I actually play in memphis and have played against Austin every year since 6th grade. He to me is a mason replica, maybe a little skinnier. He is a good athlete, the first time I ever saw he dunk was in the 7th grade. I'm interested to see what he does when he makes his decision.
Per Airowe's and Chad's twitterages it sounds like we are in particularly good standing with Al Freeman. He would be a mighty fine add.
Yes, there is some downside risk in such an approach, though presumably any prospect who has an offer has the capability to be a good player at Duke.
On a practical level, perhaps Coach K has one or two recruits for whom he would keep an offer open no matter who else committed.
I think all of the guys that were offered make a lot of sense for next year's class. I guess it's kind of like dating. When you know you've got a good match, why wait? This year's recruiting cycle has reminded me just how crazy and unpredictable recruiting is. If there is some semblance of a sure thing (a Duke caliber player who is able to say with certainty early on that they want to play for Duke a la Matt Jones), sign him up.
That said, the light will always be on, as you indicated, for Messrs. Randle and Parker, as long as they want.
Take it for what it's worth, but twitter seems to indicate Nichols is very close to being a Blue Devil.
At about 11:00 PM Eastern: @a_nichols33: S/o to @steve_wojo for being a great coach! He needs followers! Get him to 15,000!
At about 11:30 PM Eastern: @RyanKelly34: Duke Nation get excited about future recruit @a_nichols33 !!! Give him some love!
At about 11:39 PM Eastern: @a_nichols33: I did not commit anywhere you guys, I'm neutral.. Just sayin! #justincaseyoumissed
I haven't watched any of Ish's highlight reels yet, but is it wrong that I'm already sold after seeing just a still photo of the young man? He is built like a truck and looks ready to do some damage. Sign him up.
PHOTO
Color me confused, but aren't Rasheed Sulaimon, Matt Jones, and Al Freeman all 6'4 SGs? Throw in Ish Smith who is 6'5, but more of a SF (and he'll have to be considering how loaded at Guard we are), and we look to have a ton of prospects guys who would play all around the same size/position on the wing. Won't that leave us in a place similar to where we were this past year and won't these guys have trouble seeing the court?
I'm all for stocking the cupboard, and I like having a stable and a mixture of guys who might be willing to wait a year or two before playing a lot, but these guys are all top 25 recruits and I think its going to be tough to find places for them, even as sophs (When these guys are sophomores Quinn will be a senior, Sheed a jr, and Murphy a jr...maybe Sheed goes after his sophomore year, which opens up a lot of time, but if he doesn't these guys are going to get squeezed majorly.)
Ish Wainright. Ish Smith would only be confused with a SF in a middle school league...
That said, I mostly agree. Jones, Freeman, and Sulaimon each do different things. But they also are primarily SG (in Jones' case, exclusively so). At least Sulaimon and Freeman could play PG some. But as you said, Cook will be a junior and Thornton a senior when Freeman arrives, and Cook will still be there when Freeman is a sophomore. It does sort of seem like we're setting up for another transfer situation. And that's assuming we don't land ANY of the several SF prospects that we're pursuing.
Though again, it's always better to have too many than too few. But it's just not realistic to go 5-6 deep at the SG/SF spot with top-25 recruits for multiple years. Guys that good are going to want to play.
Duke sees Freeman as somebody who can play the 1 or the 2. Looking at 2014, the roster at this point is:
Senior Tyler Thornton
Junior Quinn Cook
Sophomore Rasheed Sulaimon
Freshman Matt Jones
Sophomore Alex Murphy
Senior Josh Hairston
Sophomore Marshall Plumlee
There's certainly the possibility that Sulaimon, Murphy, or Cook could have blown up by then and have gone on to the NBA. Regardless, in 2015 we'll at the most have
Senior Quinn Cook
Junior Rasheed Sulaimon
Sophomore Matt Jones
for those guys to compete with for playing time. Have to recruit for the future.
Wainwright has a 7'2 wingspan, so he's a legit SF, almost a PF with his bulk. The rest, I tend to agree; if we're stockpiling wings, I'd prefer them to be long, quick defenders than 6'4 scorers. I'd much rather land Rodney Hood than anyone not named Parker or Randle in 2013, and even that's close.
The impression I get is that the staff essentially picked Freeman over Barber at the extra-PG spot in this class. I suppose it makes sense given his versatility and the hopefully-not-vastly-overrated Tyus Jones in 2014, who we "like where we stand" with, or whatever.
Personally, I'd like to see us pursuing a lot more defense-oriented perimeter players, especially considering that Matt Jones isn't exactly a lockdown defender. Freeman is certainly a great offensive player and tough overall competitor, but like Cook, Curry, Dawkins and Jones, I'm not sure if he's best utilized pressing ballhandlers 30 feet from the basket. Sulaimon is a great example of someone who will, but besides him, I wish we'd recruit with our defensive philosophy in mind a little more than our offensive one.
The explanation we kept hearing for our embarrassing defense this year was "K is doing the best he can with the roster he has." Well... right here, on the recruiting trail, is where you fix that. I still would prefer Barber over Freeman for that reason, and maybe even Tyus Jones, who looks a lot like Quinn Cook in terms of size/lateral quickness to me, regardless of how advanced his offensive game is.
Helpful Re: Freeman. Scout describes him as a 1/2, ESPN more as a 2/3 when they call him a "power wing." I'll trust you and scout. And fair enough Re: 2015...I guess that's the right strategy and the one we've employed for a while, but in this one-and-done age, kids want to play right away and with Quinn, Tyler, Sheed, and Murphy on the roster in 2014, there's not room for Ish and Al to play that year (though murph may slide up and play some 4). In 2015, there's probably room for both. Realistically, just based on the laws of averages, we probably get one of Ish/Freeman and then hopefully get another guard in 2014 than can be a reserve as a frosh and become a legit rotation player as a soph.
This is also where I was going...I'd see Ish as a more important guy than Freeman in this light.
I haven't heard this name mentioned, but perhaps, if his academics measure up, we can make this ESPN #10 2013 recruit's dream come true
Clint Jackson @clintjackson1
6-6 pogostick WF James Young says Kentucky and Duke are his two dream schools.
I would love to see us land James Young, more so than everyone I have seen us looking at other than Parker and Randle (who are better than everyone in the classes of both 2012 and 2013, IMO). He has a ton of potential and would be a perfect WF for us. I hope we go after him.
What's your take on him, FO? He's a new name to me, and while most services seem to have him in the top 10-15, Scout has him at #27 overall. He wasn't overwhelming physically in the highlights I just watched (looked to have average length/athleticism for a top 30 wing), but obviously that doesn't mean much.