Kyle Singler 1-on-1 Interview

Part 2 of the USA Basketball Duke player interviews brings us Kyle Singler as he looks back on his busy Summer and looks forward to his Senior Year as Captain of the Duke Men's Basketball team. Duke Hoop Blog's Lara Lee sat down with Kyle before he joined the USA Select Team for training camp:


Duke Hoop Blog: What does it mean to you to be chosen for this Select Team?

Kyle Singler: It's a great honor. It's a good opportunity to play with and against great competition, and it's just a fun opportunity and experience to be part of.

DHB: What do you hope to take away from this week?

K: Hopefully I get better as a basketball player. Hopefully I have fun, and hopefully I learn some stuff. And so far, I've been doing all three.

DHB: You've had a really busy summer so far; it seems like you've been all over the place. What have you gained from the camps and the various things you've been up to?

K: You take away different things from different camps. But I think the main thing that has happened is just playing against good competition and just being away from Duke, I think, has helped, just being in different arenas and atmospheres. I think that's helped, and it's kind of mixed up the summer a little bit.

DHB: Have you got any plans to take a breather before you get into the season?

K: Yeah, I'll probably go home like the first part of August and stay there for about two weeks before school starts.

DHB: Speaking of home, what did you think when Coach first approached you with the idea of playing against EJ up in Portland this fall?

K: Yeah, I was really excited about it. You know, I was hoping that we would get the chance to at least go back to Oregon to play when I was at Duke. So now that I'm playing my brother, and it's in Oregon, it should be a really fun thing. A lot of people in Oregon are excited about it, so I'm excited to get back there.

DHB: You said that a big reason you decided to stay for your senior year was because you love Duke so much. What are some things that you love about the program and about the university that made you want to stick around?

K: Well, just those things. I love the program, I love being around the guys and Coach. The university and just the people at the school are fun to be around. Just the whole experience I’ve had a blast. Each year's been more fun so hopefully my senior year is even better than the last one. And that's pretty tough to do.

DHB: Speaking of next year, what does it mean to you to be a captain coming up this year?

K: Yeah, it's something new; it's something that I haven't done. I think it'll help Nolan and I as basketball players, just to become more of a leader, I guess, in our program. It'll just help us as basketball players, just become more complete.

DHB: It's going to be a very different year next year. Not only do you have a lot of personnel changes, but the outside expectations for the team are so different than they were last year. How do you tackle that as a captain?

K: Well, you kind of have to just be yourself. I think that's the main thing. Just like you said, it's going to be different. Every year's been different since I've been at Duke, so I think if Nolan and I are just ourselves, our instincts will take over. I mean, we're leaders already, so I think we'll just be ourselves and things just come natural.

DHB: You mentioned how it's been different every year... that's really been true for you, because you've been moving around on the court pretty much every year. What do you think your role this year will be on the court?

K: I have no idea, to be honest. It could be anything. I really can't see what it's going to be like. We're just going to work hard during the summer and hopefully we put ourselves in the right positions to be successful.