Originally Posted by
roywhite
On the issue of redshirting under Coach K, there are two instances I can recall where it may have been a mistake not to redshirt a freshman player:
1. Erik Meek, coming off an accident in the summer, played 143 minutes in 1991-92 (a team that obviously had plenty of talent)
He became a productive inside player by his 4th year, and his redshirt senior year would have been 1995-96 on a team that could have really used him.
2. Lee Melchionni played 71 minutes on the 2002-03 team; he would have been nice to have around on the 2006-07 team
Of course, that's all in retrospect, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Coach K redshirt Marshall this year.
Moderators, I propose moving the redshirt discussion to its own thread.
Roy, these are good examples. I am opposed to redshirting him for a couple of prospective, rather than retrospective, reasons. First of all, I was not privy to the recruiting pitch our staff gave Marshall, but I am guessing that the possibility of Marshall's redshirting during the only year in which he'd have an opportunity to play with both of his brothers was not discussed much, if at all (if someone has info to the contrary, I stand corrected). I suspect that the discussion was along the lines of Marshall having an opportunity to earn his minutes and if he earns them, he would get them. Applying a non-med redshirt essentially is saying, "we are not going to give you an opportunity to earn minutes this year" (although an obvious counter argument is that they would be putting him in a position to earn more minutes four years down the road).
A second reason I oppose the redshirt is that I think it could make Duke vulnerable to negative recruiting from other schools who might argue to future recruits: "Look, you could go to Duke as an All-American and they could still end up redshirting you, whereas we have never done that before and won't do that to you now."
Third, in the eyes of big guys we are recruiting now (Tony Parker and Okafor), my guess is that if they were asked the question, they would prefer that Marshall not redshirt. Redshirting would put Marshall in Tony Parker's class and both anticipate playing the 5. In Okafor's situation, I'd imagine that he'd prefer to see a senior (in Marshall) and a junior (in Parker) ahead of him at his position, rather than two juniors.
"I don't like them when they are eating my azaleas or rhododendrons or pansies." - Coach K