I have heard him say this nearly every Duke game he has commented on. I would say Plumlee II has the most potential on Duke's team, which could be synonymous with talented I guess.
Not sure if this is new thread material, but didn't see it anywhere else, and thought it quite interesting.
Q&A in Bilas ESPN chat yesterday (http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat...th-jay-bilas):
Q: Jay, I keep hearing you say Mason Plumlee is Duke's most talented player. I'd probably agree with most athletic potential, and maybe most talented big man... but do you really think he's the overall most talented?? I'd argue for Smith, Scheyer and Singler over him, and not just because they score more.
A: You can argue all you want to, but Mason Plumlee is the most talented player on the roster. Give him some time, and he will be the best player on the roster, as well. He is competitive and skilled, and when he learns how to play, he will be really, really good. Scheyer is better right now, but he is not more talented than Mason, nor is Singler or Smith. No way.But, I could be wrong. I was wrong once when I was a little kid when I mistakenly thought I was wrong. Of course, I was not.
I have heard him say this nearly every Duke game he has commented on. I would say Plumlee II has the most potential on Duke's team, which could be synonymous with talented I guess.
As usual, Jay's right. Just from the eyeball test lately, Mason's clearly got the goods and the potential to become truly special. I'd say Jon, Nolan and Kyle have done a spectacular job of maximizing their talents, but if Mason puts in the same work and makes the same development, he could be breathtakingly good.
I'm just tryin to have some fun watching him grow this season
and i cant wait to see next year with a soph. mason and kyrie irving delivering the ball to him not to mention everyone else..
Kyle already is truly special. ACC rookie of the year, ACC 2d team, and clearly the one essential piece to the success Duke had his first two years there. If G didn't go early, he'd be playing the 4 still and would be killing people. Now he's adjusting to something different, which Bilas was unfortunately unable to do and so became a talking head way too before his time.
Potentially speaking, if he puts on muscle, Mr. Ryan happens to have the most upside of anyone currently playing for Duke, in my opinion.
Upside, potential they're both great words. But I like it better when they are actually fulfilled.
Agreed. Bilas had to be talking potential since Miles obviously is not actually doing anything particularly special now, nor has he in the past on this level. K said some amazing things this week about Ryan, which I have to humbly say were similar to the perspectives I shared here before the season began off watching a few U-Tube clips.
Last edited by greybeard; 01-15-2010 at 04:11 PM. Reason: make verb coincide with predicate
Bilas also said Clemson has to be at least the 5th hardest place to play in the ACC.
Jay is 100% correct here. There isn't one thing Mason can't do on the basketball court.
One thing I'm betting he can't do that Singler has done is win the rookie of the year in the ACC, or for that matter, outplay anybody of note head up, as Singler did night after night, with a couple of exceptions, for his ENTIRE rookie year. Those ships have sailed.
The future, we shall have to see. Being 100 percent right on a guess that has yet to be tested is like a million times zero, no?
Last edited by greybeard; 01-15-2010 at 06:33 PM. Reason: change a few
If Mason got Kyle's minutes and the freedom you would see numbers similar to what Kyle put up his freshmen year.
OK - As a point of discussion, what gyms in the ACC would you rate as the toughest. CIS is clearly number 1, but how would you rate the others. I would put Carmichael and Reynolds near the top, but of course that dates me.
(but afterall I am a stray dinosaur)
Jim
T '70 (class of Stray Gator)
ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT!
ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT!
ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT!
ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT!
ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT! ZINGER ALERT!
or, maybe not
Good call again from Jay, even if he's been wrong once before. Mason has the ability and has the perfect coach to grow into one of the best here. The Plumlees will be discussed years from now when we debate the best collegiate brother combos ever. Great kids, great family...will make Duke proud.
In terms of overall difficulty of playing there, not just for Duke, I'd rank them like this (just the arena/fans):
1 Duke
2 MD
3 Clemson
4 GT
5 VT
6 FSU
7 Wake
8 BC
9 UNC
10 NCSU
11 Mia
12 UVA
In my perception, 4 - 8 could vary from year to year based on their team's quality. BTW, I've actually been to most of these arenas.
Hehe. My brother was the one who sent in that question.
As of now, Josh McRoberts was a better freshman than Mason Plumlee. There are some similarities between their games, by the way. McRoberts improved remarkably little between his freshman and sophomore year and then he bolted. My point is that there are no guarantees.
Bilas may still be right though. Miles Plumlee may be a more apt comparison than McRoberts. Last year, he wasn't ready to play significant minutes. This year, he's quite effective. Not great, but effective, and capable of playing great games. Mason right now is clearly more talented than his brother, though still not as consistent. That should come with more experience though. If Mason improves like his brother has, we could see incredible things. Mason has the higher ceiling of the two, no doubt.
Bilas said Mason had the most talent. In this context, I think talent and potential are virtually interchangeable. I think he's right about Mason but, as you say, tell will tell. If he had called Mason Duke's best player right now he'd be out to lunch but he didn't do that. In fact, he took pains to make it clear that he wasn't calling MP2 Duke's best.