with Tatum’s athleticism and Giles’ potential emergence, those two are going to be nightmares for opposing coaches to game plan against.

Reporters wanted to ask the pair if they were tired on Saturday after playing four games in four days. Naturally, fatigue crept in a little, but it’s something they’re both used to. Giles compared it to practicing four days in a row earlier in the season, which he admitted might have been more difficult than the games themselves. Then he smiled, and with Tatum sitting by his side, compared the short turnarounds to his time on the EYBL circuit.

This time, the competition was stronger and the lights brighter. The biggest difference, however, is that his friend Tatum was on his side instead of on the other bench. Just like the two had planned.