Freshman Garwey Dual brings added intrigue to an already compelling season in Providence
Also included in this week's newsletter: Daquan Davis reopens his recruitment, Big East Media Day notes, and a feature on Devin Carter
Somehow, it was only 18 months ago that Garwey Dual, a Houston transplant, was a mere role player on one of the best high school teams in Indiana — a reserve without a single Division 1 scholarship offer.
Prior to his junior year, Dual made his way from George Bush High School in Houston to Indiana powerhouse Carmel, the winner of state titles in 2019 and 2021, and thought to be the favorite in 2020 prior to the season being canceled.
Carmel has produced the likes of NBA bigs Josh McRoberts and AJ Hammons, but on the night in which their season ended at the hands of future Purdue guard Braden Smith and Westfield, no one would have guessed what was ahead for Dual (who scored 7 points in the loss) over the next three months.
Fresh off of averaging six points per game at Carmel, Dual became the country’s fastest stock riser in April and May, playing for George Hill All-Indy, an independent grassroots program that is not affiliated with the Nike, Under Armour, or Adidas circuits.
Teaming with fellow riser Xavier Booker (who went from borderline top 100 player to top ten in his class that spring), Dual and George Hill All-Indy more than held their own against big-time competition, including a pair of Nike EYBL elites in Detroit-based The Family and a NJ Scholars group featuring a pair of five-star prospects.
The spring catapulted Dual into the top 50 of most national recruiting services almost overnight, and earned him a tryout with Team USA’s U17 World Cup team (where he was one of 35 invitees).
While Dayton was on him early, then-Providence assistant Jeff Battle made the quickest inroads. Battled introduced Ed Cooley to Dual’s game and as soon as Cooley saw him on tape, the race to get Garwey Dual on campus was on.
In the earliest stages of his ascent, Dual took his first official visit to Providence and committed shortly after, without having taken any other officials.
The Friars had seemingly struck gold. One Big 10 power had him on campus for their elite camp earlier that June (Dual was slowed with an ankle injury and did not play) and kicked themselves for not making a harder push when they saw him play a few weeks later.
By the fall, Dual announced that he was packing his bags and heading to a Southern California Academy program that is relatively new to the prep scene, but featured several high major prospects over the past three years. Dual would live with future Friars (and SoCal Academy teammates) Drew Fielder and Donovan Santoro, and went on to shine playing on a bigger stage with the ball in his hands. After averaging 16 points, seven rebounds, and three steals per game, and leading his team to wins over some of the best teams in the country, Dual ended the year ranked 37th in the country by ESPN, 35th by Rivals, and 48th by 247 Sports.
There was always a level of trepidation from Friar fans throughout the 2022-23 season when it came to Dual, after he declined to sign a letter of intent in November. Word out of Providence was that his commitment was solid, but for a fanbase that has felt as though it has been burned in the past by high profile recruitments, there was a bit of a wait-and-see approach.
Little did Friartown realize what awaited them in March.
Dual visited Providence for the home finale against Seton Hall — the worst home loss of Cooley’s tenure at Providence, and a game in which the home crowd booed the Friars off the floor for their hapless effort against a Pirates team playing without leading scorer Kadary Richmond. It was an unimaginable loss for a team that peaked at #17 in the AP Poll and carried a 13-6 league mark heading into the game.
Two weeks later, Providence was in the market for a new coach.
Ed Cooley left for Georgetown three days after PC lost to Kentucky in the first round of NCAA Tournament and, almost immediately, Dual announced that he was reopening his recruitment.
A complete rebuild under new head coach Kim English felt like a very real possibility at the time. It seemed unlikely Dual would be a part of it.
Meanwhile, Cooley, Rick Pitino (newly hired at St. John’s), the staff at Texas, and countless others came calling for Dual. When English flew out to Los Angeles to meet with Dual, Fielder, and Santoro, it felt like a new coach doing his due diligence.
But Dual had apparently bonded with the players at Providence, and English struck a chord in his visit. In fact, English later shared that the first thing he did after taking the PC job was get on a plane to Cali to try to retain the 6’5 point guard.
English continued the recruitment during the Final Four in Houston, and landed Dual in mid-April after he visited PC once again.
Dual told On3.com after committing, “I feel like the reason I gravitated towards Coach Kim (English) is that for one, he’s been in the NBA. He knows exactly what it takes. We all know just because you play, that doesn’t mean you’re automatically a good coach. So when I saw he had an elite feel for both things, I just knew then and there that he could help get me get to the next level. His work ethic is inspiring every time we speak. He’s either on the way to the gym or in the gym, and that’s just something that made me gravitate to him even more.”
Dual gained further national attention when The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie took a bit of an outside-the-box approach to his 2024 mock draft and had Dual going 10th next June. That’s higher than even the most ardent Friar fans could have imagined. It could also have set an unrealistic bar for the guard who was playing his way into the starting lineup at an Indiana public school a year and a half ago. Dual is still finding his voice as a lead guard, and he won’t turn 19 until the morning after the Big East Tournament championship next March.
Still, there’s so much to like here. The measurables are a dream (6’5 with a 6’10 wingspan), and Dual can be a magician with the ball in his hands. English has used the word “special” to describe Dual on more than one occasion, citing not just his physical gifts, but his spatial awareness and ability to see things open up before others.
Attend a Providence practice, and he may not dominate the entire session, but even a basketball neophyte could watch him pick off seemingly safe passes, or contort his body and arms to find teammates for easy looks and see the potential.
Dual has a near automatic floater that we saw time and again at SoCal last season, and he got into the paint so easily that he rarely even tried showing scouts that he had a jumper.
We followed him throughout last season, and saw big-time performances against top competition.
There was the 14-point, 8-assist, 4-rebound effort on 5-7 shooting from the floor and 4-4 at the free throw line in an overtime win over St. Frances of Baltimore at the DMV High School Season Tip Off.
He went for 20/5/5 in a victory over Hillcrest in the Chick-fil-A Classic. He led the event in steals and shot 7-9 from the field at 5-5 at the free throw line in the win over Hillcrest.
Dual finished with 14 of SoCal’s 48 points in a 48-42 victory over powerhouse Oak Hill Academy. He shot 6-7 from the field, and made all four of the floaters he attempted in that one.
In a week, we’ll see how his game translates at the college level.
Dual’s recruitment will wind up being one of the most unique in Providence history. Players don’t just appear on top 40 recruiting lists overnight, they rarely wrap up their recruitment without much fanfare, and they almost never stick with their original college destination after a coaching change — especially not a smaller school with an unproven coach after the rest of the country has come calling.
Yet, Garwey Dual is here in Providence, and he brings an endless amount of intrigue to what should be one of the most compelling seasons in Friar history.
More from Friar Basketball:
Top 2024 Providence commit Daquan Davis announced over the weekend that he is re-opening his recruitment.
Providence was picked to finish seventh in the Big East by the league’s coaches. We take a look at the programs that have been traditionally overrated and underrated on Big East Media Day.
Devin Carter was named Honorable Mention All Big East, both at the end of last season and in this year’s preseason vote. We look at how his offensive game might look different under Kim English.
Finally, with the season approaching, we hope you will consider supporting the site and becoming a subscriber. Since the summer of 2021, we have published over 720 articles and podcasts on Providence, recruiting, and the Big East, and will continue to provide in-depth coverage both during the season and in the offseason.
Kevin, thank you for the look back at Garvey’s recruitment.
So much optimism around the program. I hope the fans get the dunk are patient in the beginning.
Thanks again