Among the grassroots events taking place at this year’s Final Four weekend was the inaugural All-Academic All America Game presented by 3Step Sports and West Coast Elite. This showcase celebrated the achievements of over forty players in the Class of 2023 and the Class of 2022 with a Rising Stars Game and Senior Game, respectively. In addition, student-athletes were treated to educational workshops from Fortune 500-level companies.
Pro Insight was on hand to cover the event and caught up with Reid Ducharme of Brewster Academy (NH) and BABC (MA), who was named MVP of the Rising Stars Game after scoring 32 points. Ducharme comes from a talented family of athletes. His father played football and competed in track at Williams College. His mother was a college basketball star accumulating over 1,000 points in her career. Both of his older sisters are basketball players, one who just finished her senior year at Brown while the other is heading into her sophomore season at UConn. In the first live period this year, the 6’7” guard earned All-EYBL Orlando Third Team honors after averaging 16.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.0 steals per game. While known for his perimeter shooting, Ducharme is also a strong finisher off straight line drives and has upside in a 3-and-D role.
As part of the Pro Insight Q&A series, Ducharme highlighted his family’s basketball background, the biggest non-basketball takeaway from the All-Academic All America event, the importance of receiving honest feedback from college coaches, and more.
For the next installment of the Pro Insight Q&A series, we present 2023 prospect Reid Ducharme, from Boston, Massachusetts:
Pro Insight: How did you get to where you are today? Talk a bit about your background and your family.
Reid Ducharme: Yeah, so I have two older sisters. Both basketball players in college. The oldest one plays at Brown. She just finished her senior year and then the other one is a freshman at UConn. I mean my parents both played high school basketball. My mom played college, so basketball has been in our family forever and I just kind of grew up always with the ball around me. And so I started taking it seriously and then really put my mind to it. And over the past couple of years, I’ve gotten a lot better so ended up here, yeah.
PI: When did you primarily start to focus on basketball?
RD: I'd probably say around sixth or seventh grade because that was when I saw that my sisters were in high school and starting to really get serious. So I saw them getting success and I was like “wow, I want that for myself, as well,” and we’d just always work out together and it kind of just…they pushed me without really me knowing, you know? And I kind of saw some signs and then I was like “I really want to take this seriously,” so that was around sixth or seventh grade.
PI: Did you play any other sports growing up?
RD: Yeah, I used to play a ton of sports. At my old school, I was on varsity baseball and football. I also played lacrosse a while ago, but yeah, I just decided to stick with basketball.
PI: For those who aren’t familiar with your game, what are your greatest strengths and play style?
RD: I'd say I'm a really good shooter, but also pretty athletic. I can get to the hoop in one or two dribbles. I know how to play the game. I feel like I learned a ton at Brewster this past year and just how to play with other players and how to play in a system where you're not going to be the only one scoring the highest number of points every game. But you gotta learn to play just to get the win, and I feel like I really developed that over this past year.
PI: Who do you model your game after or study on film?
RD: I like to watch Jayson Tatum a lot. I watch his film, his footwork. I feel we kind of have the same like—we can both get to that mid-range. We are both really good shooters and we can get downhill. I watch him a lot. I watch a ton of just footwork videos with [Steph] Curry and [Klay] Thompson and Kyrie [Irving] and just different angles and I watch film all the time, so yeah.
PI: What are your current measurements?
RD: I'm 6’7”, 185 [pounds]. I want to say my wingspan is like 6’4”, 6’5”. Yeah, it's unfortunate. T-Rex arms (laughs), but yeah.
PI: What are your short term goals you have for yourself as a player?
RD: AAU — definitely always our goal is to win Peach Jam. I play for BABC in Boston, an EYBL program. So every year in the summer, just try to win Peach Jam. Try to get as many wins as you can. For sure, just to win.
PI: Is there anyone in particular you’re looking forward to playing with?
RD: Yeah, I've been playing with two kids, Tre Norman and TJ Power for my whole life, pretty much — so every year it's fun just to see how we develop and come out after the school season without playing with each other and like see what we got better at. So yeah, definitely looking forward to playing with them.
PI: Congrats on winning the MVP of the All-Academic All America Rising Stars Game. Reflecting on this week, what was the biggest non-basketball takeaway this week?
RD: I feel like one thing is just how easy things can stop, but you can plan ahead and you can be prepared for if they do stop before you want it to…so you're ready for what's next in life…and I feel like a lot of kids just think the main goal is NBA and all that and that's my goal as well, but there's going to be a time where even if you do make it to the NBA, you're going to be done with the NBA. So always having that backup plan is definitely a big part.
PI: If you weren’t pursuing a career as a professional hooper, what do you think you would choose to do?
RD: I feel like it would definitely have to be around the game somehow, whether that be coaching or training or being on a staff somewhere or in a front office. But definitely I'm not sure what it’d have to be, but it's something that would have me being involved with the game, for sure.
PI: What’s your recruitment update?
RD: This past year during the season I got offers from Creighton and Penn State and I have offers from places like Syracuse, Iowa, Providence, Stanford, Brown, Harvard, and many others.
PI: Who have you been hearing from the most, lately?
RD: Definitely, I'd say Penn State and Syracuse. I talk to Coach McNamara a ton. I talk to Coach Farrelly a ton. Those two coaches are always talking to me, so they're definitely showing the most love, right now.
PI: What will ultimately be your deciding factors when making your choice?
RD: I want to develop as a player. I'm always looking to get better and I think that's a big aspect of what I'm always looking to do. Anything I can improve on, I'm trying to improve on and so having coaches that are really honest with me and telling me like you gotta just sit me down and be like” you really got to work on this.” Just give me the truth. I feel like a lot of coaches sugarcoat things. It's definitely something you hear in the recruiting process, just people saying “you're the best to ever do it,” but I know that's not true. So yeah, just looking for that honesty.
PI: There are a lot more post-grad options available these days with G League Ignite, OTE, and NBL, among others. Have you and your family done much research into those opportunities?
RD: No, I haven't heard from any of those. I'm really just focusing on basketball and if the opportunity does come along then I'll have that talk with my family. But as of right now, I'm planning on going to college, for sure.
PI: You have one hashtag to describe yourself. What is it?
RD: #BillyHoyle. White Men Can't Jump. I played in a park game in the summer in Harlem and the announcer gave me the name Billy Hoyle and it kind of stuck with me a little bit as some of my friends call me that so I’d probably say that.
PI: Would you say you’re an introvert or extrovert?
RD: For sure, introverted. Yeah, I'd much rather just relax at home and do nothing. Definitely.
PI: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
RD: I’d probably say “EA Love”. My mom says it to me every time. It stands for “effort,” “attitude,” and “to love it.” So whatever you do in life, you got to give 100-percent effort. You have to have a good attitude about it and you gotta love it or it's not worth it.
PI: So you say “EA Love” then? Almost like EA Sports, but EA Love. It’s in the game.
RD: Yeah, I didn't think about it, but yeah, you could say that.
PI: Name four words that best describe you.
RD: I'd probably say I'm definitely a calm kid, so I'd probably say calm. I'm definitely very generous. I'm also a happy kid and I’d probably say funny.
PI: At the end of the day, what do you hope to be remembered for?
RD: Ahh, that's a tough one. I feel like I want to be remembered as someone that gave other kids hope. I always remember trying to look up to older kids in the gym whether it's some random high school kid or kids I'm really close with — but always having that person to look up to to be a good role model. I definitely want to leave with that as my reputation.