Originally Posted by
-bdbd
Thanks Kedsy. Useful info.
First, I think many here are losing focus of the string - Tony Parker and his recruitment. All the hand-wringing and complaining about Duke's big man recruiting is just a sidebar discussion (and maybe not 100% constructive). Yes, Duke hasn't had a strong on-court interior focus for a few years, but that is a bit of a red herring. That's because it is an EFFECT and not the CAUSE of the recruiting misses of Monroe, Patterson, Adams, McG, etc. K is masterful at adapting to optimize the players on-hand. so I always chuckle at the NC-CH and MI and UK attacks on us as being perimeter oriented, because if we had won a couple of those recruiting wars for top-flight bigs then there is zero doubt inn my mind that we'd have been played more interior-oriented strategies. We are seeing that this year with the strength on Mason on the interior. And there is zero doubt that we would see it with a big like TP policing the interior too. But, then again, those punch-lines about Duke bigs as pick-setters are really just targeted at the recruits, as most serious fans understand what I described above to be the case.
While I subscribe to the "we'll be just fine" school of thought (and K and staff are aware of that perception and already addressing it), I do understand the concern that we have as we just simply near-missed on some of the very top interior bigs in the last few years. From Kedsey's list, I guess the concern causing all of the hand-wringing here is that the BEST back-to-basket players signed by each of those programs was: Duke - 18, U-con - 2, KY - 1/3, GT - 6 (Monroe could and did play a bunch of back-to-basket there), OSU - 1, And I might add that NC has a couple of top-10 bigs in those years that might be considered applicable. So, yes, among those elite programs we might be considered the most successful of the bunch at recruiting guards/wings, but less successful with interior bigs. But again, these things can go in waves, and if Duke grabs Tony, Jabari Parker and Randle over the next couple years then that silliness goes away (at least for a while).
But the important/relevant track record for the recruits to notice is K's history of adjusting the team's style to optimize the talent he has to work with in a given year. It is just happenstance that over the last few years the balance of the talent at Duke was tilted in the guard direction. With TP and Randle that will change! Obviously.
As Kedsy points out, Duke has truly been among the elite, overall, wrt overall recruiting success - something that isn't as much of a "given" as some here seem to think.