It was not even a year ago when everyone was saying the same about Coach K. Personally, while they obviously had a terrible year, I'm reserving judgement on the state of the program because these things can swing wildly if you focus too much on the short term.
Most people view Gbinje as more of a SF then a SG that Hairston is. Hairston is a great wing player that is an overall more explosive player then Gbinje is. Well Hairston is a slightly better scorer then Gbinje, Gbinje offers more of everything' rebounding ability, an elite defender, his ability to be able to drive and finish at the rim, is a good ball handler, passer and can hit the outside shot. Thus why Gbinje is rated higher on most recruiting sites.
After P.J Hairston commited to UNC, Gbinje was still invited to there Alumni game and was still being actively watched by the UNc staff throughout his junior season. Gbinje decided to go Duke... UNC never lost intrest in him at any point during his recruitment.
certainly the word "everything" was a bit over the top, but let's look at recent recruits: LD II, doing an alright job but does not fit what Roy's system needs = Aw, shucks. The Wears, one pretty much nothing season and they left = Aw, shucks. Ed Davis, showed real talent as a Fr. and played below expectations before injury took away half of his So. year and then bolts for the NBA = thanks for the Championship! and then Aw, shucks. Strickland, was supposed to be a quality G and struggled mightily as a Fr., but still has time to become a good player = Aw, shucks in the making. McDonald, was supposed to be a quality G and struggled mightily as a Fr., but still has time to become a good player = Aw, shucks in the making. Zeller, has played well enough when healthy, but is not healthy often enough to be a steady factor = Aw, shucks (not due to lack of talent though). Now we are seeing reports that KM may not be good enough to unseat even the mediocre PG known as LD II from his starting spot, possibly an Aw, shucks in the making.
Henson upped his play in the 2nd part of his Fr. season and could end up being as good as advertised. HB is by all accounts an outstanding player, so I'll reserve judgement on him. Bullock is a total unknown to me so I'll reserve judgement there too.
Ol' Roy had a brilliant stretch of recruiting from 2004 until 2008 and his teams were constantly excellent. His Midas Touch from that time appears to have faded, sorry if my attempt to poke fun at him a little bit didn't rub the right way.
How does a commitment from Marshall Plumlee affect us recruiting a big man in the 2012 class? I'm speaking more specifically about Kaleb Tarczewski and perhaps Isaiah Austin. Tarczewski sounds like a promising legitimate big man.
I love how the spin on what coaches do supports the historical outcome. He backed off this recruit for that recruit. Others swear the recruit could have gone anywhere he wanted to go. I guess you would have to ask the recruit to find out the real truth.
HardwoodElite tweets:
Roy Williams and Coach K both checking out J.P. Tokoto. Bo Ryan watching Sam Mader.
...I guess K still thinks there is a shot. Everyone has been dumping on Tokoto lately but I think he would be a good consolation if we dont get Baz... Obviously he wont be a one-and-done so 2-3 years (maybe 4) and I bet he ends up being an all-acc caliber player.
Shabazz Muhammad, Alex Murphy and Kaleb Tarczewski Highlights: http://dukehoop.blogspot.com/2010/07...phy-kaleb.html
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75...=1&nid=4020486
Found this interesting that they downgraded shabazz's intrest in Duke to "Low", I know most members of the board (myself included) don't take Scout/Rivals info as the gospel truth but why would they do something so drastic? They must have spoken to him recently about recruiting to do that, right? I dont know if I buy it or not seeing how he is (as far as i know) still flying out, on his own dime, to watch Duke vs MSU at CIS this fall... I'm scratching my head at this one...
Neither Dave Telep or Evan Daniels know anything about that change. It seems that was a mistake, and there has been no indication from Shabazz's camp that his interest level has dropped.
J.P. Tokoto performed very well in Las Vegas when we were watching. If anyone is interested, here are some highlights: http://www.hardwoodelite.com/video-s...id=bwcjvv07t3Y