Last night 5 star Power Forward Ryan Kelly from Raliegh, North Carolina cut his list down to six schools. He listed Georgetown, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, North Carolina and Duke. Every team on his list has offered him a scholarship besides Duke. Could Mason Plumlee and Coach K coaching Team USA have a influence on where Ryan will make his college destination? Lets wait this out and see if Duke will offer him and if he will choose the Blue Devils. What do you think?
In case you don't know, Kelly is coached by former Duke player Kevin Billerman.
[actually, if you do know, he's still coached by Kevin Billerman. But I digress]
Kelly has had a great summer and is moving up the charts with a bullet. He's a skilled, intelligent player. The question for Duke is simple. Does his size and skill set differ enough from those of the similarly-gifted Plumlee brothers to justify using one of those precious thirteen scholarships?
I think the fact that he put Duke on his list as he was narrowing down the field is a pretty good indication that Duke is interested. Even if he is a little similar to Plumlee, God knows we could use more depth up front, especially with Thomas, Zoubek, and maybe Singler gone after Plumlee/ Kelly's freshman year. We take a risk in placing all of our hope in Plumlee to be the frontcourt savior. What happens if he is a flop? Conversely, what happens if Plumlee is so good that he goes in the lottery after one year (it's not out of the question)? It won't hurt to have another elite, versatile forward on the roster. After all, we do have 13 scholarship spots.
Does interest in Kelly have anything to do with the recruitment of Josh Hairston? They both seem to be a 4 and you'd think IF Duke did offer and Kelly chose Duke then this couldn't be a good sign of landing Hairston.
With Zoubek, Thomas, and quite possibly Singler gone, there should be enough minutes for Plumlee, Kelly, and Hairston in the frontcourt.
I don't see how this kid would even consider UNC now because he would fight D. Wear, T. Wear, Henson, Zeller and Davis for PT (barring no early departures for the NBA.)
i think the real question is whether kelly can play defense well enough to garner a duke scholly. so far he hasnt shown the ability to guard good opponents on the inside. for whatever they are, the plumlee's have shown that they can play duke-caliber defense. i dont think kelly has.
but if we do get him, one could say that Coach K has locked down north carolina as well as coach cut.
This is interesting news.. I am a little surprised to see NCSU not on the list and Duke is.. Kelly has been climbing the charts over the summer so I would bet K and team are following his progress. I would like to see Watzone weigh in on this to see if he has any "free" insight to share at this point...
I think we can connect the dots here.
Kelly didn't have interest in Duke until he started playing with 18 and under team. There was a story out there that said he was getting along well with Plumlee. So I think that has a string effect from Kelly's side. Duke hasn't offered their 3rd scholly. They might be waiting for Coach K to get back before they make the move and this guy isn't in a hurry to sign.
For Duke, I think he is a good fit. He is tall but moves well. He has size for a 4 but could play the 3. Yes, sounds a lot like Plumlee. But Duke hasn't been playing the typical team with a post for a few years. I like the idea of guys who can get up and down the court. You don't need a power 5 guy, if you have someone who can put a body on the power guy and someone who can come over a block their shot, that is a good move.
Think about it, 2 guys 6'10" and can get up and down the court; what a match up problem. Most teams will have to use smaller guys to guard them. Guys like Hans couldn't keep up with them.
My hope is that the third spot in '09 goes to either Wilson or Kelly. Wilson would be a natural replacement for Gerald, but Kelly in addition to Plumlee (and seniors Zoubek and Thomas) would give us the best frontcourt we've had in years.
There's even a chance we could get Wilson and Kelly in addition to Boynton and Plumlee. Wilson's not deciding until late March, and there's a chance Gerald decides he's leaving before then, freeing up that fourth scholarship. Those four would make a monster recruiting class.
I bet we see him at Duke with Mason
Someone on the staff must of thought his game is too much like McRob's. I say get over it and make him an offer. He's a four year player that knows Duke is the best fit for an intelligent young man who has parents that were Ivy League athletes. He's been going to Duke games since he moved into the area. Why offer someone that doesn't want to go to Duke, when you have a lifelong fan wanting to play for and learn from Coach K?