I'm hearing Bolden to dook.

[DSouthr]

This is what you get when you totally commit to the one & done program, your upper classmen are walked over by a kid barely out of puberty. You have to be able to come in and produce big time right away or you are kicked to the curb, forget developing the players you have, you don't need to develop them when you can just out talent the opponents with freshmen super stars.

That is what they are doing at duke now, you come in play 1 season and ya better be great in that one season else you will be either forced to the deep bench or strong armed in to transferring if they need your scholly. You may be lucky enough at some point in your 4yrs at duke to see a recruiting whiff, like Plum finally got a chance to play when Jeter was a buster. But don't bank on that because K has his sites on every single member of each years top 10 class and unless you entered the NBA after that frosh season or not one of Ks loved "hustle" guys your PT wil go to the next big time talented freshman and if you expected to be developed and given a real chance to play, you better get out of there and go some place that actually cares about helping you develop as a young man and a player.

It is all about K and his need to craft himself as the greatest coach of all time and there is NOTHING he will not do to make that happen. It isn't about those players, his coaches, it isn't about the school or the fans, it is all about K crafting his own legacy and no room for the truth or anything else that threatens that...

 

[DSouthr]

I think Jeter could be quite good as a junior. Might be good as a soph, but will he get enough PT before his junior year? Look how little he got this year when they desperately needed him.

Would he really lose much by transferring? If he transfers he sits out a year. If he doesn't he still might sit most of the year.

So the question he might want to consider is whether he'd learn more by being a practice dummy for Giles, Jefferson and maybe Bolden, or by learning from another good coach.

If he enjoys being at Duke, he stays. But if not, there doesn't seem to be much downside to transferring.

Jeter didn't commit to duke to sit on their bench, he should get out now and spend that red shirt learning to play with a new set of team mates in that red shirt season. They are about to get Bolden, have Giles, Tatum, The Great Jefferson, and Delourer already, kid has no PT! You either want to play college basketball or just be on a college team just like the walk ons are and have great seats to watch games from? Which one is it, if it is you want to play then you have to know K has moved on from you as a player. Now you are no more than a guy whip&trip can practice tripping on, a guy to rebound for the real players, a sparing partner with out his own shot at the heavy weight title.

 

[Archer2]

I think Jeter could be quite good as a junior. Might be good as a soph, but will he get enough PT before his junior year? Look how little he got this year when they desperately needed him.

Would he really lose much by transferring? If he transfers he sits out a year. If he doesn't he still might sit most of the year.

So the question he might want to consider is whether he'd learn more by being a practice dummy for Giles, Jefferson and maybe Bolden, or by learning from another good coach.

If he enjoys being at Duke, he stays. But if not, there doesn't seem to be much downside to transferring.

I agree WWJD. Jeter is likely to be relegated to spot duty off the bench behind the "latest and greatest" OAD's. Why these kids keep drinking the Kaylaid is beyond me. You're his boy until someone with more talent walks through the door, then you're a bum.

Remember, the LOM only had five measly players this year. So with his usual starting lineup, Jeter and Kennard didn't even qualify as "players". What an insult and a crock of shite! There are very few teams in the country that wouldn't have started Kennard, one of the top five shooters in the nation. And top 15 big man Jeter would have started for many teams, he certainly would have gotten a lot of burn.

How can you tell the LOM is lying?

His lips are moving.

 

[Steat]

Amile Jefferson could have played near the end of the season and K convinced him to take the medical redshirt in his senior year. If Bolden signs Jefferson will not be a starter next year. You take a redshirt your senior year to come to be a player coming off the bench? AMAZING!

 

[DSouthr]

Amile Jefferson could have played near the end of the season and K convinced him to take the medical redshirt in his senior year. If Bolden signs Jefferson will not be a starter next year. You take a redshirt your senior year to come to be a player coming off the bench? AMAZING!

Especially when you consider how great a player jefferson is, I mean his injury was the ONLY repeat ONLY reason duke did not win it all this season, dukies told us that all season did they not. If Jefferson does not start how can he win ACC POY, NCAA 1st team and favorite for NCAA POY, and be a sure fire lotto guy if not the clear #1 in the draft?

 

[gary-7]

This is what you get when you totally commit to the one & done program, your upper classmen are walked over by a kid barely out of puberty. You have to be able to come in and produce big time right away or you are kicked to the curb, forget developing the players you have, you don't need to develop them when you can just out talent the opponents with freshmen super stars.

That is what they are doing at duke now, you come in play 1 season and ya better be great in that one season else you will be either forced to the deep bench or strong armed in to transferring if they need your scholly. You may be lucky enough at some point in your 4yrs at duke to see a recruiting whiff, like Plum finally got a chance to play when Jeter was a buster. But don't bank on that because K has his sites on every single member of each years top 10 class and unless you entered the NBA after that frosh season or not one of Ks loved "hustle" guys your PT wil go to the next big time talented freshman and if you expected to be developed and given a real chance to play, you better get out of there and go some place that actually cares about helping you develop as a young man and a player.

It is all about K and his need to craft himself as the greatest coach of all time and there is NOTHING he will not do to make that happen. It isn't about those players, his coaches, it isn't about the school or the fans, it is all about K crafting his own legacy and no room for the truth or anything else that threatens that...

K is as dirty and mercenary in his own way as Nick Saban at bama in football. bama is notorious for over-recruiting and "processing" players out quickly who don't contribute. Where everyone else is working with 85 schollies they have a de facto 100 because of the sheer numbers they process out (ask Chizik how he feels about that crap). By now going the one-and-done route along with his own "processing" K is doing the same thing.

Saban and K are both capable coaches but I have zero respect for their short-cuts.

 

[Heelicious]

Amile Jefferson could have played near the end of the season and K convinced him to take the medical redshirt in his senior year. If Bolden signs Jefferson will not be a starter next year. You take a redshirt your senior year to come to be a player coming off the bench? AMAZING!

This is excellent, sound logic, and just ANOTHER example of the Rat screwing over a kid, who made a huge sacrifice for the Rat's ego and legacy, and will get ZERO in return. Maybe Rat can make a call to someone in the D league for Amile, after next year.

(spare me that what Rat does, he does for the Dook program - does anybody at this point really believe the Rat sees Dook basketball as larger than himself? Because that would be hilarious delusion)

 

[Hark_The_Sound_2010]

(spare me that what Rat does, he does for the Dook program - does anybody at this point really believe the Rat sees Dook basketball as larger than himself? Because that would be hilarious delusion)

I think that K is going to have quite the moral dilemma when it comes time for him to hang 'em up in a few years. On the one hand, he probably wants the program that he built from the ground up to go on and succeed in the future, so that everything he worked to build doesn't just slide in the abyss when he's gone. But on the other hand, you know that narcissistic personality he has, and he probably can't stand the thought of all the doochies cheering on some other coach. If the coach that replaces him wins a national title in the few years after replacing him, and maybe even gets 2 in his first 8-10 years in Durham - the discussions will start "Will Coach X surpass K? Who is the greatest coach to ever coach Duke?" And those are questions that would give K a heart attack.

 

[Heelicious]

I think that K is going to have quite the moral dilemma when it comes time for him to hang 'em up in a few years. On the one hand, he probably wants the program that he built from the ground up to go on and succeed in the future, so that everything he worked to build doesn't just slide in the abyss when he's gone. But on the other hand, you know that narcissistic personality he has, and he probably can't stand the thought of all the doochies cheering on some other coach. If the coach that replaces him wins a national title in the few years after replacing him, and maybe even gets 2 in his first 8-10 years in Durham - the discussions will start "Will Coach X surpass K? Who is the greatest coach to ever coach Duke?" And those are questions that would give K a heart attack.

Hark, you are right on about this.

And narcissist is thrown around a lot in our society, but I believe it truly does fit K perfectly (much like Obama but that is for a different board).

Think about how much Dean stressed giving the kids, the team, the program, the family credit for accomplishment. Reading Feinstein's Legends Club - he points out several times how Dean refused to accept the champ trophy in 93 - wanted his captain Lynch to accept it (sadly got overruled, but only spoke about 5 seconds before turning the mike over to players).

And what does Roy say more than anything else? "THESE KIDS took me (lower case) on a fantastic ride, I am a lucky guy to get to coach and lead THESE TYPES OF KIDS - I love every one of them".

I just think its rare to hear Rat lead out by putting the kids first. One way or another he lets you know its all about him, and is viciously hostile and defensive if you say anything he sees as a slight or a questioning of something he (Rat) has said or done to him.

Hence the whole chastising and lying about the Oregon kid who showed HIM (Rat) up.

 

[Archer2]

I think that K is going to have quite the moral dilemma when it comes time for him to hang 'em up in a few years. On the one hand, he probably wants the program that he built from the ground up to go on and succeed in the future, so that everything he worked to build doesn't just slide in the abyss when he's gone. But on the other hand, you know that narcissistic personality he has, and he probably can't stand the thought of all the doochies cheering on some other coach. If the coach that replaces him wins a national title in the few years after replacing him, and maybe even gets 2 in his first 8-10 years in Durham - the discussions will start "Will Coach X surpass K? Who is the greatest coach to ever coach Duke?" And those are questions that would give K a heart attack.

I agree with all but your second sentence. dook had already won a thousand games before the LOM arrived and played in the title two or three years before. IIRC, only 4-5 programs had won 1,000 games when he replaced Bill Foster. It's a sports myth that he built that program from scratch. Granted, he did elevate it to the point where they're consistently contenders.

 

[HeelFan58]

Could Bolden be Jeter Part 2?

 

[mikeirbyusa]

Could Bolden be Jeter Part 2?

Or does Jefferson need to go on overseas and get paid?

 

[aah555]

Horsesh**

Lol.

1999: Jay Williams (5*), Boozer (5*), Casey Sanders (5*), Dunleavy (5*)
2000: Duhon (5*)
2001: Ewing (5*)
2002: Redick (5*), Sheldon Williams (5*), Randolph (RSCI 5*), Dockery (high 4*)
2003: Luol Deng (5* - #2 overall) -- Top ranked recruit who was going to college (i.e., not named Lebron), and Kris Humphries (5*) signed with Duke before asking to be released in June b/c he wanted to start so that he could be one-and-done.
2004: Shaun Livingston (5*), Demarcus Nelson (RSCI 5*)
2005: Josh Mcroberts (5*, #1 overall in RSCI), Paulus (5*), 3 other 4* players

But, I forgot, K wasn't getting any highly-rated players before Team USA. lol. The difference between now and then is that back-then many of our good 5* recruits stayed awhile, whereas now we have to constantly be replacing them. Or, in other words, we have to bring in big classes like we had in 1999, 2002, and 2005 every year to protect against NBA defections. Now, certainly there were some misses with that 2005 class -- but that was not from an inability to attract recruits. McRoberts & Paulus were about as highly-rated as they got.

 

[gary-7]

Lol.

1999: Jay Williams (5*), Boozer (5*), Casey Sanders (5*), Dunleavy (5*)
2000: Duhon (5*)
2001: Ewing (5*)
2002: Redick (5*), Sheldon Williams (5*), Randolph (high 4*/5*), Dockery (high 4*)
2003: Luol Deng (5* - #2 overall) -- Top ranked recruit who was going to college (i.e., not named Lebron), and would have included Kris Humphries (5*) -- but the two sides parted ways in June after he finally came to realize that he wouldn't be starting.
2004: Shaun Livingston (5*), Demarcus Nelson (high 4*)
2005: Josh Mcroberts (5*, #2 overall) - Top ranked recruit who was going to college, Paulus (5*), 3 other 4* players

But, I forgot, K wasn't getting any highly-rated players before Team USA. lol.

Dumb response. No one said that. Still, the fact is his status was dropping, and especially in wake of the over-valuing of some of those later guys, before USA Basketball. Give your lame propaganda a rest or take it back to the DI cesspool.
Seriously, WTF is wrong with you anyway?... other than being a dookie, that is. Just another one of the Rat's flying monkeys or whatever mutant minions he has?

SMDH and laughing derisively.

 

[BOOGIEMAN1914]

They needed to open up a scholly for Bolden and bingo, Thornton decides to transfer. But I'm sure that's just coincidental. The LOM is selling dook as OADU, just like Cal at UK.

Of course, dook fans maligned UK for it 5-6 years ago, now they love it since Krazywhiskey has sold his soul to the devil and abandoned the student athlete concept entirely.

Much like UK fans whose opinion of Cal did a 180 after he became their coach. Hypocrite much?

A 5* pg and your only true pg is shown the door, yet you have 3 3* kids in vrank..white...and obi remaining...kid got 26mpg and all the opportunity in the world... amile getting hurt hurt his pick and roll opportunities but Grayson and Ingram gave more reliable offense

 

[BOOGIEMAN1914]

Look Tru, you're one of the few dook posters I respect. If you're happy with K's program, fine. I'm just glad he's coaching at dook and not UNC.

Roy does recruit OAD's but they're never going to dominate his program like they do at dook and UK. That's just not his M.O. And I'm so happy it's not. It's the main reason why UNC rarely lands OAD's.

I wouldn't trade one Marcus Paige or Brice Johnson for a dozen Brandon Ingrams.

We do have seniors as well, the main point is that as freshman, leaving for the NBA weren't options for brice paige....and you all recruit the same OAD kid's as everyone...they just aren't picking unc right now which makes it easy to say what some of you are saying about OAD...now if Roy didn't even attempt to recruit them, didn't host them on visits, and didn't spend and $ in travel to see them, then I would agree with you, but his trying for the OAD kids...some are cutting their recruitmentsite short and some are taking it down to their final few choices

 

[gary-7]

We do have seniors as well, the main point is that as freshman, leaving for the NBA weren't options for brice paige....and you all recruit the same OAD kid's as everyone...they just aren't picking unc right now which makes it easy to say what some of you are saying about OAD...now if Roy didn't even attempt to recruit them, didn't host them on visits, and didn't spend and $ in travel to see them, then I would agree with you, but his trying for the OAD kids...some are cutting their recruitmentsite short and some are taking it down to their final few choices

 

[gteeitup]

K is as dirty and mercenary in his own way as Nick Saban at bama in football. bama is notorious for over-recruiting and "processing" players out quickly who don't contribute. Where everyone else is working with 85 schollies they have a de facto 100 because of the sheer numbers they process out (ask Chizik how he feels about that crap). By now going the one-and-done route along with his own "processing" K is doing the same thing.

Saban and K are both capable coaches but I have zero respect for their short-cuts.

lol at this garbage...i don't like k either, but you are really reaching with this.

 

[Raising Heel]

Actually, it's not a bad comparison. You won't find many teams that have cast off more 4 and 5-star recruits than Alabama football and dook basketball.

Not sure what he means by the Chizik comment. Gene is on the record as definitely in favor of allowing oversigning.

 

[Archer2]

We do have seniors as well, the main point is that as freshman, leaving for the NBA weren't options for brice paige....and you all recruit the same OAD kid's as everyone...they just aren't picking unc right now which makes it easy to say what some of you are saying about OAD...now if Roy didn't even attempt to recruit them, didn't host them on visits, and didn't spend and $ in travel to see them, then I would agree with you, but his trying for the OAD kids...some are cutting their recruitmentsite short and some are taking it down to their final few choices

As I said Boogie, we do recruit some of these OAD's. But Roy isn't going to build his team around them like the LOM and Cal are willing to do. He won't let them take over a team and basically hold a year long audition for the NBA. It's why we don't sign many kids who come in touted as OAD's. Kid's know PT is earned at UNC, not promised or granted based on high school accolades.

If you're happy with the LOM's OAD approach, fine. You're welcome to it.

 

[gteeitup]

Actually, it's not a bad comparison. You won't find many teams that have cast off more 4 and 5-star recruits than Alabama football and dook basketball.

Not sure what he means by the Chizik comment. Gene is on the record as definitely in favor of allowing oversigning.

it's an uninformed comparison at best.

 

[aah555]

As I said Boogie, we do recruit some of these OAD's. But Roy isn't going to build his team around them like the LOM and Cal are willing to do. He won't let them take over a team and basically hold a year long audition for the NBA. It's why we don't sign many kids who come in touted as OAD's. Kid's know PT is earned at UNC, not promised or granted based on high school accolades.

If you're happy with the LOM's OAD approach, fine. You're welcome to it.

I think we'd all love to return to the world where guys stayed. K included. But, I do think it's worth noting that every single one of Duke's OADs in the past 5 years received a scholarship offer from UNC. Literally every one. Austin Rivers, Jabari Parker, Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones, Justise Winslow, and Brandon Ingram -- and, moving forward, likely Jayson Tatum & Harry Giles. Not sure why Roy would be offering these guys if he didn't want them.

 

[gary-7]

lol at this garbage...i don't like k either, but you are really reaching with this.

No reach whatsoever. What I posted was spot on, not that you would know one way or another. The real question is have you ever posted anything on here that's even worth a damned keystroke? That would be a clear no... a fact further illustrated by the "quality" of the posters who like your garbage, Your act got old a long time ago, but now it's just getting repetitive.

 

[gary-7]

Actually, it's not a bad comparison. You won't find many teams that have cast off more 4 and 5-star recruits than Alabama football and dook basketball.

Not sure what he means by the Chizik comment. Gene is on the record as definitely in favor of allowing oversigning.

Chiz actually began offering 4-year scholarships at Auburn, much to Saban;s chagrin. There's a difference between wanting to be able to replenish enough to stay at 85 in football in the face of normal attrition on one hand and using over-signing to have the luxury to "process" players out and just over-sign again on the other.

 

[Archer2]

I think we'd all love to return to the world where guys stayed. K included. But, I do think it's worth noting that every single one of Duke's OADs in the past 5 years received a scholarship offer from UNC. Literally every one. Austin Rivers, Jabari Parker, Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones, Justise Winslow, and Brandon Ingram -- and, moving forward, likely Jayson Tatum & Harry Giles. Not sure why Roy would be offering these guys if he didn't want them.

Of course he would like to have some of them, therefore the offers. But he's not going to make them the focal point of his teams like K and Cal routinely do. Why do you think OAD's rarely sign with UNC? He runs a more complicated offense than dook or UK and it requires more experience to be executed effectively. Ergo, all other things being equal, he defers to upperclassmen. Guys whose main goal is to get to the league ASAP know this, as do their parents and handlers. Roy also doesn't tell recruits that they will start, a tactic I firmly believe both Cal and the LOM employ with elite OAD recruits. What more effective way to keep the OAD pipeline of top 10 players flowing?

How many OAD's have we had at UNC, a couple? There's a reason for that and it goes beyond the investigation. I do believe that the interminable investigation has hampered our recruiting of players ranked 11-30, very good players who are considered to be at least 2-3 year college players. We're signing more guys in the 30-60 range than we used to, the incoming class being a prime example. None are ranked in the top 30 nationally. That used to be almost unheard of at UNC.

When/if UNC has multiple OAD's on one team, come back and talk to us. I don't expect the resolution of the NCAA investigation to have much, if any, effect on our ability to sign OAD's.

I don't know how to say this any plainer. If dook fans are happy having a revolving door of OAD's coming and going every year, fine. But you guys sure are spending a lot of time trying to justify it. As Bill would say, methinks he doth protest too loudly.

 

[Sk1310]

lol at this garbage...i don't like k either, but you are really reaching with this.

ahh. The great insight.

 

[DSouthr]

ahh. The great insight.

Yeah, I agree, it is amazing how often some offer nothing more than a negative comment on what someone else says and yet they offer no counter point to consider.

 

[mikeirbyusa]

I think we'd all love to return to the world where guys stayed. K included. But, I do think it's worth noting that every single one of Duke's OADs in the past 5 years received a scholarship offer from UNC. Literally every one. Austin Rivers, Jabari Parker, Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones, Justise Winslow, and Brandon Ingram -- and, moving forward, likely Jayson Tatum & Harry Giles. Not sure why Roy would be offering these guys if he didn't want them.

NOBODY said Roy does not offer or recruit one-dones. What we are telling you is he is NOT going to build his team with them NOR promise them starting positions. Unlike some will, even to the point of moving proven starters out of their position.

You like that revolving door every year? GREAT! I can see it now ..........................

THE GREATEST DAY IN DUKE BASKETBALL HISTORY 7 GUYS IN THE GREEN ROOM!

Go for it.

 

[Sk1310]

Yeah, I agree, it is amazing how often some offer nothing more than a negative comment on what someone else says and yet they offer no counter point to consider.

He seems to be looking for Gary's posts. I admit, I don't follow college football as some do, so I am going to take Gary's word if he says Nick Saban is Coack K in the college football ranks.

 

[tarheel0910]

That would be a clear no... a fact further illustrated by the "quality" of the posters who like your garbage,

I'm in a little bit of a conundrum here. I've liked some of his posts, but I have liked some of yours as well. So does my poster "quality" even out? If not, would retracting my likes from his post automatically increase my quality or am I doomed forever? Just want to make sure I understand the rules.

 

[JuleZ '02 HEEL]

I'm in a little bit of a conundrum here. I've liked some of his posts, but I have liked some of yours as well. So does my poster "quality" even out? If not, would retracting my likes from his post automatically increase my quality or am I doomed forever? Just want to make sure I understand the rules.

Well, you still have almost as many likes as posts, so you're a bit suspect to begin with.

 

[gteeitup]

ahh. The great insight.

where is yours?

He seems to be looking for Gary's posts. I admit, I don't follow college football as some do, so I am going to take Gary's word if he says Nick Saban is Coack K in the college football ranks.

oh, there it is...stay in your lane, or in your sandbox.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

I think that K is going to have quite the moral dilemma when it comes time for him to hang 'em up in a few years. On the one hand, he probably wants the program that he built from the ground up to go on and succeed in the future, so that everything he worked to build doesn't just slide in the abyss when he's gone. But on the other hand, you know that narcissistic personality he has, and he probably can't stand the thought of all the doochies cheering on some other coach. If the coach that replaces him wins a national title in the few years after replacing him, and maybe even gets 2 in his first 8-10 years in Durham - the discussions will start "Will Coach X surpass K? Who is the greatest coach to ever coach Duke?" And those are questions that would give K a heart attack.

This is why I don't expect K to leave before hitting 1100 wins and 1000 at Duke plus winning another championship.

He can't catch Wooden on championships but he can secure second place on that list and put a whole lot of other records out of reach. So you know he wants to do that.

To be fair, most people in his position would probably want to do that. Not a lot of Dean Smiths around who are willing to hand a championship-caliber team over to their assistant.

 

[gteeitup]

No reach whatsoever. What I posted was spot on, not that you would know one way or another. The real question is have you ever posted anything on here that's even worth a damned keystroke? That would be a clear no... a fact further illustrated by the "quality" of the posters who like your garbage, Your act got old a long time ago, but now it's just getting repetitive.

what you posted is your opinion...and that's fair, it's just not fact...the very idea that you accept k and saban as "capable" coaches shows how ignorant your poast really is...you keep your audience entertained though, so you've got that going for ya.

 

[BOOGIEMAN1914]

As I said Boogie, we do recruit some of these OAD's. But Roy isn't going to build his team around them like the LOM and Cal are willing to do. He won't let them take over a team and basically hold a year long audition for the NBA. It's why we don't sign many kids who come in touted as OAD's. Kid's know PT is earned at UNC, not promised or granted based on high school accolades.

If you're happy with the LOM's OAD approach, fine. You're welcome to it.

K doesnt build his team around OAD...the best talent will be showcased.....1 surefire per year w/ last season seeing jones and winslow play into the first round....this year ingram, jabari, and rivers and kyrie before......1 OAD per squad....this recruiting class will offer 2 in giles and tatum (#1 and #2 player in most ratings)....it could be said that BI was grayson's wingman.......again its easy to tout this OAD stance when they arent choosing unc even though unc is spending $$$ in recruiting them....if a recruiting cycle goes by and unc doesnt offer not one single potential OAD kid, then i would buy that stance and if we got to point of on draft night having 4, 5, 6 kids like UK has done, I'd be somewhat concerned, but on average 1 OAD surrounded by other guys isnt a bad formula...just think the tune would be much different if unc were landing these guys

 

[aah555]

NOBODY said Roy does not offer or recruit one-dones. What we are telling you is he is NOT going to build his team with them NOR promise them starting positions. Unlike some will, even to the point of moving proven starters out of their position.

You like that revolving door every year? GREAT! I can see it now ..........................

THE GREATEST DAY IN DUKE BASKETBALL HISTORY 7 GUYS IN THE GREEN ROOM!

Go for it.

No, I certainly don't like the revolving door. I'm not sure any college basketball fan (aside from UK fans) likes the current system at all. Without getting into all the stuff about Grayson, one thing I do appreciate about Grayson is that he's actually made a long-term investment in the program and the school -- which is obviously hard to do. With that said, if you look at Duke since Kyrie, we've literally only had 1 season to date where we've had more than 1 OAD. The 2014-15 season. And that was an unusual year where all the freshman performed / overperformed expectations, and guys who were not necessarily obvious OADs became high picks (Tyus, Winslow). In other words, I think it's hard to argue that most of Duke's teams have been built around OADs. In most years, there's a team of players of many experience levels that are supplemented by usually 1 elite freshman talent. Next year there will be 2 obvious OADs -- but even next year, it's not as if it's all freshman. A big reason Duke will be ranked #1 pre-season is that it returns a Jr. All-ACC, All-American type player Grayson Allen who will likely lead the team in scoring, two critically important role guys in Matt Jones & Jefferson are both seniors, and good depth with Kennard and Jeter.

With regard to promising starting positions, that's just not right. Look at Derryck Thornton and Chase Jeter -- both top 15 kids whose NBA prospects entering last season were pretty comparable to those of Tyus & Winslow heading into the 14-15 season. Yet, notice how differently the two were handled. In the case of Tyus, K moved over an all-conference level player (QCook) to the SG position to find room for him and moved Sulaimon to the bench to make room for Winslow. By contrast, last year, K often brought Thornton off the bench in favor of playing Matt Jones and a lower-rated Kennard; and Jeter struggled to find the court even after Amile got hurt -- and there was never a moment where K even experimented with replacing Amile/Marshall with Jeter. If K were in the habit of giving out spots to highly-rated 5* kids simply b/c they were highly rated 5* kids, Thornton wouldn't be transferring right now and Jeter would have been playing a ton of minutes. Say what you want about K, but the guy plays the guys he thinks can help the team win. That's the bottom line. Of the OADs who started, there really is not a single one who clearly didn't deserve to start. That includes Kyrie, Austin Rivers, Parker, Okafor, Tyus, Winslow, or Ingram. I mean -- to any Duke fan -- it didn't take long to see that those guys were a lot better than the returning guys we had on the team. And, I'd add the one year that Duke heavily emphasized 3 freshman (in a year where we actually had a decent amount of depth of older players), they won a NC and IMO clearly field the best team that Duke's had in about a decade. There's a reason why K did not did not do the same with last years' group -- even though on paper it was about as highly rated. If Giles & Tatum start next year, it's not b/c they were promised starting spots. It's going to be because they're great players who make Duke better.

 

[BOOGIEMAN1914]

Amile Jefferson could have played near the end of the season and K convinced him to take the medical redshirt in his senior year. If Bolden signs Jefferson will not be a starter next year. You take a redshirt your senior year to come to be a player coming off the bench? AMAZING!

you cant be medically CLEARED to play, but decide not to play AND get a medical RS

 

[aah555]

you cant be medically CLEARED to play, but decide not to play AND get a medical RS

Not to mention that I'm pretty sure everyone in the Duke program (coaches, players, fans) desperately wanted Amile to play if he could have gotten healthy in time to be effective. In a year like last year where there was a real dearth of excellent teams, the depth, rebounding and defense he offered could have really made a huge impact. Amile will certainly help us next year. But he also creates a bit of a logjam at the 4/5 position b/c of Giles, Jeter, Delaurier, and potentially Bolden. Likely could mean that Jeter barely plays next season. The marginal value of Amile to last year's squad was just significantly greater than his marginal value to next year's squad -- which, if Bolden commits (which would have been likelier if he were not around), probably could have functioned fine without him.

As UNC fans all saw in the Duke-UNC game in Cameron where I think UNC outrebounded Duke by 30+ (in a game decided by 4 pts), Amile's absence left a pretty sizeable void. Reality is that he didn't come back last season b/c he wasn't healthy and it wasn't in his best interest -- not b/c of some perverse strategy by coach K to harm Amile's career. If there was ever a year where Duke could have benefited from a player rushing back before he was ready, it was last year with Amile. We just had no replacement for him once he got hurt.

 

[gary-7]

what you posted is your opinion...and that's fair, it's just not fact...the very idea that you accept k and saban as "capable" coaches shows how ignorant your poast really is...you keep your audience entertained though, so you've got that going for ya.

Banishing trolls might be more helpful than editing my response to one.

 

[Archer2]

what you posted is your opinion...and that's fair, it's just not fact...the very idea that you accept k and saban as "capable" coaches shows how ignorant your poast really is...you keep your audience entertained though, so you've got that going for ya.

Gary can be a bit cantankerous when directly challenged g, but so can you. The avatars you both chose are apropos. He expressed his opinion about Saban, one I've heard expressed by others on more than one occasion. Like the LOM, he's considered by many talking heads to be a great coach but a ruthless martinet. But remember, your blanket dismissal of his opinion as false is merely your own opinion, one which you state with every bit as much conviction as he states his.

IMO should be inherently implied with anything posted other than statistical data.