Braxton Dupree Heads to Towson, Local Anonymity

Braxton Dupree came out of Calvert Hall with big numbers and big expectations. The hope was that the wide-bodied Dupree would be Lonny Baxter 2.0, and would give the Terps a front-court presence that would crush the Duke Blue Devils’ perimeter-based team, and contend with the North Carolina barrage of big men.

Two years and 2.1 points and rebounds per later, Dupree is headed to Towson University; a campus minutes from his high school and light years away from any legitimate shot at basketball prominence.

Towson is the laughing stock of the CAA. It’s a program that hasn’t had a winning season or conference record in 14 years, and has lost at least 13 games 13 years in a row.

Throw in the fact that MEAC members Morgan State and Coppin State have won the last two conference championships, and a UMBC team that regularly contends for it’s conference championship, and you get a program that could use an uptick in talent and recognition in the Baltimore area.

Dupree is not that uptick.

Perhaps that thought out of Camp Dupree is that he will outsize and out-athlete most of his opponents in the CAA. Problem is, TU thought the same thing would occur with Tony Durant, a former Tiger forward who had great size and limited skill, which basically translated to no success on the floor.

His statistical averages may balloon, but so will his weight and conditioning with the cushioning of a receptive Towson U. welcoming home a prodigal center. The best thing Dupree could’ve done for himself and his career would be to get the heck out of Maryland, and into a thriving basketball culture with some no-nonsense coaches.

Locally, George Mason or George Washington would’ve fit the bill, but a better bet would’ve been Davidson or a like program.

Sports is the only culture where you can go home again and feel that you’ve never left the culture, and the culture has never left you. Dupree never left home, and it’s likely that the homegrown enabling and overvaluing that damaged his career at College Park will follow him to Towson.