Duke's Jared McCain Talks March Madness, UNC Rivalry and More in B/R Interview

Think the anticipation for the magic of the NCAA men's and women's tournaments is limited to the fans?

Think again.

"It's crazy because it's March Madness," Duke guard Jared McCain told Bleacher Report. "It doesn't even really make sense. It feels so surreal that it's almost here. I've been watching it since I was a little kid and making brackets. I'm just so excited to be in it. I'm so blessed to be in this position. I'm just excited to get out there and play in March Madness, it's a dream."

This year's Big Dance will be McCain's first, as he is a freshman for the Blue Devils who has established himself as one of the go-to options on the potential Final Four contender as the season enters the stretch run.

And he has done so in the face of immediate and elevated expectations, arriving at one of the nation's most prominent programs as a 5-star prospect and the No. 3 combo guard in the class of 2023, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

But it didn't come easy at first.

"Really, it came in practice and preseason in the summer," McCain said when asked what he saw as his welcome-to-college-basketball moment. "That's when it really hit me that these driving gaps aren't as big, you can't just drive to the basket with no help. Defensive principles are huge in college. I think the length was probably the biggest thing I wasn't used to. Everybody is just really good, especially on defense."

There was an adjustment period with McCain scoring 10 or fewer points in seven of his first eight games, including a scoreless performance against Michigan State in November's Champions Classic.

Fortunately for Duke, everything clicked after that opening stretch.

McCain scored 21 points in a Dec. 9 win over Charlotte and hasn't looked back, but he cited his Dec. 20 outing with 21 points in a win over Baylor as a key turning point and one of his favorite games in his first college season.

"Baylor was a huge one for me," he said. "I feel like I wasn't playing like myself at the beginning of the season, and that was a coming out party for me."

He is now averaging 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 45.8 percent from the field and 41 percent from deep. He can impact the game with that outside shot or by attacking the lane off the bounce, and his ability to rebound from the backcourt has helped him post four double-doubles.

Duke now largely turns to McCain, Kyle Filipowski or Jeremy Roach when it needs an important bucket, never more so than when the freshman poured in 35 points on 8-of-11 shooting from three-point range in a Feb. 17 win over Florida State.

"It just felt so beautiful to see those shots go in" McCain said of his performance against the Seminoles.

Performances like that lead to opportunities in the name, image and likeness era of college sports, which is something McCain is familiar with as one of Champs Sports' most notable brand ambassadors heading into March Madness.

He has been a partner with the company since he was a highly regarded recruit in 2022 and has only seen his profile elevated.

"It's been amazing ever since we started," he said of the partnership. "I remember telling this to my parents, I used to go into Champs when I was a little kid and would see all the Kobes and all the posters. And now to know that I'm in some of the stores and I get to do these shoots with them, it's literally a dream come true."

He has the opportunity to make some more dreams come true in the coming month.

Duke is now 23-6 overall and 14-4 in ACC play after Saturday's win over Virginia. It is just one game behind 15-3 North Carolina in the race for the ACC regular-season title after the Tar Heels defeated North Carolina State on Saturday.

A No. 1 seed in March Madness probably isn't going to happen for the Blue Devils, who landed on the No. 3 seed line in the latest bracketology from Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller, but they are in contention for a top-two seed with a strong finish.

The ACC regular-season title is still very much in play as well, as is a run in the ACC tournament.

"For me and for the team, getting the smaller goals help you for the bigger goals," McCain said. "Getting the regular season and winning the ACC championship, those are the ones that are more present for us. So that's what we're focused on. Coach [Jon] Scheyer always likes to say, 'let's just focus on this moment and one game at a time.' So I think that's been a huge key for us throughout the whole season."

Winning that ACC regular-season crown would mean defeating the archrival Tar Heels in Saturday's rematch.

Duke seasons are largely judged by the team's ability to defeat North Carolina, but McCain and Co. fell short in the first matchup on Feb. 3 at the Dean E. Smith Center. The Tar Heels jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first half and never relinquished the advantage.

McCain played well with 23 points and 11 rebounds on 9-of-18 shooting from the field, but the defense couldn't string together enough stops to get the win.

The beauty of college basketball compared to college football is teams don't have to wait an entire year to enact revenge on their rivals. Duke gets North Carolina in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday, which figures to be a raucous environment with the conference title potentially on the line.

"We gotta get them back," McCain said. "It should be a fun one. I love these big games, I feel like in all these big games I'm able to be calm and be centered. I always kind of come back to my breath. I'm excited, I'm always excited for these big games."

There is nothing left but big games at this point of the season, and McCain believes his Blue Devils are ready for the challenge.

"We have a bunch of winners," he said. "I believe so much in Coach Scheyer and everything he has planned for us. When it comes to March, that's when the spotlight and the big lights will show who has really been working, and I feel like our team has been working. You can either hop on the train now or stay away, but I feel like we're going to go far. We've got a bunch of winners on our team and we've got Coach Scheyer on our side."

Perhaps that train will go all the way to the program's sixth national title.