UNC has it rollin for sure. Roy is tough to beat when he wants a recruit and he wants HB. That would be quite the lineup that UNC would have with HB in it.
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UNC has it rollin for sure. Roy is tough to beat when he wants a recruit and he wants HB. That would be quite the lineup that UNC would have with HB in it.
Good rant, Kedsy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kedsy
For those of us in NC, there is the additional prospect of some major woofing by the light blue faithful. :(
Was it the alumni game at UNC or the fact that Roy Williams has won two of the last five National Championships?
Any top 10 recruit should look very seriously at UNC because of three Final Fours and two National Championships. That's not to say that said recruits should drink the koolaid...
Super "Without 2 recent titles, who cares about the alumn/has-beens game?" Dave
With this, I totally agree. In reading so many posts on recruiting, it makes me gnash my teeth to bits how many opinions on recruiting are based on . . . nothing. As you've pointed out, I have fallen into that trap myself on occasion, as here. But you're so right -- the vast majority of us on this site have absolutely no idea as to what is really going on. We read little snippets here and there from other people and make a lot of assumptions, presumptions, exaggerations, and guesses, but we don't really know anything about what is really going on inside the head of this 18 year old young man.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kedsy
FWIW, the same goes for a lot of posters' expectations of how freshmen are going to play, how much they'll contribute, what their career arcs will look like, etc. The vast majority of us have never seen any of these kids play -- ever -- and yet think we know something about how the kid will play at the college level, which is a totally different ballgame than high school, in many, many respects. It's ridiculous.
Excellent point. Similarly, we don't really know the importance of a particular recruit until after they actually start playing. All of those people saying HB is the most important recruit for Duke in the past decade have no clue how the next few years will go with or without HB. This is obviously not to say that HB isn't an incredible talent and an obvious asset to any team that is lucky enough to have him, but so are many other players. Imagine our 2008 season without Singler. I'd say our team is better prepared to absorb missing out on HB than our 2008 team would have been if we failed to land Singler plus the loss of McRoberts to the NBA. HB is obviously important because he's the top player out there. But I think it's a little silly to over blow his significance.Quote:
Originally Posted by tommy
This need to be repeated. Odom's version of the story just does not make sense. I also don't understand how he can have such specific details about this story within 1-2 hours of it occurring, especially since Roy and Coach K are not going to be giving him details about their trip, and I somehow doubt that the Barnes family has a former Wake Forest coach on speed dial.Quote:
Originally Posted by roywhite
Agreed.Quote:
Originally Posted by roywhite
Dave Odom is a knowledgeable guy with respect to what happens in basketball recruiting, and the audio is probably more fact than fiction. He points out a couple of times that what they are saying is unsubstantiated.
What I find troubling is the time line. Not sure what kind of private jets we are talking but I would suspect it is between 2-3 hour flight from RDU to DesMoines, and then a drive to Ames. Or small regional airport in Ames, whatever.
So to go with the Barnes met with K, deliberated with family and HS Coach, called Roy, staff located Roy and arranged for private jet, and Roy's plane was in the air before K's landed, is hard to fathom. Must not have been a long deliberation.
That said, most of the audio is probably pretty close. The only scenario that makes sense is if UNC as result of Alumni game led before K's visit and Duke led after, and thus Barnes wanted to gather more information from Roy before making his OV to Duke.
If UNC led before and After, no need to fetch Roy. Ditto if Duke led before and after, as OV would likely be further swaying not backing off. So I tend to think it was pre-arranged to allow Roy one last shot, per an agreement he and parents probably made with Roy during the Alumni visit.
That being the case, Roy has his bags packed and was hoping to not get that call would be my guess.
I don't think either coach is out recruiting the other, just both going all in, and Barnes having a hard time deciding - final answer, Regis.
How well Roy did in the rebuttal, time will tell, but I suspect it won't be known until after the last OV, unless Barnes continues to post his diary for USA or whoever it was.
...most probably flies straight out of Horace Williams Airport to the local airport wherever Ol' Roy wants to go. I doubt that RDU is necessary.
Love, Ima
Come on, whichever way it goes. this is going to be a great chapter in the Duke/unc rivalry.
There are many possible scenarios which could lead to Roy flying up there, most of them would involve Roy asking for the opportunity. Harrison undoubtedly has enough respect for Roy and the program to grant the request.
While this may make the recruitment more interesting, it makes me less interested.
At least you still (or should I say only) have a few months of obsession left...Who are we kidding?...Who keeps their New Year's resolutions anyway?Quote:
Originally Posted by sandinmyshoes
from Tdd tweet:
TheDevilsDen Barnes will officially visit Duke in three weeks. As originally planned.
about 5 hours ago from web
If HB only wanted to clarify a few matters with Roy, why couldn't he have simply picked up the phone and called Roy? Why have him hunted down, wisked away on a plane, and get him out to Iowa just to ask a few questions?
Or seek clarification of a few issues?
Something just doesn't make sense here.
I really don't understand the panic in this thread. For everyone saying that this is a bad sign because the Barnes family allowed Roy to come in, what did you expect? He is considering UNC and has already gone on an official visit. Was he supposed to turn him down? If that was going to happen, he would have eliminated UNC from his list long ago.
Coach K did a very similar thing right after Barnes visited UNC. All this shows is that Barnes has a certain level of interest in both schools, which should be inherently clear from the fact that he has visited both schools.
As for Odom's unsubstantiated story about Barnes asking Roy to come, Roy not being found for a time, and then Roy getting on the private plane and getting to Ames in time to spend valuable minutes with Barnes before midnight, there are lots of hole to the story. I certainly believe that Roy visited Barnes last night, but there had to be more pre-meditation than Odom (or whoever is telling the story to Odom) is letting on.
I think a key to all this is if Barnes keeps his official visit to Kansas as originally planned. Their Midnight Madness is on the same night as UNC's. If Barnes is as torn between Duke and UNC as many believe, and if UNC is the leader at this point, I think he would cancel his visit to Kansas and go to UNC's Midnight Madness instead.
If Barnes keeps all of his visits intact and makes the official visit to Duke, which some outlets have already confirmed since last night, then I think visiting the campus, hanging out with the players again, getting shown some love by the students (in whatever way the students can without breaking rules), and perhaps just as importantly impressing his mom on Parent's Weekend, then hopefully Barnes winds up in Durham where he belongs.
Some respectable posters on IC say that Odum had it wrong and that the visit was planned in advance at the behest of the Barnes family. Frankly, I don't know what difference it makes--either scenario can be interpreted as a positive sign for either school. I am sure Barnes and his family have given staff at both programs reason for optimism (which is what fuels the smugness from "insiders"), for the simple reason that he would clearly do well at either school, so it's a win-win for him.Quote:
Originally Posted by JaMarcus Russell
But IMO, it's all tea leaves, bits of bone, and sheep intestines to us outsiders. You can see whatever you want in these stories, and anyone who acts like they know what Barnes is going to do is a charlatan. IMO, "silent verbals" have more in common with unicorns than recruiting, and aren't worth the paper they're written on.
It's no great news to note that Duke and UNC often recruit from the same pool, and occasionally compete for certain players. But I can't recall (and I go back to the late 1960's as a fan) a recruiting battle between the two as being this intense.
Perhaps the presence of Internet message boards, recruiting sites, and cable TV coverage of college basketball simply bring this to light, or is the Barnes saga one for the ages?
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thre...ikrandolph.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by roywhite
Duke wasn't stinging from such a series of tough breaks at that point, but the hype over Shav (and the stunts) were just as good/bad, IMO.
The Shav battle was huge, but it was a welterweight Doh going against a heavyweight K, compounded by the fact that K already had a center on board, IIRC, whereas we only had guards. This time around, it's two hall of fame heavyweights in their prime.Quote:
Originally Posted by DevilCastDownfromDurham
I'm stoked he will be able to see a game on his visit, plus experience the Duke crowd that will make up homecoming.