Harrison Barnes recruiting thread

[Faison1]

Oh, and I agree. When did Obama ever say he was a Carolina fan? Because he picked them and played ball with them? Picking them was just smart. Playing ball with them was probably more of a publicity thing, no?

Since the game of perception is often murky, I would say that the general public sees the President as a UNC fan. If he wasn't, he could have picked any other program in the country to play hoops with. Additionally, I found the following link where Obama endorses a book written by ol' Roy:

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2009/09/11/...lliams-memoir/

With regards to his picks, he picked UNC to win it not only last year, but the year before, where UNC got waxed by Kansas. Putting all of that together, I would qualify him as being a fan.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/24368094/

[Lord Ash]

Hm, I would tend to disagree. I think I picked UNC to win both years too, and I am certainly not a fan As for playing with anyone... he was in North Carolina. There are not a ton of teams there to play pickup with, and there is only one that you would play pickup with when you are trying to get votes from that state.

Now, if he wanted votes from NJ...

[JG Nothing]

I found the following link where Obama endorses a book written by ol' Roy:

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2009/09/11/...lliams-memoir/

Did you read the article you linked? It explicitly says Obama did not endorse Williams's book. Furthermore, the Obama quote (which was a general comment about Williams being a great coach) was used without permission and has been removed from the jacket by the publisher.

[Faison1]

Hm, I would tend to disagree. I think I picked UNC to win both years too, and I am certainly not a fan The book piece is interesting, though.

Please don't take this the wrong way, because I respect your posts, but are you kidding me? You picked UNC both years? Maybe if it was for money and it was a huge pot....

I would guess that 90% of Carolina fans would never pick Duke in their brackets, no matter how good the team was. Same with Duke fans. There's just something about picking brackets that will never allow me to have UNC winning it all.

I think if you pick a team 2 years in a row, it means you are a fan of theirs....so what does that say about you, Lord Ash?

[Faison1]

Did you read the article you linked? It explicitly says Obama did not endorse Williams's book. Furthermore, the Obama quote (which was a general comment about Williams being a great coach) was used without permission and has been removed from the jacket by the publisher.

Yes, I read the article. Although they pulled the endorsement, I would assume that if a quote from Obama made it as far as the sleave of the book, the publisher must have at some point felt like they had permission....perhaps before Obama won the office.

OK...enough of this...I think Obama is a fan...let's get back to Harrison.

[sandinmyshoes]

I don't know if this has been posted yet. I waded through all the Obama stuff and didn't see it, but if I missed it, my apologies.

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/top/news?...vals&type=lgns

Barnes himself says they called UNC in for some more questions. If we're inclined to take him at his word, and I am, it appears that this one two battle between Duke and UNC isn't as sure a thing as we see it painted on the rival bulletin boards. He seems sincere in expressing that the others on his list are in the mix as well. Even if Duke or UNC lead, there's still a lot that can happen and dump our joint hubris on its butt.

[airowe]

Optimistics thinking, but isn't what I'm thinking and I'm no SHPM. Barnes and his family are too bright and courteous to ask a Coach to fly out just to answer some questions if they aren't serious about that school. Especially after they have already had a couple visits with the man and his program.

I do think that Roy would have jumped on the DagNubbit-1 in a HEART BEART to answer even ONE question from Barnes about something as trivial as the Cafeteria, but just b/c Roy would do it doesn't mean the Barnes family would ask him to do it unless it was for something serious.

What those questions were that he needed answered, well I have no idea, but given how methodical and intelligent Barnes is, I'm guessing it was about something serious and worth talking F2F.

Just because it was something serious why does it mean it has to be a positive thing for UNC?

Regardless, as you said, you don't know and I certainly don't know. There is only our interpretation. Mine is obviously optimistic, and I choose to think that regardless of what has transpired in the public eye, only Harrison Barnes knows for sure what he's thinking.

Despie all the chatter from UNC's side, no one can say with even a moderate degree of certainty that he's a Carolina lean. Or a Duke lean for that matter. People (maybe not as many on this board) were ready to write this guy off after he let Roy in following K's in-home. Now that more facts have come out, I don't see how these people can still feel the same way. Maybe its the glass half full in me...

[Devilsfan]

Mr. Obama when needing council and trust he chose a Dukie in Reggie Love rather than say a famous tarheel. When the President of the United States needs a very intelligent person with the highest integrity what's better than a Duke grad that played for and was guided by Coach K? Enough said.

[Greg_Newton]

As Watzone said a couple days ago another Duke prospect from the 2010 class would be offered very soon. Well today scout.com is reporting that we have offered Harrison Barnes a 6'6 SF from Iowa.

Who is Harrison Barnes ? Could someone please fill in any details about him.

Where are you getting this? I have heard nothing about such a kid and scout.com doesn't seem to even have him listed as a prospect for 2010...

Can we get a link or something?

Ahhhhhhh, how I miss those simpler times...

[ChicagoCrazy84]

Ahhhhhhh, how I miss those simpler times...

Hilarious! And it's too bad that he didn't stay a relatively "unknown" prospect as he probably would've accepted a while ago. Oh well. At least we can take solace in the fact that we have been recruiting him the longest of any school, except maybe Iowa State. That goes further than people may think. Look at John Wall.

[Lord Ash]

Please don't take this the wrong way, because I respect your posts, but are you kidding me? You picked UNC both years? Maybe if it was for money and it was a huge pot....

I would guess that 90% of Carolina fans would never pick Duke in their brackets, no matter how good the team was. Same with Duke fans. There's just something about picking brackets that will never allow me to have UNC winning it all.

I think if you pick a team 2 years in a row, it means you are a fan of theirs....so what does that say about you, Lord Ash?

Two things;

First, picking UNC to win is actually a smart move. Either I win because UNC doesn't win a title, or I get a little money to make their win more palatable. Either way, at least I get something.

As for me and my support of teams... check out my avatar and then I am sure you'll figure out which of us was actually a Blue Devil who knew Dave and Suzie down in the equipment room, knows about that crappy hill about 7k into the Washington Duke trail if you go to the right, and knows that Doc Berlin always seemed to hold on a second too long on the head-turn-and-cough... and and which of us wasn't

[airowe]

I am VERY sorry I brought up Obama. I knew at the time I shouldn't have. My apologies for adding to a highjacked thread...

Let's get it back to Harrison. Any word on how his Oklahoma trip went? Do you think Jeff Capel put in a good word for us?

Here's a subscription article on how Barnes' trip to Oklahoma went. You can get a free 7-day trial to read it if you want. I wouldn't use it for this article if I were you though.

http://scouthoops.scout.com/2/907167.html

As far as Capel putting in a good word for us. I seriously doubt it. He's recruiting Barnes for Oklahoma, not for Duke. Although, it is interesting that Barnes has visited two former Duke players who are now coaches. It seems that there are some qualities in K's guys that he finds attractive.

[Kedsy]

As far as Capel putting in a good word for us. I seriously doubt it. He's recruiting Barnes for Oklahoma, not for Duke. Although, it is interesting that Barnes has visited two former Duke players who are now coaches. It seems that there are some qualities in K's guys that he finds attractive.

Who's the other one? I thought his five visits were Duke, UNC, Okla, UCLA, and Kansas, plus Iowa State unoficially.

[cwaugh]

Dawkins at Stanford

[Kedsy]

Dawkins at Stanford

Ah, yes, and Condi Rice. An unofficial visit.

[oldnavy]

Just because it was something serious why does it mean it has to be a positive thing for UNC?

Regardless, as you said, you don't know and I certainly don't know. There is only our interpretation. Mine is obviously optimistic, and I choose to think that regardless of what has transpired in the public eye, only Harrison Barnes knows for sure what he's thinking.

Despie all the chatter from UNC's side, no one can say with even a moderate degree of certainty that he's a Carolina lean. Or a Duke lean for that matter. People (maybe not as many on this board) were ready to write this guy off after he let Roy in following K's in-home. Now that more facts have come out, I don't see how these people can still feel the same way. Maybe its the glass half full in me...

It seems more plausable to me that if Roy felt the need to jump on a plane and fly out to the Barnes' home that it must have been some very serious concerns, and not necessarily good ones for UNC. I mean if HB's questions were, "hey coach can I get the locker next to DrewII", or "oh, I forgot are there any good sushi places in CH?" Ol Roy could have answered them on the phone. I have no inside info, but my gut tells me that there questions had to be serious enough that Roy felt justified spending a ton of money (maybe not a huge issue to UNC), but also a fair amount of time (probably more valuable than the cash spent) to go there and address in person. Just a hunch, but if I have to read the tea leaves on this one, I say it was NOT a good thing for UNC. The flip to this line of reason of course would be that Roy impressed HB so much by answering his concerns in person that he sold him... but I doubt that. There is no end to the spin one can put on this stuff.

[oldnavy]

How funny would it be, it Ol Roy had one of his famous meltdown moments in HB's living room. Just say he got angry about a question HB or his mom asked after flying all the way out to Iowa and dropped the F bomb during a rant... that visual makes me

[yancem]

It seems more plausable to me that if Roy felt the need to jump on a plane and fly out to the Barnes' home that it must have been some very serious concerns, and not necessarily good ones for UNC. I mean if HB's questions were, "hey coach can I get the locker next to DrewII", or "oh, I forgot are there any good sushi places in CH?" Ol Roy could have answered them on the phone. I have no inside info, but my gut tells me that there questions had to be serious enough that Roy felt justified spending a ton of money (maybe not a huge issue to UNC), but also a fair amount of time (probably more valuable than the cash spent) to go there and address in person. Just a hunch, but if I have to read the tea leaves on this one, I say it was NOT a good thing for UNC. The flip to this line of reason of course would be that Roy impressed HB so much by answering his concerns in person that he sold him... but I doubt that. There is no end to the spin one can put on this stuff.

I read a theory on another board that seems pretty solid. According to an interview (I can't find the link right now) O'Roy was supposed to be coming to an open gym to see Barnes. There was some apparent confusion as to when the open gym was supposed to take place. It sounds like O'Roy may have scheduled his trip for the day of Duke's in-home even though there wasn't an open gym that day. So, the theory is, since O'Roy was already flying into town to see Barnes, with no open gym, Barnes asked O'Roy to come by and answer some questions instead of wasting the trip.

I will try to find the link later today but if this theory holds water, it makes it sound like O'Roy was being crafty to get a chance to bend Barnes' ear on the same day that K came a knockin. Only time will tell if Barnes saw through the rouse.

[yancem]

Here is the link to the article I mentioned. I don't know if it has been posted earlier or not but here it is:

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/top/news?...vals&type=lgns


The biggest buzz in Barnes’ recruitment, however, occurred on the last day coaches could conduct in-home visits at the beginning of this week. Both Duke and North Carolina came calling for a pivotal chance to persuade their top recruiting target.

“Originally Duke had planned its visit earlier,” said Barnes. “With North Carolina there was some confusion about whether I had open gym at school that day. I had told them around three weeks ago, I didn’t have open gym. We had some additional questions for them, so we just had them come to the house.”

[MChambers]

I read a theory on another board that seems pretty solid. According to an interview (I can't find the link right now) O'Roy was supposed to be coming to an open gym to see Barnes. There was some apparent confusion as to when the open gym was supposed to take place. It sounds like O'Roy may have scheduled his trip for the day of Duke's in-home even though there wasn't an open gym that day. So, the theory is, since O'Roy was already flying into town to see Barnes, with no open gym, Barnes asked O'Roy to come by and answer some questions instead of wasting the trip.

I will try to find the link later today but if this theory holds water, it makes it sound like O'Roy was being crafty to get a chance to bend Barnes' ear on the same day that K came a knockin. Only time will tell if Barnes saw through the rouse.

If I were HB, I would not be impressed by a confused coach.