Burgess’ Dream Will Take Him to Duke

Saying “I had to go with my heart” in making the toughest decision of his life, Woodbridge basketball star Chris Burgess said Monday night he had chosen Duke over Brigham Young.

Appearing tired and nervous, Burgess--wearing a blue gingham shirt and blue tie--addressed a crowd of about 200 in the Woodbridge High gym, reading from a speech he had written on notebook paper and stuffed into his pants pocket.

Several friends and associates said Burgess had made his intentions known to them late last week after viewing a Duke highlight video containing scenes of Cherokee Parks, former Marina High and Blue Devil standout who plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves. But Burgess struggled through the weekend at the thought of making “no thank you” calls to Kentucky and BYU.

“I had to listen to my heart,” said Burgess, a 6-foot-11 center who is one of the most sought-after recruits in the nation. “And it told me to fulfill my dream.”

He got the same message from his mother, Sandi Burgess, who with husband, Ken, attended the press conference Woodbridge arranged for Chris and six other athletes who had picked their colleges.

“You could see Sunday he was so stressed out,” Sandi Burgess said. “ ‘Mom I really don’t want to go [to BYU],’ he said. I told him he had to go with his heart.”

Burgess, a two-time Times’ all-county selection who averaged 26.3 points and 10.6 rebounds last season, also considered UCLA, Kansas and Kentucky, but the decision came down to Duke and BYU.

Burgess was believed to be headed for BYU as late as Sunday night, several college basketball sources said. Two Western Athletic Conference coaches said Burgess had picked BYU and would likely call BYU assistant coach Lynn Archibald Monday afternoon with the news.

When Burgess called BYU Monday with his decision, he said the talk with Archibald “went well, and he supported me. But [Coach] Roger Reid made me feel worse than I already did. I’m a 17-year-old kid and he said I let nine million people down.”

Though Burgess was told by BYU it would do everything to build its program around him, that ultimately could not compete with Duke’s basketball tradition.

Burgess added that going to Duke had been a dream of his “and now I can live that dream.”

“My goals are to get a degree in communications, and I want to play college basketball with the best players in America and against the best players in America,” Burgess said. “I want to win a national championship. I want to play basketball in the NBA.

“And that’s why I chose Duke. I know there are people at BYU who will feel I let them down. I hope they understand.”

Burgess said Duke had pursued him heavily. “They sent me some letters during my sophomore year, but after some of their coaches got to see me at a Nike basketball camp as a junior, I was getting calls every week.

“I felt I had developed good relationships with all the coaches who recruited me. It was very difficult to have to tell them no. I guess that is a part of growing up.”

A Duke spokesman said Coach Mike Krzyzewski would release a statement Wednesday, the deadline for athletes to sign early letters of intent.

But Ken Burgess said Krzyzewski “was stunned” when Chris called him Monday with the news.

“For about 15 seconds there was silence on the phone,” Ken Burgess said. “Then Coach Krzyzewski said, ‘Everyone had told me we had no chance to get him. I just told my wife I was going to remain positive until I heard from him.’ ”

Staff writers Paul McLeod and Jason Reid contributed to this story.