Yeah, I've heard him tell that story on a podcast. I know nothing, but my guess would be Duke had some roster spots open
late and thought....why not..there's not really anybody else out there at this point. Let's try to get this kid that is leaving on a mission to stay a year and play here. He might be able to shoot it at a high level. Probably a one year type of deal unless he blew their socks off in practice.
But yeah, considering he wasn't highly recruited.. I think the reasons he was on their radar was because they were somewhat dialed in on Lone Peak because of Frank Jackson having played there, and Ashworth played well against some of those big prep schools toward the end of the year IIRC, so it kind of makes sense.