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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007

    The Duke Coaches and Talent Evaluation

    In the last few years it seems that the evaluation of talent by the Duke Coaches has been less than top notch.

    I do understand that recruiting is not an exact science by any means.

    With the exception of Henderson, Singler and Scheyer who all either met or exceeding expectations the other recruits seem not to have met the intial expectations.

    The jury is still out on Williams and to some extent Smith. I am not sure that either Plumlee or Cxyz will ever be more than bench players

    Greg Paulus is my favorite player on this year's squad and ranks behind Grant Hill, JJ Reddick, and Thomas Hill as my all time favorite. He was considered the top point guard in his year or at least one of the top. That said, while he has been a nice player for Duke, some thought that he was the second coming of Bobby Hurley, he really has not performed up to the expectations of being so highly rated in high school. He has weaknesses and I am surprised that they were not thought through initially.

    I remember that Lance Thomas committed to Duke very late and there was great hoopla on this Board when he announced. While Lance has been a nice player at times, he has in my opinion not warranted the intial hoopla that was exhibited when he committed.He has not been an impact player and probably never will be.

    I certainly understand that you recruit a 7 footer, but as mentioned in other posts, Brian Zoubek just has not improved to where most of us thought that he would be by now. I know that he has had injuries but was that poor talent evaluation ?

    I remember that Josh McRoberts was considered a top recruit, but if my memory serves correct not many of the players were that sad when he left early. Something was amiss there and obviously not addressed.

    Year in and year out Duke always had that one or two players that you could count on when the game was on the line...the player who would do whatever was necessary to win...players like Laetner, Hurley, Battier, Hill, Reddick, Langdon, Boozer, Brand . Coach K doesn't seem to be able to get those type of players any more..I am not sure that Singler, Henderrson or Scheyer fit that mold yet..I wonder what has happened. Is it poor talent evaluation ?

    It also seems that Coach K doesn't have a valid back up plan when he recruits a player heavily. No back up plan for Boynton...noone really for Patterson and noone really for Monroe.
    Last edited by NYC Duke Fan; 03-10-2009 at 03:54 AM. Reason: forgot something

  2. #2
    Look, I agree with you to an extent. There have been some recruits who were either not as talented as the staff thought or did not fit into the system too well, in my opinion at least. (Zoubek in particular. He's just not an ideal player for Duke's system and I don't really know why the staff wanted him)

    That said, a few points must be made. First of all, just about everyone was wrong on most of the guys you mentioned. McRoberts, while often underestimated by Duke fans in my opinion, was the number one player in his class or at least top 5 consensus, and had no apparent attitude issues in high school, his only potential flaw at Duke in my opinion. (His stats were actually very good to be honest. Had those teams had more success, he would've gotten far more due)

    Paulus was also highly touted and was recruited by a number of other schools. He hasn't been as talented as we'd all hoped but K was not the only one who missed to the boat. And at least Duke got a kid who has been a hard worker who has represented Duke outstandingly.

    I don't really see how you can argue with Elliot Williams right now. He's been playing very well for a freshmen as of late. Nolan Smith has struggled but he was highyly recruited by Pitino, is a very high character kid, is only a sophomore, has not done badly at all in his first two years and will be a very valuable contributor for the remainder of this season and his next two years.

    Scheyer has probably been better than anyone imagined. Yea he was a McDonalds all-american but I don't think he was much higher than 25-30 and he has probably been Duke's best player over the duration of the last three years.


    Going back a few classes, Duke landed Deng and Humphries and then Livingston and Demarcus. Clearly Duke did a decent job in evaluating talent wtih those classes. Maybe K failed to evaluate how long those guys would stay or their attitude (Humphries) but he did not misevaluate their talent.

    Also, you question whether talent evaluation is why Duke lacks a dominant player. Yet you yourself admit Duke has missed out on some top recruits in the last two years. Duke went after Griffin, after Monroe, after B. Wright, after Patterson, etc.


    I am no where near as worried about recruiting as I previously was. Duke messed up pretty badly with the Paulus class. The two classes before that were small and suffered from a couple guys going pro earlier than expected. Other than that, I don't think K has done too badly. And next year's class and the class after that are shaping up very nicely.

    If I do have one complaint, it's the lack of a backup point guard over Pualus' four years.

  3. #3
    I can take winning 25 games a year with what Duke has.

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