Alex Murphy Enrolls Early!

[Duvall]

Question: Why would we not redshirt Marshal Plumlee before we redshirt Alex Murphy?

There's no reason why Duke can't.

[callmecrazy]

1) The two are not mutually exclusive.

2) Neither Alex Murphy or DeAndre Daniels are Derrick Williams.

3) Alex Murphy is just as, if not more, of a matchup problem as DeAndre. He's 6'9", has a deft handle, and shoots the three ball with great accuracy. And yes, he's athletic as hell (even though he's white.)

Never said he wasn't. I still want DeAndre on the floor next year.

[callmecrazy]

And you base that opinion based on watching the two of them play how many games, exactly?

My opinion is strictly based on everything I have read about both players. I am not calling myself an expert, just giving my opinion.

[SupaDave]

1) The two are not mutually exclusive.

2) Neither Alex Murphy or DeAndre Daniels are Derrick Williams.

3) Alex Murphy is just as, if not more, of a matchup problem as DeAndre. He's 6'9", has a deft handle, and shoots the three ball with great accuracy. And yes, he's athletic as hell (even though he's white.)

No WAY this guy is white...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0jvZkRA7X0

[MChambers]

No WAY this guy is white...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0jvZkRA7X0

Looks like some sort of hybrid of Singler and Dunleavy! I look forward to watching him in Duke blue!

[Mike Corey]

Make no mistake: This is great news.

Mr. Murphy--and Mr. Daniels, if he chooses to accept the tendered scholarship offer--are quintessential K-type players. To have these guys on the court at the same time would be a wonderful, wonderful luxury.

[Herbie]

There's still no confirmation from Mason that he's staying, right? This push to get BOTH Murphy and Daniels in still has me wondering if it's not in part due K feeling that Mason may be leaning towards entering the draft. Even though Mason plays the 4, not the 3, we could surely use both Daniels and Murphy next year if Mason were gone.

[NashvilleDevil]

There's still no confirmation from Mason that he's staying, right? This push to get BOTH Murphy and Daniels in still has me wondering if it's not in part due K feeling that Mason may be leaning towards entering the draft. Even though Mason plays the 4, not the 3, we could surely use both Daniels and Murphy next year if Mason were gone.

It's been mentioned a number of times by airowe or Mike
Corey that Mason is staying.

[Sgt. Dingleberry]

Since we get all the calls from the refs and influence the tournament selection committee, I am going to assume we are also in cahoots with the NCAA regarding new rules. I wonder if K is in their ear about changing college basketball from 5 on 5 to 8 on 8 or 9 on 9.

This is a wealth of talent coming in together at one time, I wish there was someway I could see them all play together. We have a remarkable pool of young talent.

[Duvall]

Since we get all the calls from the refs and influence the tournament selection committee, I am going to assume we are also in cahoots with the NCAA regarding new rules. I wonder if K is in their ear about changing college basketball from 5 on 5 to 8 on 8 or 9 on 9.

Better yet, 8 on 5. I'd like to see Barnes try to score against Duke's box-and-four.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Since we get all the calls from the refs and influence the tournament selection committee, I am going to assume we are also in cahoots with the NCAA regarding new rules. I wonder if K is in their ear about changing college basketball from 5 on 5 to 8 on 8 or 9 on 9.

This is a wealth of talent coming in together at one time, I wish there was someway I could see them all play together. We have a remarkable pool of young talent.

I'd be satisfied if we could play 5 against 5 instead of 5 against 8 so often...

[Saratoga2]

Great news. We have Michael coming and now Alex. Both can help answer the loss of Kyle. Size and athleticism are valuable for the team and will help with matchups against UNC and other top teams. No way to know how good the players are coming in until they start to see top competition. Look how much Derrick Williams surpassed expectations. One or more of the new Duke guys could also surpass expectations and be major contributors as the season progresses.

The outstanding questions are whether Mason will stay (I certainly hope so), will DeAndre come (Again I hope so) and will there be a red shirt (In this case, I hope not. These kids should come in and compete to play. Maybe coach K will find at least some PT for all). Maybe we could have and A & B team. All joking aside, there is enough talent to field two competitive teams.

[DU82]

And his credentials are? He said Andy Boorman is K's son in law also.

Andy Borman is Mrs. K's nephew, and grandson of Frank Borman. And a former Duke basketball and soccer player.

[tgotdamp]

I would think that your uneducated guess would still likely hold for the start of the season. I doubt Murphy, Gbinijie or Daniels (we hope) will start over Dawkins to start the year. As they learn defensive responsibilities though, those are a lot of potentially versatile players at the wing positions and/or second big spot.


I have been thinking of this as well. There is a nice potential to have many versatile players that could guard multiple positions on next year's team.

I am very excited to see Murphy join the squad a year earlier than first expected. I expect he will be able to make an impact over his career.
When looking at this news, I saw an interesting take from Dave Telep at ESPN who stated:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recru...ory?id=6389471
I was surprised to see Murphy drop down this far when getting re-ranked in the new class. This would seem to indicate that we shouldn't expect too much from Murphy this coming year, but I certainly like his talent and what I have seen and heard about him.

I doubt Dawkins will start because if he did, the backcourt would be: Rivers, Curry and Dawkins. That would be 3 natural SGs on the floor at once. Coach K is not going to do that when he has natural PGs in his arsenal. I think a more realistic backcourt will be Cook, Rivers and Dawkins. Thornton will have to improve tremendously over the summer to get a starting position. Of course this lineup will change depending on the matchup as we may have to go bigger at the SF. In those instances, I say Rivers and Curry get the nod.

[MartyClark]

There's no reason why Duke can't.

I don't understand this speculation that Duke will redshirt either MPIII or Murphy. Somebody convince me that I'm wrong. I'm not aware of any healthy, scholarship player taking a redshirt year. Football, of course. Basketball, where is the precedent? Why would either of these young men want to redshirt?

[RockyMtDevil]

I'd be satisfied if we could play 5 against 5 instead of 5 against 8 so often...

Barnes reminds me of the kid in Little League the grew a wee bit taller than the rest of us and lorded over us for two years, until we all hit babe ruth ball and caught up with his narassistic butt. Turns out he wasn't special at all, just able to master some simple moves that made it seem he was head and shoulders above the rest of us. All in All, Barnes is who he is, I dont' see a major talent leap in year two. bring it.

[Mike Corey]

Mason Plumlee is returning, yes.

We're going to be extremely tall, extremely talented and extremely young next season. There will be flashes of brilliance and flashes of N.C. State-ness. But it'll be fun to watch the group learn to play together.

How fortunate that we'll have an extended pre-season to trigger the precipitation of the '11-12 squad's chemistry.

[FireOgilvie]

I don't understand this speculation that Duke will redshirt either MPIII or Murphy. Somebody convince me that I'm wrong. I'm not aware of any healthy, scholarship player taking a redshirt year. Football, of course. Basketball, where is the precedent? Why would either of these young men want to redshirt?

I don't know if MPIII will redshirt or not, but I don't see why it's such a big deal. I really really doubt that he plays in more than a few games all season for a handful of minutes each (early season blowouts). Why not save a year of eligibility so he can actually have an additional season as a contributor? He can still practice and go to games. It's a smart move. I think he can be a very solid player down the line, but he's extremely raw and thin right now (and he has 3 guys in front of him at his position).

I doubt Murphy redshirts, but you never know. Olek should have done it his freshman year and supposedly was encouraged to by the coaching staff (he declined). Unlike Olek and MPIII, I think Murphy could actually be an impact player in his first season.

[Mike Corey]

I don't understand this speculation that Duke will redshirt either MPIII or Murphy. Somebody convince me that I'm wrong. I'm not aware of any healthy, scholarship player taking a redshirt year. Football, of course. Basketball, where is the precedent? Why would either of these young men want to redshirt?

Brian Butch, Wisconsin. He opted to redshirt despite being a McDonald's All-American. His coach explained:

"Well nothing changed from a year ago to now about him being physically prepared and knowing what he is going up against. It isn’t about his basketball IQ, it isn’t about anything other than developing strength and stamina and I don’t know how many times you could say it until people will understand but I’ll be patient."

Brian Butch weight something like 67 pounds when he graduated from high school. He never became the game-changer the Badgers had hoped for, but he did average 12-plus points per game as a senior.

[FireOgilvie]

I'm really excited about Murphy. He's quick for ~6'8" and quite athletic. I think he's comparable to Singler (out of HS) except that he's actually quicker, which makes him well suited for the 3. Of course, Singler had an advantage in most other categories. Unfortunately, Singler's lack of quickness is what is holding him back in this year's draft.