How will Howland adjust his slow it down approach with Bazz? Even with Russ Westbrook I don't remember UCLA being an up tempo team. Is Anderson a push it up the floor PG?
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How will Howland adjust his slow it down approach with Bazz? Even with Russ Westbrook I don't remember UCLA being an up tempo team. Is Anderson a push it up the floor PG?
Adidas. That's not what he actually said, of course, but just about everyone else in the know figures this is what went down.
Really talented and well-spoken kid, and I'll be watching him with great interest at UCLA and in the pros. Another year for Duke with no elite wing player, but with Mason back the team will be interesting. Glad this thread can finally be shut down.
I wonder if the potential talent of this incoming class to UCLA is what kept Holland from being fired this year. Maybe the folks at UCLA had a strong inkling that Bazz and possibly Parker now was coming to UCLA and wanted to give Holland a chance to make a run with this incoming class. If Holland was fired, Bazz and others may have decided to go elsewhere.
I wasn't trying to be down on us, but we didn't have a scoring punch this year. Rasheed is awesome, but I wish we had an insane athlete that drove to the rim with no fear like Bazz, Kyrie or Wall to add to his shooting and defense (he is going to be our best defender on the team by far in man to man situations and a great shooter; the attacking on offense with no hesitation stuff takes time to develop for all but the rarest of players). I think in the end, he will be able to do it like Nolan did, though. It will just take a little while to start making defenders look like they don't even matter. I hope Gbinije can get into the swing of playing with confidence and Alex plays a combo foreward role.
No hate. I highly respect his choice because of the challenge. I wouldn't say this if he picked UK. I've never been a UCLA fan, but I respect their BB history.
Even though I respect UCLA's history, my left coast team is, and will always be, Stanford (which was my Duke backup school). ;) GO CARDINAL!!!
He would have done well at Duke. UCLA is going to be the top of the Pac-12, but to be perfectly honest, I think we would end up beating them if we ended up playing them. I think the Adidas thing was too much of a thing here unfortunately. Without that, I think we land him, but it was there, and we didn't. I didn't think this year was a "must have" recruiting year like last year, but next year is really going to be that. We just lose so much with so many unproven underclassmen after this coming season, and even if the kids we may get coming in next year aren't proven, a 1 kid recruiting class, despite how good I think Sulaimon is going to be, hurts. Our front court cannot be Marshall, Josh, and maybe Murphy going into the 2013 season. We have to get some quality bigs, not only to change the perception, but to keep us competitive in the national, elite level once once the season starts, because even with Matt Jones, and whatever wing recruits we get are great, the lack of depth, size and skill up front is not only weak perception-wise, but also just not particularly good. I would be extremely surprised if Marshall has the type of career Miles had, let alone Mason.
Always frustrating to have these long, drawn out recruiting processes end with them going someplace else. Oh well, at least he's not going to UK!
Agreed. As has been discussed at length on other threads, Quinn Cook can be pivotal. If he can improve his defense enough to stay on the court longer, his offensive contributions should be a big lift--especially if he can effectively pass in to Mason, since presumably getting him the ball more is part of the new plan for Mason's role. What Alex and Mike can bring to the wing spot will also be big. And Marshall's ability provide some quality front court minutes, especially in case of foul trouble, is another important factor.
I am cautiously optimistic.
Does anyone else get the feeling that these top recruits list Duke as a school they're interested in just because it sounds good and makes them look more legit, even though they don't really plan on coming here? It's kind of like having the complete works of Williams Shakespeare on your bookshelf. You've never actually read them, nor do you plan to, but you like the reaction you get when people come to your house and see it.
Also, what a crazy coincidence that UCLA's two other recruits just happen to also be in the ESPN studio...
I'm not sure I understand why people keep assuming it was the Adidas thing that beat us. I think UCLA is a great option for a guy who's from Las Vegas (proximity), not to mention: Los Angeles vs Durham for one year (I personally love Durham but I know most 18 year olds may prefer LA), a couple really good fellow recruits coming in, and the challenge of turning a historic program around. We all know Coach K is the greatest coach in the world, but truthfully, he doesn't need the greatest coach in the world to be a top 5 pick next year.
All things being equal and without my Pantone 287-colored glasses on, I certainly understand why he made the decision he did.
Well, so much for optimism and logic. If he wants to go help rebuild a suffering program, so be it. But after what I read in SI about Howland, I don't know why you make that choice over Coach K - other than Adidas. He does seem like a good kid and I wish him luck. Kind of disappointing that very few people are going to see most of his games.
No reason to be surprised by his decision. I predicted UCLA all along. I thought that proximity to his family in LV would be a prominent factor. Recruiting is a year to year thing. If we can pull in Parker or Jefferson (I think we have a good shot at both) then we'll have a bridge until we can really reload. I'm already thinking of Jabari Parker and Okafor, at least one of whom is likely to establish residency in Cameron.
If Alex Murphy hadn't reclassified to 2011, he'd probably be a top 15 player in this class, and people wouldn't be talking about how we aren't getting elite wing players ... That said, it's starting to look like Duke and Coach K are no longer able to have the pick of the litter when it comes to recruits.
People are ranking duke in the teens for next year, but for once, I think we are actually being underrated. I think a final four next year is definitely possible. It's a pretty deep team with size and shooting, and also some guys who have played for 3-4 years together, some of whom are national champions. I think it all depends on just how good Murphy is, and how well Quinn cook and gbinijie improve this offseason.
I believe Murphy's absolute ceiling next year is freshman Kyle singler
I think we basically know what we are going to get from everyone else, except Dawkins, who we can just bench at this point if his shot isn't falling.
He could have tried to rebuild our program just as easily. We lost to Lehigh in the first round this year. Getting us back into the title talk would be just as big IMO. It would have put him on ESPN every game and showed that he can do more than Austin Rivers (first round pick). I would have thought it would be a competition to be better than someone who was very good before you.