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RALEIGH, N.C. — In a college basketball world dominated by a transfer portal that promotes more player movement than people movement in Grand Central Terminal at rush hour, Sion James is a dinosaur.
The 22-year-old guard, who transferred to Duke before this season after playing four years at Tulane, will play in his 150th career college game on Sunday when the Blue Devils play Baylor in the NCAA Tournament second round at the Lenovo Center.
James’ 149th college game, which came on Friday in the first-round win over Mount St. Mary’s, was his first NCAA Tournament game, some 1,576 days since his collegiate debut for Tulane.
And it is the realization of a dream.
“It was cool just looking around on the court, seeing the big NCAA Tournament logo on the floor, being in the game and then going back to the hotel and watching games and knowing that I just played in one of those,’’ James told The Post on Saturday.
James said every year Tulane was in its conference tournament knowing it had to win to earn an NCAA Tournament berth and it could never get over the line.
“That was always a dream, to play in the NCAA Tournament,’’ James said. “And it hurt every single time that we didn’t make it. So now, being here it’s kind of gratifying knowing all what I went through.’’
James, who averages 8.5 points and 4.1 rebounds, had a quiet game Friday, scoring only two points on 0-for-5 shooting.
But Duke is 26-1 since Duke coach Jon Scheyer inserted him into the starting lineup on Dec. 4.
“More than anything, I just feel like we started getting more and more connected as a team,’’ James said, deflecting personal praise. “That [26-1] number is great and it reflects well on me, but it’s not really a ‘me’ thing. It’s more of a matter us starting really clicking as a team.’’
James said his transfer to Duke “all happened pretty quickly.’’
“Once I got in the portal, I got a call from Coach Scheyer,’’ he said. “You get a call from Jon Scheyer and Duke, you pick up the phone. I came here and everything made sense right away.’’
James said he never fathomed playing this many college games.
“I would have never thought about that,’’ he said. “I just kind of thought about my freshman season, moving to New Orleans. I don’t think I had the perspective at the time. But 150 games later … who would have thought?’’
