Well, don't forget the Orange County, NC refugees for the Bruins; yeah, Drew, there's a guy who's been great for team chemistry. Where?...errr, Wear, two.
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Of course Duke had scoring droughts. You know who else had scoring droughts? Every other team in college basketball. That includes teams such as Kentucky or UNC. (Do you remember the end of the first Carolina game when their offense was so impotent they didn't get a shot off in the last 3+ minutes?) Maybe you didn't watch any of the games that featured any-of-the-other-teams-in-Division-I. Maybe you didn't watch what happened during our games when the other team had the ball. Which seems likely enough, since you think offense is what held Duke back last season. If you had, you would see that all teams go dry for long spells. Random chance basically guarantees it.
In any event, to say that Duke used isolation ball a lot or assisted on a low percentage of baskets says nothing about the potency of the offense. Sure, it describes the offense, it explains how we went about trying to score, but it offers no insight into whether we were actually good at scoring. And the truth is that Duke was very good at putting up points last season. I don't see how this is even an argument. Even with the weak offensive production we got in the ACC tournament and NCAAs with Kelly out, our offense was the 11th most efficient in nation last year. At times it was #1.
Duke stumbled at the end of the season. I don't think anybody denies that. The loss of Kelly surely played a role there. The collapse of Dawkins's confidence surely played a role. Playing two elite defenses in UNC and FSU surely played a role. Lady Fortune very likely played a role. It's unfortunate that we hit a lull at the worst possible time, but we did. It doesn't change the fact that our offense was the team's strength for the lion's share of the season.
As for the loss of Rivers, let's have some perspective. After 2011, Duke lost the #1 pick, the #21 pick, and a second round pick to the NBA. We came back this past season and put together an elite offense. Rivers is expected to go mid-first round. Given that much lesser loss, I see nothing to prevent K assembling a similarly excellent offense--albeit one that functions differently--with next year's plethora of talent.
Mason's already won a National Championship. He spent the second half of this past season playing second fiddle to Austin. He came back so he could turn himself into a lottery pick, and with an elite scorer on the team that would have made it harder IMO.
I'm not in any way questioning his commitment to the team. I just think it will help him in his own development to not have Shabazz on the team.
Bazz would have been nice, but I'm really not all that broken up in the fact he decided to play for the Bruins.
I prefer watching our own kids grow and be part of something long term. Kids like Mike, Alex, and Marshall will get their feet wet this year and in another year or two will be stars.
I think this is a case where the numbers don't seem to match up with the eye test. Our offense just didn't look fluid for most of the year. Our high-scoring games were ones in which we hit a lot of threes against bad teams; but we were terribly inconsistent, we shuffled our starting lineup around constantly because we couldn't figure out who our best players were or what everyone's roles should be, and we suffered losses or narrow wins against mediocre teams. We relied on a player (Austin) going on-on-one far more than we typically would, and we didn't have any inside-outside balance. I do agree that our defense was the bigger problem than our offense for most of the year, but that sort of turned around in the last month which is what most of us remember.
Regardless, I'm looking forward to next year. We'll have a ton of experience, combined with some new and talented pieces.
Yeah, I think we will see a concerted effort to feed the ball down low. I expect we'll run the offense through Kelly again but perhaps a lot of inverted passes from Kelly to Mason down low and hopefully Cook and Mason will click this summer. I expect a big year from Mason even with Bazz but especially now without. Guy almost averaged a double double and didn't miss a shot from the field in our last game. Everyone on here seemed to limit him to 15/10 but I see no reason why he doesn't get to 17/12. He has less competition with rebounds than T. Rob did and will be more of a focal point. We lose 10.5 rebounds between AR and Miles (7.1 from Miles) and 22 points from both of them. I'm not sure how much more time he will get or can handle as he was already at 28.4 perhaps push that to 30 (perhaps 32 although we haven't had a big get that time since McBob and Shelden) and he has gotten rid of stupid fouls so that shouldn't be a concern either.
All that said, the more I thought about him coming back, and Duke really did win the last few days. A 4th year guy in a system is invaluable and I know I'm missing a few guys but I can't think of few if any C's I'd rather have than Mason. Reggie Johnson obviously killed us, Withey seems like a guy ready to become a dominant defender but his offense is questionable, Cody Zeller is a stud, and then you have the incoming guys who I think will have a learning curve for the most part. So that puts us with probably a top 5 center in college basketball who has been in the system for 4 years and will be fully developed physically.
Like Harrison Barnes good or Anthony Davis good. The best freshman are usually athletic freaks. Shabazz may be that- Anderson is not. He will be a good player at some point- but he has work to do- and somethings he will not be able to overcome. That said- UCLA will be much improved and certainly top 10- but that is far away from winning it all. Duke won a championship two years ago by starting 3 seniors- there are a lots of ways to win it all.
Well like they say....on to the next one.
Would you rather go to college in your hometown or a few hours from your hometown? UNLV might be on the rise, but UCLA has been to the top of the mountain more often and more recently, and Howland came close twice in the last 10 years. Maybe it's possible that the SI article and Howland's recent issues are more driven by Nelson than Howland. I don't remember any accusations of recruiting violations or NCAA issues, just a lot of drinking and drug use and a lack of discipline associated with that class and the one(s) below it, as described by the players who were involved. Yes, they have had a few down years, but aside from Duke, which blue blood programs haven't? Look where UNC was about 10 years ago and turned it around with 1-2 good classes. Maybe the Adidas thing is possible, but it's a pretty serious accusation, should probably be made with more than hearsay or conjecture to support it, especially when there are plenty of good reasons to chose UCLA.
Bro don't be so spoiled, we have signed the No.1 recruit the prior two years!! Also as i'm sure you know we are the considered favorites early on for next years #1 (Jabari Parker), don't let bazz get your hopes down, i look for big things out of Murph or Silent G this year!
I also am comparing Murphey to my all time favorite Super Singler, as they have seemingly the same build and height with both being 6'8 respectively. If he can do anywere near what singler did his junior or senior year (years he played the 3) then WATCHOUT!!
As for Dawkins... :(
Wait, something was misinterpreted? At this site? Really?
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Hope THAT is not misinterpreted!
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Ah, those were the days. Still wish Duke would have sold those shirts. They were darn nice.
I'm ok with misinterpreting posts because it's hard to get the full "story" while reading a computer screen. It's just nice when people ask questions about the post instead of attacking someone personally.
As for the shirts, I have a similar one...I'll just leave it at that. :cool:
And as for Bazz, I know we weren't surprised he went to UCLA, but I think he would have looked great in an "Order has been maintained" shirt.
Best of luck to him, as long as it's not against us. He really does seem like a decent kid...if only those "kids" could make their own decisions (if this in fact was the case).
So did anyone tell Shabazz that he has to play with LD3 next year?
I don't know that he's going to like that too much..
I would much, much rather have Mason than Reggie Johnson. It's not even close. Even though Johnson killed us he had other games where he was virtually invisible. Haven't seen Withey that much, he looks pretty solid but we'll have to see how good he is without Robinson alongside him. Is Andre Drummond coming back? I can't imagine he would with the postseason ban, but he would be a top center. I'm probably forgetting some guys too but I agree, with Mason we could have one of the top five or so big men next year. When was the last time Duke could say that?
Wishful thinking is pathologic. We will have a pretty good team next year but we must face the facts. If Murphy were a game changer you can bet he would not have been redshirted this year. Everybody is dreaming of a new Quinn Cook...mainly because they can't imagine our future with T.T. at the point. I have been hoping for a Plumlee miracle for four years and am still waiting. There is no way to sugarcoat it. If Parker and Jefferson both go elsewhere, we will obviously be in a major recruiting slump.. . It would serve us all well to devote less time on the board discussing recruits like Shabazz only to be let down. Truth is that the heels are chuckling tonight
(I have talked to several) and McAdoo is probably chomping at the bit. Having said all this, UNC survived a drought (NIT) and so can we! I'm hopeful but not delusional. With a first round loss to Lehigh and only one recruit for next year I must quote from former Panthers coach John Fox...."It is what it is."
Yep- time for you to find another team to root for. UCLA has a bunch of ex-Carolina players and the top high school player in the Country. You can probably start there. By the way- if McAdoo was a game changer- why could he not beat out John Henson for a starting role.