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  1. #21
    he seems to bring in a top 5 class almost every year...they just dont stay

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington, DC
    The impression I get is that K is still a good recruiter, but what has changed (besides the whole NBA thing, in itself huge) is that the competition has improved. I used to have the feeling that Duke could count on getting almost anyone K wanted. I don't think that's true anymore. If someone can name a player offered by both UNC (since Roy arrived) and Duke who chose Duke, it will be reassuring news to me. Likewise Florida. (And, yes, I know that Patterson rejected both Duke and Florida. That doesn't exactly help.)

    What I hate most about this is the likely impact of the "Duke hatred tsunami." I refuse to believe that has no effect on young kids as they form early impressions.

  3. #23

    Jeopardy Time

    A. Chris Webber, Kobe Bryant, Chris Mullin, Uwe Blab, Jared Jeffries, Alan Henderson, Jason Collier, Vince Carter, etc.

    Q. Who are some of the (many) high-profile recruits Duke targeted in the past who ultimately chose other schools?


    Duke, like every other school has always had its fair share of near, agonizing misses in the recruiting game. This was true even during the salad days of the early nineties. It's amazing that fans can look at the hamburger factory that is next year's roster and say we're short on talent.

    Second, Coach K has three Final Fours and a Nat'l championship the last ten years. How many other coaches can compare to that? Roy, Calhoun, Billy D, Izzo...that's about it. Keep in mind all of the above coaches operate in schools with easier academic standards and stronger local fan bases.

    I have my share of criticisms of Coach K's recruiting/coaching but even a most basic reading of the data shows that he's the best or near best at his profession.

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Well technically Kobe didn't choose another school.

    But as you note, this list could be greatly expanded. I love to throw in Adonal Foyle. Lots of the newbies and/or bandwagon folks are flabbergasted to learn that K once lost a high-priority recruit to Colgate.

    Not sure where the idea came about that K has always gotten everybody he wants. Nobody--not Wooden, not Smith, not Rupp, not K--got everybody he wanted.

  5. #25

    I may be beating a dead horse but...

    I forgot about Foyle. IIRC - I think his parents/guardians/relatives worked at Colgate.

    Nick Collison and David Lee can also be added to the list.

    I also made it a point to list players who had solid college/pro careers. However, there are even more recruits we were chasing who were ranked just as highly as Patrick Patterson and Kyle Singler are now but didn't live up to expectations.

    Just in the past ten or so years there was Dane Fife, Brett Nelson, Darius Rice, Joel Pryzbilla, Kevin Gaines, Shaheen Holloway, Rick Rickert, Matt Bonner, Lavell Blanchard, and countless other McD AA's who turned us down.

    Keep in mind I'm not even including guys like Ben Gordon, Baron Davis, Anthony Roberson, Casey Jacobsen, et. al. All former Duke targets who picked other schools because we supposedly backed off.

    If anyone's reading this far I'm probably preaching to the choir at this point but lastly many of our all-time greats were very close to picking other schools. Bobby's #1 choice was UNC but chose us because Dean wanted Kenny Anderson instead. Grant's also wanted to go to Carolina but was pushed by his mom to choose us.

    I guess I'm just rambling on and on because it's amusing to read people's expectations on recruiting and just see so much that's the complete opposite of reality.

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    After a few years of gettiung burned on character issues, I think K has recently refocussed on character in recruiting. So, not only can Duke not persue certain kids because of academic restrictions that most of our competition does not face, but we also are not going after kids who have any character questions (if you have an entourage in tow, forget about Duke). As a result, the talent pool for us is smaller than it is for any of the other top schools in the land.

    I also think that for a while K was shying away from kids who were likely to turn pro out of high school or after one year in college. The new rules make these kids more attractive to him though, as evidenced by our persuit of a certain kid from Louisiana.

    But, we are still doing quite well in recruiting. We land more than our share of top recruits and Mickie Dees.

    -Jason "I like our upcoming freshmen and sophs a lot more than some of the rest of you, I think" Evans

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    "Just in the past ten or so years there was Dane Fife, Brett Nelson, Darius Rice, Joel Pryzbilla, Kevin Gaines, Shaheen Holloway, Rick Rickert, Matt Bonner, Lavell Blanchard, and countless other McD AA's who turned us down."

    Rice actually wanted to go to Duke. He was a year after Dunleavy and Duke felt that they were so similar that it was unlikely that both could be used at the same time. Bonner was considered a Duke lean but Duke stopped recruiting him after getting a committment from Horvath. Considering that Bonner is still earning a paycheck in the NBA, I might take him off the over-rated list. Replace with Danny Miller. I think there were some grade issues with Gaines and Duke backed off.

    I don't believe anyone has yet mentioned one of the most agonzing near-misses. Bryant Stith. Great player, great student, great person. He seemed like such a perfect fit.

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington, DC
    Add Brandan Wright. And even JWill wanted to go to UNC - they just stupidly passed on him.

    espn.com rates Duke #6 nationally among teams poised for future success. The top 10 in order are UNC, Florida, UCLA, Kentucky, Ohio State, Duke, Texas, Kansas, Louisville, Indiana.

    On Duke, they say:

    "Many will be surprised the Blue Devils are this low … and some will be surprised they are this high. Duke has a legendary coach, legendary fan support and an incredible last 20 years of on-court performance. Also very important for this generation of players, the Devils are the clear TV favorite, with almost every one of their games nationally televised. They also have an established national recruiting reach, although they self-limit at times and one of the fairest knocks on the program is that the Devils don't end up utilizing many of the All-Americans who matriculate in Durham. When a down year is 22-10, you know you are an elite program. It just will be interesting to see if the slight downward trend since the 2001 national title is a blip or a leading indicator of a future when Duke ultimately is bypassed by schools like Florida and Ohio State."

    http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2867148

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