His father had played for Duke too. Just on a different field. Michael Buckmire Sr. had been a member of the 1986 NCAA national championship men's soccer team, the year that Duke soccer briefly stood at the top of the college sports world. Now, three decades later, the elder Buckmire was a doctor in suburban Philadelphia. His wife Rhonda was also a doctor. They had four kids. The youngest, Mike Buckmire Jr., wanted to do both — wear his father's blue and become a doctor like both his parents.
Born September 22, 1998 in Abington, Pennsylvania, raised in Blue Bell, Mike attended Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia — the elite Quaker prep school that's been around since 1845. He was a four-year varsity starter, finished his career with 1,144 points, and as a senior averaged 22.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game while being named third-team all-state and first-team All-Friends School League. He was selected for the 2017 Labor All-Star Classic.
But the basketball ceiling was clear. Ivy League schools were interested. Local Division III programs were interested. No high-major scholarship offers came. So Mike made the decision that walk-ons make: he chose academics first. He told the Chestnut Hill Local in 2017, before his senior year ended: "Not playing is going to be hard for me, especially after being on varsity for four years. This has just been a part of my life." His college decision came down to "fit and academics" — "It had to be a school that I actually wanted to go to."
That school was Duke. He committed knowing he would be a regular student who happened to wreak havoc in intramurals. He was going to study biology, chase the pre-med track his parents had carved out, and follow his father's blue uniform — even if his uniform would be on the soccer pitch in spirit only.
Then, just before classes started in fall 2017, Mike Krzyzewski's coaching staff added an eighth member to the freshman class. Mike Buckmire — the under-the-radar walk-on from Germantown Friends — joined a group that included Marvin Bagley III, Wendell Carter Jr., Trevon Duval, Gary Trent Jr., Alex O'Connell, Jordan Goldwire, and Jordan Tucker. He would be the second walk-on alongside junior Brennan Besser. The 6'2" guard from Blue Bell was about to learn what it meant to wear his father's Duke uniform — even if it was a different uniform than the one his father had worn.