Cal has two years to get Kentucky on probation before QM can enroll there. And we know what can happen when one school appears to be the earlier leader for a blue chip recruit(hb). Go Duke!
True. Very true. HB-Gate taught us a lot of lessons. I, for one, am no longer confident about getting recruits. It has nothing to do with K's ability or the coaching staff, it's merely a mentality thing. IMO, this is a good thing for me, as all the recruits we get will put a smile on my face and all the recruits we don't get won't bother me as much.
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill
President of the "Nolan Smith Should Have His Jersey in The Rafters" Club
What seems most revolutionary about Twitter to me is the ability of random fans/yahoos to communicate directly with star recruits. If you look at Miller's Twitter page now, one Kentucky fan asks him directly if he and Gilchrist are considering going to the samed school, and Miller response yeah. Recruiting analysts make a living going to great lengths to try to get a scoop like that. Another Kentucky fan is reminding Miller of Kentucky's next game where they will go for their 2000th win. (Of course, Kyrie saw how Kentucky fans can turn.)
Not that Duke fans all are above this. Some Duke fan has communicated with Miller about the Knight/Calipari situation, with Miller defending Calipari.
When would a fan (booster?) cross the line? How could a university regulate/control the communication? I have no problem with a student/athlete having a Twitter page, but when does it become creepy for a random, anonymous fan to engage the athlete in direct conversations?
The general issue of Twitter aside, I also have reached the point where I would be very surprised/shocked if Miller does not go to Kentucky. I hope I'm wrong, because he came across well in the video and could be a huge difference maker as a player. NCAA issues could loom over Calipari, but we all know how slowly that process works.
I've been following Duke basketball pretty religiously for 20+ years and have followed this site in nearly the same vain, without the constant posting though and have noticed a sorry pattern among some fans/posters regarding Duke recruiting of late, especially during the HB recruitment and now it flowing into the Quincy Miller recruitment. The pattern I noticed, for lack of better words, seems to be that some (a fair % too) are becoming fair weather Duke recruiter fans. When recruits are professing all their love for Duke, everyone is so gung ho, Duke is god and the said recruit is the best thing since sliced white bread. However, once said recruit doesn't commit early, starts looking at other programs, says favorable things about other schools, a good number of Duke fans/posters now seems to down play the recruit, say he isn't Duke material, continually comment on worse case scenarios about how the recruitment of said recruit will play out (call it the HB fallout which culminated after Boyton and Monroe) and how Duke recruiting is no longer elite. This is all being said when the recruitment of the said player is not even close to being done, when Duke is still highly in mix, etc. Maybe its because of the information age when we hear everything within 2 seconds, maybe its our generation (I'm 35 and will throw myself into this pot) where many want everyhting and anything now. I don't know what it is but we really need to take a step back and have a reality check. It's nice to follow the recruitment, make comments regarding opinions but let's chill out a bit during the ups and downs of the recruitment otherwise we prove to many that we can become what we despise which is a violotile fan base like those in Kentucky, etc. In the end, let the kid have his time in the recruitment and take it with a grain of salt.
Just note I am not throwing any specific posters or even the majority under the bus here. I've just noticed that many are becoming unrealistic in their expectations of how the process should go and in some cases somewhat narcessistic in their assessments. It's been kind of sad in some instances to the point where like some posters I'm almost ready to pass over reading any recruiting threads for awhile.
Had to vent and am prepared to hear some critical responses to my comments...LOL
I admit that I am very frustrated with recruiting as of late. Not on whom we are going after, or the effort our coaches are giving. I want every elite recruit like everyone else, but those who have chosen other places have made me sour to the process. I will say this though that I think that if Kyrie an Elite recruit blows up and is the monster we all hope he will be that it could be just the thing to jump start recruiting again. Because let’s face it these things are cyclical. Everyone goes through the ups and downs. The sky has not fallen yet!
What a great post, I agree 100%. It's amazing how the tide around here seems to turn so quickly, based on tiny tidbits of information that 9 out of 10 times mean nothing. And even if a little hint turns out to be the harbinger of bad news, should it change our personal views about the recruit? I don't think so. Some people appear to think that a recruit can't be a "good kid" if he has the gall to choose a school other than Duke, and start casting aspersions whenever the kid considers somewhere else, but IMO it's wrong to post those negative suggestions about a teenager who's just trying to do the best for himself.
I feel the same way about the posting waves after Duke wins and losses: after we win, the players are all great and we're a lock for the Final Four, but after we lose, everybody stinks and we're going to flame out in the 2nd round. I suppose that's a discussion for a different thread, though, isn't it?
The whole Harrison Barnes recruiting saga has discouraged me, temporarily at least, from following every little tweet or rumor about a recruit's intentions. Young Mr. Miller sounds like a fine prospect, and perhaps he will choose Duke.
Plenty to follow in the actual Duke basketball season.
It's not fair to call people "fair weather Duke recruiter fans" (is there even such a thing??). I think what's happening here is that people have learned (or are actively trying) to adjust their expectations downwards based on their experiences. The recruiting cycle is a long one and reading up on a recruit only to be disappointed at the end is a harsh thing to take. So I see a lot of these types of "fair weather" posts to be a reflection of that.
I don't however like to see posters putting down recruits just because they appear to lean away from Duke. That's not cool.
But downplaying expectations...yeah, I expect it. It's what I'm trying to do too after the John Wall and Harrison Barnes saga. It's simply not worth getting too involved in recruiting.
The problem is simple: people are concerned because we've been unable to get big men of the calibur of barnes, miller, patterson, monroe etc. to come to Duke.
because people never worry about the players they do get, just the few they miss on
i think the worry from everyone is that the list continues to grow...
just saying you gotta see it from both perspectives
Granted, you will miss out on targets every year. but when its your #1 priority or need, then that is where the worry comes in.
in K we trust!
From what I've seen on this thread, I just recall one guy suggesting QM may not be a good "fit" for us, and he seemed to retract that comment after watching the video of QM's interview. Most people seem to think QM would be a fabulous fit, from a talent, personality, and academic perspective, but that recent signs suggest he is a Kentucky lean. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, given that the main source from this feeling is QM himself, and I think we're all still holding out hope. My comment focused on the general development of fans communicating directly with recruits on Twitter, when this would cross the line, and whether it could possibly be controlled.
While there will also be some sky-is-falling-itis, there also can be a reactionary tendency to criticize anyone who observes possible negative developments in recruiting.
The list of must-haves missed by Mike Krzyzewski at Duke started with Barry Spencer in April 1980 and just grows and grows.
Somehow, he manages to compensate.
As usual, Jim Sumner provides cool reflection and the voice of reason.
One of our continuing sources of pride that runs through all the vicissitudes of recruiting has been the decency, professionalism, and class of our staff. For that reason, my one lingering personal regret from the HB recruitment was the apparent slight-for want of a better word-of Coach K, who is as decent a human being as there is in collegiate athletics. Other than that, next page......
You're asking me to compare two high school forwards to Singler? If you insist, I don't recall Singler being rated at #1 in his recruiting class; but HB and QM are. I like Kyle, IMO he's a decent player. If he's going to achieve ACC POY status he's going to have to "kill-it" from here on; nearly one-third of the season has already passed, and all the cupcakes are gone. The jury is out on him in my book.