I tend to be a bit wary of comparisons. But the one I've heard from people I respect is Chris Webber.
I hear that a lot, but the only problem is that Chris Webber had a massive, 7'3.5" wingspan, while Randle has short arms and an underwhelming 6'10" wingspan (that's the difference between Miles Plumlee and Henson/Anthony Davis). I also don't think Webber was quite the bull-in-a-china-shop Randle is, especially at the same stage; he's like a 6'9 fullback.
He's actually looked pretty similar to Lebron James physically, when I've seen him, maybe without a little of the high-end leaping ability. Skill and IQ-wise, he's obviously nowhere close, but I don't really think there is a great power-post comparison for Randle... which may well explain his recent attempts to develop a more Lebron-esque attacking game from the perimeter and high post. He already struggles a bit on the block against length if he can't simply bull his way to the rim.
People have always kind of thrown around the question "If Lebron didn't have such an incredible skill set for his size, could he have still made it as a very good PF if he embraced contact and focused his bruising physical gifts around the rim?" And IMO, Randle is the closest thing there is to an answer...
I know that internet comments are generally not considered worthy of discussion, but I thought that this one from an ESPN article on K in the Olympics was interesting, since it is signed as being from Randle's AAU coach:
His logic may be a bit oversimplified, but I hope that he is making similar recommendations to Julius. I'm sure that Matt Jones is.What can you say, Coach K is the ultimate Coach in the basketball Coaching profession. When Matthew Jones was making his decision on where to go to college I simply said to Matthew "if the United States of America can trust Coach K, Why can't you". Thank you Coach K for bringing Basketball Gold/Honor back home where it belongs.. Scott Pospichal Texas Titans Basketball
Per Scout, Julius Randle has Duke in his newly minted top 10, joining our blue devils are Texas, Kansas, Baylor, UNC, Kentucky, Florida, NC State, Oklahoma & Ok State. Nothing too eye opening here, however the article also mentions that FL has already locked up an official visit the weekend of the 6th in October. Would love to see Julius and Matt suit up in the duke blue next season.
http://scouthoops.scout.com/2/1215255.html
Per Watzone's twitterage, Duke will have an in-home with Julius on 9/11. Would love to be a fly on the wall for any of K's in-homes. Does anyone know what actually happens? Chit chat, dinner, and spiel? Powerpoint? Song and dance? Whatever it is, hope K's in the zone that night.
He usually has dinner with the family, talks to the parents about their expectations and what they want their kid to achieve, lets the parents ask questions about him or the university, talks to the recruit of course about how they will fit in the system and usually sets up some sort of time when he will contact them again for either a phone call, school visit, attending a game, etc...
I guess I'm particularly curious about the style of K's approach to these visits. Undoubtedly K, Cal, Roy and others will cover the same bases, but I imagine there is a certain art form to these visits and they each have their own strategies and style. How do they set themselves apart from each other? Would be interesting to see.
I would imagine it goes something like this -
No other program can match the atmosphere in Cameron, the training and video facilities. No one travels as well as we do and no one has more games on national tv than us. No one has had more consistent success on the court for as long as we have, ever. When it comes time to go pro, no one else can get you the feedback I can or set up you up with the connections I have.
Then he probably speaks directly to the parents about leadership, values and how the kid will grow up and always be a part of the Duke family.
I bet there's no ra-ra to it, just straight up "We're the best at everything we do".
The parents of our players often say that they trust K to take care of their children and to make them better men. The word "honest" often comes up as well.
In addition, I think I've read somewhere that K believes a good relatinship with the mom is one of the keys.
I also imagine that he talks about his principles (honesty, teamwork, "fist") and the role/player he sees the prospect filing, more than where Duke basketball is as a program. We're a pretty known commodity at this point.
It also helps that he can call up King James or Kobe, and asks if he'll fly to Paducah to meet the kid, too. ;>)
Randle moves to the top spot in the latest rivals poll ahead of Parker
http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.c...sp?CID=1401746
I have a question about your last comment, would that be allowed? It almost seems that it would be illegal given the tight reins the NCAA holds on recruiting. Now I could understand that the NCAA would have no interest if Kobe or King James came to Duke to teach an independant studies program that basically consisted of a pick up game and grade...
Numerous recruits have mentioned Coach K being upfront and honest with them. He doesn't promise them playing time or a starting spot, they'll have to work for it, no matter how highly ranked they are. That approach works for some recruits and not for others, but that's the way it is (Patrick Patterson chose to play for Kentucky instead after Billy Gillespie promised him 30 shots a game, if I remember correctly).
I also think Coach K carries an aura that no other coach can match. Not even Doc Rivers could intimidate him. Coach K doesn't care if your father is an NBA Coach, if you're not performing you're going to get benched. Again, certain players respond well to that style while others won't.
As for the Mom angle, education is of course a huge selling point. Duke is like the straight-A student you want your daughter to date. Unfortunately, she doesn't always choose him
"Son, do you want to have an impact on college basketball? Do you want to be one of the players that everyone in the nation knows about and who plays for the highest honors the college game has to offer? Well, here is a list of players at Duke who played in a Final Four, a list of guys who were All-ACC, a list of those who were All-American, a list of players who were first round draft picks, a list of players who won some kind of national award, a list of guys who played more than 20 games on national TV."
-Jason "oh, and by the way, each of these lists are longer than any other coach out there can show you" Evans
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?