Basketball
Duke’s freshman guard Jared McCain has taken the NCAA by storm this season and captured the attention of millions of basketball fans worldwide.
The star freshman shone particularly bright during NCAA’s March Madness tournament, scoring 30 points or more in two of Duke’s four games, asserting himself as a key player while the Blue Devils danced their way through to the Elite Eight.
Although he has kept quiet on whether or not he will declare for the NBA Draft, the 20-year-old California native seems to be bound for greatness, regardless of his next steps.
Here are five things to know about Jared McCain - basketball phenom and social media star.
Jared McCain’s historic March Madness run
After a highly impressive freshman year at one of the best basketball schools in the country, McCain had juice left in the tank and became a key player on Duke’s roster at March Madness to round out the 2023-24 season with a 21-point average across their four tournament games.
He started March Madness off on a high, scoring 15 points against Vermont to help Duke cruise into the second round. But, it was what happened next that really saw him make headlines across the country.
The Blue Devils faced off against James Madison in the second round of the tournament and McCain was on fire. He scored 22 points in the first half, including eight three-pointers to finish the game breaking the 30-point threshold for the first of two times in the tournament. Duke went on to beat James Madison 93-55.
In the next round, they overcame the challenge of No. 1 seeded Houston before getting knocked out of the tournament by North Carolina State, even with a 32-point performance by McCain.
Jared McCain the Duke Blue Devils shoots over Ben Middlebrooks of NC State in the Elite 8 round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament on March 31, 2024 in Dallas, Texas.
Jared McCain’s incredible high school success
McCain started seeing basketball stardom as a high school athlete, being nominated as the California player of the year in his junior and senior year at Centennial High School in Sacramento, California. He was a five-star recruit going into college with many full-ride offers from the best programs in the country, including Kansas - the 2022 NCAA Champions - as well as Louisville, UCLA, Gonzaga, Stanford and more.
Many of his accomplishments, including being recruited by Duke, were clearly written out by the high schooler, as shown by the long list of goals he shared on his social media. His bullet-pointed list boasted numerous completed goals, including 10 Division I offers, playing for Team USA and receiving an invitation to Nike’s Elite 100 Camp. Sitting right on top of the list with a big check mark next to it was playing in the 2023 McDonald’s All-American Boys Game - one of the most coveted accomplishments of a North American high school basketball player.
He wrapped up his senior year (2022-2023) at the Sacramento high school averaging 18 points, 7.1 rebounds, four assists and 1.5 steals per game.
Jared McCain’s huge social media following
With nearly three million followers on TikTok and 974,000 followers on Instagram, McCain is one of the most popular collegiate athletes on social media.
He began his TikTok account as a freshman in high school and has continued to post regularly, racking up over 130 million collective likes on the app. With videos spanning from basketball to viral trends and choreographed dances, his likeable and bubbly demeanor has brought global attention to his team and the NCAA. He even posted a video dancing with basketball legend LeBron James’ son, Bronny, in 2023.
“He’s got this lively personality off the court - [but] when he gets on the court, it’s like a switch,” Duke head coach Jon Scheyer told The Athletic in an interview in 2023.
“He steps over that line and he’s as good of a competitor as there is. He’s cutthroat, he’s intense. He always has energy. He’s always talking. He’s incredibly refreshing to coach.”
The highs and lows of McCain’s freshman year
With a season-high of 35 points and two more games where he clocked over 30, the 20-year-old proved exactly why he was a five-star recruit and starting freshman at Duke time and time again.
Though McCain was a true freshman starting for one of the best collegiate teams in the country, it wasn’t always smooth for the California native. During his third game of the season, he failed to score a single point against Michigan State and with his large social media following and the hype around him in the basketball world, he began receiving negative comments and messages online. Rather than knocking him down, this appeared to fuel McCain, who immediately bounced back with 17 points against Bucknell days later, gradually finding his footing throughout the season to become one of Duke’s most consistent point scorers. On top of his three games with 30+ points, McCain broke the 20-point threshold nine times.
“It’s meant everything to me to come here,” McCain said during the Elite Eight post-game press conference.
“For Coach to believe in me, for my teammates to believe in me. Especially in the beginning of the year when I felt like I couldn’t get things going as a freshman, they instilled confidence in me, especially [Scheyer]”
Will Jared McCain declare for the NBA Draft?
After such an impressive freshman season, McCain has remained quiet about whether he will declare for the NBA Draft.
Many draft predictions are confident that the six-foot-three (1.9m) player would be a solid first-round pick, with USA Today’s mock draft placing McCain as the No. 12 pick by the Oklahoma Thunder.
Staying at Duke wouldn’t be a bad option either, as Sporting News is calling Duke’s incoming class the top in the country, after they also locked in top recruit Cooper Flagg.