(Austin Rivers: Foto: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

By the year 2012, 71 players who attended Duke University were chosen in the NBA Draft. The Next will certainly be Austin Rivers. Born on August, 1st, 1992, in Santa Monica, California, he attended the Winter Park High School, where he proved to be one of the best high school players thanks to his impressive performances. Notwithstanding his young age, Austin has still proved to be an outstanding scorer, with a lot of different way to score lot of points: he is not only a deadly shooter from behind the arc, but he can also drive to the basket with his extraordinary quickness and, lastly, he can shoot off the dribble. He is a player who can decide every kind of game with his plays.

He is the son of the Boston Celtics' head coach, Doc Rivers, and brother of Jeremiah, who attended Georgetown and Indiana University. Hee was still playing at Winter Park when he took part at the American U18 Championship in 2010 and won the gold medal with the USA national team.

Nowadays, he is only a freshman, but it seems he doesn't care: in his first year, he's averaging 15.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 32.8 minutes per game. Moreover, he became world-known after his game-winner at North Carolina with his Blue Devils down by two. So, he already knows how to win the most important games; also for this reason, he will be one of the top five picks in one of the next NBA Drafts. But before the NBA will come, Austin Rivers want to go deep as his team can in the NCAA tournament, and eventually win it.

Name: Austin James Rivers
Nickname: Subzero
Date of Birth: August, 1st, 1992
Birthplace: Santa Monica, California
Height: 1,93 m
Weight: 86 kg
High School: Winter Park High School
High School Stats: 28,8 punti, 6,1 rimbalzi, 2,2 assist e 2,0 recuperi.
College: Duke

What is basketball meaning in your life? What are your aims in this game and, more generally, in your life?

Basketball is a huge part of my life. I think, as far as my life goes, it's God, family and basketball; these are the most important things in my life. So, I try to work hard and my goals are the highest you possibly can in basketball: do well, be an NBA player and all that and do well in around here in Duke as well. Those are my aims.

Do you usually receive any suggestions from your father about your game? Is he proud of your developments? And would you like to play for him in Boston?

Yes, he always gives me pointers and helps me out of my basketball game. At the same time, he's a father too, so he's always just being a father, he's not always a coach like people think he is. Everybody thinks he is always just coaching me, but he's more a father; yes, sometimes he does give me a lot of pointers, he's very proud of me and of what I have done so far. He just encourages me to keep getting better and better and he gets really excited every time he sees me play. He's always excited to talk to me after I played, I appreciate that.

Dropping a buzzer beater is always a great sensation. How does it feel doing it in the greatest rivalry in college basketball?

It was a big game for the team. I think the team just played well, we got a big win. I was able to hit a good shot, I was just confident. It feels good to hit shots, but you move on.

You could be one of the top 5 picks in the NBA draft notwithstanding the ton of talented players in your class. What's your feeling about that?

That's a good thing to hear, I've heared that by a lot of different people. But I'm just really not able to worry about that right now. You can't worry about that stuff. You have to worry about what you are doing right now, that's just playing basketball for the team Duke University. Right now when I go and play basketball at Duke and cross my chest, that's what I'm working hard for, so I'm just working hard to get better as a player, as a person, and just do everything I can to improve and help this team win. After the season I can talk to coach K and my family, we can make that decision together, but right now it's just kinda keep getting better and everything is gonna take care of itself after the season.

What do you like to do in your spare time? What kind of music do you like the most?

My spare time is kinda like to stay lowkey, just relax with my family and friends and I don't use to go out at night that much. So I just kinda like to watch a lot of movies and a lot of music, my big hip hop guy. I'ma listen all hip hop rap music.

Favourite basketball player: “There's a lot of great players between Kobe and LeBron and Wade and Durant. I'd say my favourite basketball player probably would be Derrick Rose. He is my favourite basketball player right now”.

Favourite pro basketball team: "My favourite pro team is obviously the Celtics. And other than the Celtics, I like any team. I just like watching NBA basketball, period. Any team is fine with me, but yet go family first, so Celtics".

Best basketball moments: “There just have been a lot of moments in my life. I think all the big moments this year in college: it's because it's the biggest level I've played on. The Carolina shot was obviously a big moment in my life and winning the MAUI was a great team moment for us and also a great moment in my life. Those have been the great moments for me individually and great moments for the team as well".

Role model: "I have three role models in my life. My dad because of the dream he lives, is the one I want to live one day: being a professional basketball player and even try to better than he was and after being this, just as good as a coach he is, that's why he is one of my role model. My mom is a role model because she's the glue that holds my family together and she never gets that much attention near as much as she should, she works so hard, she's one of the biggest reasons why I'm here today: she's my role model. And my older brother, lastly, just because he's had a lot of injuries and he's gone through a lot of things with different colleges, but he's always just worked hard and continues to work hard. He's just a role model because of his work ethic. That's kinda where I started. Just seeing his work ethic used to get me mad because I wasn't working as hard as he was, so I tried to outwork him and that's why he's one of my role models as well. ".

The whole NBA editorial staff of basketinside.com really want to thank both Austin Rivers and the press office of Duke (especially Matt Plizga, Associate Director of Sports Information and Chris Cook, Assistant Sports Information Director). We also wish Austin and the Blue Devils a bright future.

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