Of the five freshmen who arrived at Duke in the fall of 2016, four were five-star recruits: Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles III, Frank Jackson, and Marques Bolden. Three would become NBA first-round picks. The fifth member of that class was Javin DeLaurier — a four-star power forward from a tiny Virginia town that most Duke fans had never heard of. He was the least heralded of the five. He would also be the only one to stay all four years.
Javin Que DeLaurier was born on April 7, 1998, in Mission Viejo, California, but grew up in Shipman, Virginia — a rural community in Nelson County, population roughly 200, in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Basketball was in his blood. His mother, C’ta, played college basketball at Rutgers and earned Atlantic 10 Tournament MVP honors in 1993. His aunt, Deanna Mitchelson, played at Virginia. Javin had three brothers — Ethan, Eli, and Jack — and a family that understood what it meant to compete.
At St. Anne’s-Belfield School in Charlottesville, DeLaurier became a dominant two-way forward. As a junior, he averaged 21.8 points, 13.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 4.2 blocks per game. As a senior, the numbers were nearly identical: 21.9, 12.9, 4.1, and 3.3. He was named Central Virginia Player of the Year and earned a four-star rating as the 35th-ranked recruit in the 2016 class.
On September 27, 2015, DeLaurier committed to Duke, choosing the Blue Devils over North Carolina, Arizona, and Notre Dame. He knew exactly what he was walking into. He knew the five-stars would get the minutes and the magazine covers. He came anyway.