Can we please not use this thread to get into a discussion of Mason's and Austin's draft prospects (and reasons to stay or leave)?
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Can we please not use this thread to get into a discussion of Mason's and Austin's draft prospects (and reasons to stay or leave)?
I was flipping channels last night and stopped on ESPNU's Recruting Nation and low and behold they were talking to Tony Parker on the phone. Im sure it was taped so I dont know when it aired live but anyway during the interview the guy obviously asked about his recruitment. Tony said that his parents were getting tired of it and that its coming to an end. He went on to say you guys are going to be shocked buy my decision. Now to me, that dont sound good for Duke because I dont exactly know if picking Duke would be a shock. I think maybe picking the home school would be a shock. What do you guys think?
Adding Tony would be a great pick up but in my opinion I dont think he is coming to Duke!
I have never considered TP "In the bag" for Duke. He seems like a fine enough dude and if thats good for K, its good enough for me. From the things I glean (I'm not an insider and don't have any special connections) about his recruiting, Duke remaining on his list was but mere courtesy of some fashion. I thought he had dropped Duke long ago and I convinced myself to move on and not get hung up on it.
That interview or call (I didn't see it) seemingly has little bearing on my opinion about TP and Duke. Hope he comes to Duke, but at this point I would consider it truly shocking if he DID come to Duke..
Time will tell..
If I were Mason, I'd be less concerned with leapfrogging my way to the top 10 as avoiding a potential slide to the second round. It's happened to quite a few talented, productive Duke big men over the years-- and losing the guaranteed contract should give him serious pause.
After Harry Barnes I've stopped trying to decipher the cryptic nature of today's youth. I feel for these kids with the pressure of making the right choice for them but I honestly don't know if anyone but the kid can accurately know what is going on with their decision making process. I'd love to add a kid like Parker, need another big, but I had assumed Parker had cooled on Duke per a few other more in the know source on here. I figured the staff was making a full court press for Amile Jefferson who should be making a decision here soon.
According to his father, Tony will announce at the McDonald's game on March 28. Kansas sure sounds like they're in a good position.
http://www.zagsblog.com/2012/02/27/t...me/#more-68297
Being the last visit having an unbelievable comeback against Missouri does put Kansas in a good spot; however, there's still time for the momentum and emotions of the weekend to subside if tony does in fact wait until March 28 to announce. That's 4 weeks for TP to go back and forth in his decision; and as we've seen so far, Parker tends to change his mind on frequent basis.
This comment from Tony's Dad seems to confirm a lot of the sentiment on these boards. Whether this is predictive of what the final decision is or not remains to be seen.
“Tony would be like the Morris twins and like [Thomas] Robinson,” Virgil said. “They’ve done a good job with their bigs the last few years.”
Ugh, I hate the comparing game that all the schools play. Tony Parker is not Thomas Robinson. Do you think OSU tells their recruits they can be JUST LIKE Greg Oden? I'm guessing no. I get it though, you can't argue with results and frankly, we don't have the marketable big men comparables.
One thing that has struck me about the comments from Tony and his camp, including this one from his father, over the past several months. Tony, more than most bigs, seems to be believe that these programs will magically turn him into something. At Ohio State, they'd make him into the next Sullinger. At Kansas, they'd transform him into the next Morris twins and TRob. UConn would turn him into the next in a long line of good bigs. It just seems to me that his quotes are always about what these programs will turn him into.
Contrast this with what I distinctly remember Shabazz saying after Coach K's in-home visit: something to the effect that "there is no question in my mind that if I go to Duke, they will help me become as good a player as I want to be." With Shabazz, the impetus to getting better lies with himself, and the program would do everything possible to support him. With Tony, I never hear about his internal drive to get better. The quotes imply that the program is responsible for turning him into something. The personal accountability doesn't seem to be there.
I don't intend to be critical of Tony, but it's just a difference in the rhetoric that I've noticed. I know a lot of potential recruits buy into the "Duke doesn't develop their bigs as well as ______" line of thinking, but I don't notice the same lack of personal accountability in the rhetoric.
Incidentially we heard personal accountability from Austin during his recruitment too. He would talk about how he wanted to work on his defense, and Duke would be a great place to help him with that. Not that Duke would turn him into something.
Well said. A lot of recruits buy into this rhetoric now and it's a little discouarging because they're picking based on that rather than the whole package. I wonder if any coaches look at their big time players and think to themselves, "wow, this guy is really going to help me recruit the next few years!" Maybe Calipari :), but I'd hope that this is not a common line of thinking in college coaching.
And I'll eat my right toe! Ugh, I hate recruiting. The best recruits are going to be good no matter where they go. Different schools will develop them a little differently, but most will end up being really good players going to any of the top schools with great coaching. For those that only stay one year, it matters even less. Though I will say this: Austin has improved tremendously on both sides of the ball so far this season. I suspect much of the offensive improvement would have happened had he chose any of the other top schools, however, I have to wonder if any of those other schools would have developed him defensively as much as K and Staff had. Something to think about. Plus Austin and Doc have commented on how K has challenged Austin in numerous ways vs just letting him do whatever he wants. He has not been coddled. Have to wonder if other schools would have taken the same approach.
If Parker can be developed into a good low post scorer then K would certainly utilize that. He has done it with every other good big man he has had in the program at Duke. Parker would be no different. Mason has slumped a little in the last 4 games or so, but throughout the season the ball has gone into the post to Mason early and often. I doubt seriously we have seen the last of that.
Tony's dad thinking he could be turned into Thomas Robinson is an absolute joke. I think it's time Duke just tells him to forget it. I guess we'll know soon enough if Amile commits next week.
Well, I don't think this is fair to Tony Parker or his father. The dad said "Tony would be like the Morris twins and like [Thomas] Robinson." The "like" is important here; it suggests the coaching staff said they would try to use Tony in games as they used those players, or teach/train him in the same ways they worked with those players.
To be sure, it could be that Tony and/or his dad have pipe dreams that he could be, as gam7 talked about earlier, "turned into" one of those players, or "turned into" a great NBA prospect, rather than recognizing that all any coaching staff can do is give Tony the opportunity to become the best Tony Parker he can be and help him with that through coaching, training and experience. And I agree with gam7 that personal accountability is an important issue in recruitment--one that may result in Duke missing on some talented players (who probably wouldn't be a good fit with Duke for that very reason).
But I don't think this is enough evidence to draw that conclusion. And I think the Duke staff likely tries to screen out people with unrealistic expectations about what the program can do for them without their expending significant effort on their own. So I don't think it's fair for us to make negative assumptions about Tony Parker, or suggest that Duke should "tell[] him to forget it," based on these brief remarks by his dad. We should should give them, and the Duke coaches who recruited Tony, the benefit of the doubt here--even if he goes to Kansas.
I really disagree with this statement. There are plenty of examples of highly rated, highly talented players who end up as busts. Maybe they were never that good to begin with, but on the other hand maybe they didn't get the right coaching, or the right support system, or the right motivation, or weren't used in the right way. Yes, their physical gifts are genetic and not under anyone's control, but to suggest that they just roll out of bed and become superstars is completely wrong IMO. These guys make it look easy when you see them on the court but there is a whole lot of hard work that goes into getting to that point.
Also, why is everyone ripping on Parker? There's still a chance (albeit a small one) that he ends up at Duke. And even if he doesn't, why are we turning on him and trying to find ways to make him out to be a bad guy?
Didn't mean that Duke should move on because of what his dad said about Kansas. I just think it's ridiculous how wishy-washy he's been throughout the process. If we're tired of waiting for an answer can you imagine how the coaching staff must feel after putting so much time into his recruitment? I just think it's time to move on. If he loved Duke and wanted to come here then he would have announced in December after his official visit.