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Welcome home, Carley Duffney.
The former Green Bay Preble star will play at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay for her final season of collegiate basketball after spending her first four years at South Dakota.
The 5-foot-10 forward entered the NCAA transfer portal after the season, and it didn’t take long to find her new team.
She grew up watching the Phoenix and now gets to be part of it.
“It’s everything,” Duffney said. “It was kind of a no-brainer that I wanted to be back here my last year. My parents will be able to come to my games. I mean, it was eight hours away before. So, not a lot of friends and family watching games and stuff, physically there. It’s just really nice.”
The biggest winner with this move might not be Duffney or UWGB, but instead Brett and Mary Duffney.
Both are teachers, and it’s been difficult to attend many games to watch their daughter play the past few seasons. They also are season ticket holders for the Phoenix, and there is little doubt their favorite team will be helped by the addition of their favorite player.
Duffney averaged a career-high 10.9 points and 4.1 rebounds this season while starting all 31 games. She has been a key player for the Coyotes the past three seasons after redshirting as a freshman in 2021-22.
Duffney started 61 of 96 games at South Dakota, averaging 9.6 points and 3.5 rebounds in 26.1 minutes per game while shooting 43.2% overall.
She is no stranger to UWGB coach Kayla Karius, who was the coach at South Dakota during Duffney’s freshman and sophomore seasons.
Karius is preparing her Phoenix team for the NCAA tournament this week, but she still found time to add a big piece for the future.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Carley Duffney back home to Green Bay,” Karius said in a statement. “I really enjoyed coaching Carley for our two seasons together at USD. Her versatility and skill set will fit our motion offense system perfectly, plus she will bring four years of collegiate basketball experience along with her.”
UWGB is losing seven of its top eight scorers to graduation, including all-conference players in Natalie McNeal and Maddy Schreiber, along with two of the best defensive players in the Horizon League in Bailey Butler and Jasmine Kondrakiewicz.
Duffney can help serve as a veteran leader on what will be a young team.
She has experienced plenty during her time at South Dakota, which started with a Sweet 16 appearance during her redshirt year.
She also played for three coaches in four seasons, but at least she is joining forces with one of them instead of having to get used to yet another new face.
“You build relationships so fast, because you spend every day with the coach and your teammates,” Duffney said. “It’s not that bad. I think it’s easier because it’s such a good culture with the teammates and the coaches. But, yeah, it’s hard to get comfortable.
“I think each year having a new coach, it feels like I’m not this year. You’d think transferring that you are getting a new coach. We had a good relationship. Got along very well, on and off the court. Kind of understood each other. That will be good to come back to that.”
Duffney was one of the best players in the area during her prep career at Preble, despite missing her senior season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee during an AAU game with the Purple Aces in July 2020.
She was the Fox River Classic Conference player of the year as a junior after averaging 18.2 points and 4.8 assists per game. She scored more than 1,000 career points.
UWGB arguably was a bit slow in offering a scholarship to the hometown star, although the school still was the first to extend an offer in May 2019.
But it came right after Duffney blew up at the Lake Slam AAU tournament in Bloomington, Minnesota, where she averaged 23 points in four games.
Everyone else took notice at the same time.
She received an offer from North Dakota a short time after UWGB, before several others followed.
“I think I just wanted to get the college experience,” Duffney said. “I thought that I wouldn’t get that staying right in Green Bay, being 15 minutes from my parents and all the same people I had been around. That was a big thing, just kind of wanting the college experience and be around a ton of new people.”
Duffney learned a lot about herself after leaving. Her time at South Dakota was worth it.
She received plenty of text messages last year from people wondering if she’d follow Karius to Green Bay after Karius was hired by UWGB in April.
But Duffney knew she was going to stay one more year. She wanted to finish with the roommates and teammates she came in with and complete her four years at South Dakota before graduating this spring.
“Been through a lot of ups and downs there, a lot of different coaches,” Duffney said. “Different teammates. A lot of different people to learn from. Played with some really great players. Just learning a lot of different things from different coaches and different teammates.”
But for one final season, it’s great to be back home.
“It’s always been there,” Duffney said, laughing. “Throughout the four years, there has always been a hint to me like, ‘Oh, I know my parents would love it and my family and friends would love it if I came back home.’
“It was never a set decision until later. … Right now, it’s all just excitement. I’m sure once the game starts, I’ll be nervous, just like, I want to look good in front of my friends and family who will finally be able to watch me. But I think it will feel like home. It is home. It’s all excitement.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Ex-Green Bay Preble star Carley Duffney joins UWGB women's basketball
Continue reading...
The former Green Bay Preble star will play at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay for her final season of collegiate basketball after spending her first four years at South Dakota.
The 5-foot-10 forward entered the NCAA transfer portal after the season, and it didn’t take long to find her new team.
She grew up watching the Phoenix and now gets to be part of it.
“It’s everything,” Duffney said. “It was kind of a no-brainer that I wanted to be back here my last year. My parents will be able to come to my games. I mean, it was eight hours away before. So, not a lot of friends and family watching games and stuff, physically there. It’s just really nice.”
The biggest winner with this move might not be Duffney or UWGB, but instead Brett and Mary Duffney.
Both are teachers, and it’s been difficult to attend many games to watch their daughter play the past few seasons. They also are season ticket holders for the Phoenix, and there is little doubt their favorite team will be helped by the addition of their favorite player.
Duffney averaged a career-high 10.9 points and 4.1 rebounds this season while starting all 31 games. She has been a key player for the Coyotes the past three seasons after redshirting as a freshman in 2021-22.
Duffney started 61 of 96 games at South Dakota, averaging 9.6 points and 3.5 rebounds in 26.1 minutes per game while shooting 43.2% overall.
She is no stranger to UWGB coach Kayla Karius, who was the coach at South Dakota during Duffney’s freshman and sophomore seasons.
Karius is preparing her Phoenix team for the NCAA tournament this week, but she still found time to add a big piece for the future.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Carley Duffney back home to Green Bay,” Karius said in a statement. “I really enjoyed coaching Carley for our two seasons together at USD. Her versatility and skill set will fit our motion offense system perfectly, plus she will bring four years of collegiate basketball experience along with her.”
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Carley Duffney can be veteran leader for UWGB
UWGB is losing seven of its top eight scorers to graduation, including all-conference players in Natalie McNeal and Maddy Schreiber, along with two of the best defensive players in the Horizon League in Bailey Butler and Jasmine Kondrakiewicz.
Duffney can help serve as a veteran leader on what will be a young team.
She has experienced plenty during her time at South Dakota, which started with a Sweet 16 appearance during her redshirt year.
She also played for three coaches in four seasons, but at least she is joining forces with one of them instead of having to get used to yet another new face.
“You build relationships so fast, because you spend every day with the coach and your teammates,” Duffney said. “It’s not that bad. I think it’s easier because it’s such a good culture with the teammates and the coaches. But, yeah, it’s hard to get comfortable.
“I think each year having a new coach, it feels like I’m not this year. You’d think transferring that you are getting a new coach. We had a good relationship. Got along very well, on and off the court. Kind of understood each other. That will be good to come back to that.”
Duffney was one of the best players in the area during her prep career at Preble, despite missing her senior season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee during an AAU game with the Purple Aces in July 2020.
She was the Fox River Classic Conference player of the year as a junior after averaging 18.2 points and 4.8 assists per game. She scored more than 1,000 career points.
UWGB arguably was a bit slow in offering a scholarship to the hometown star, although the school still was the first to extend an offer in May 2019.
But it came right after Duffney blew up at the Lake Slam AAU tournament in Bloomington, Minnesota, where she averaged 23 points in four games.
Everyone else took notice at the same time.
She received an offer from North Dakota a short time after UWGB, before several others followed.
“I think I just wanted to get the college experience,” Duffney said. “I thought that I wouldn’t get that staying right in Green Bay, being 15 minutes from my parents and all the same people I had been around. That was a big thing, just kind of wanting the college experience and be around a ton of new people.”
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Carley Duffney excited to be back home
Duffney learned a lot about herself after leaving. Her time at South Dakota was worth it.
She received plenty of text messages last year from people wondering if she’d follow Karius to Green Bay after Karius was hired by UWGB in April.
But Duffney knew she was going to stay one more year. She wanted to finish with the roommates and teammates she came in with and complete her four years at South Dakota before graduating this spring.
“Been through a lot of ups and downs there, a lot of different coaches,” Duffney said. “Different teammates. A lot of different people to learn from. Played with some really great players. Just learning a lot of different things from different coaches and different teammates.”
But for one final season, it’s great to be back home.
“It’s always been there,” Duffney said, laughing. “Throughout the four years, there has always been a hint to me like, ‘Oh, I know my parents would love it and my family and friends would love it if I came back home.’
“It was never a set decision until later. … Right now, it’s all just excitement. I’m sure once the game starts, I’ll be nervous, just like, I want to look good in front of my friends and family who will finally be able to watch me. But I think it will feel like home. It is home. It’s all excitement.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Ex-Green Bay Preble star Carley Duffney joins UWGB women's basketball
Continue reading...
