Even sportswriters can't spell Shelden.
Even sportswriters can't spell Shelden.
Ha ha. Yeah, I don't know much about his game honestly. Lots of the Euro sites are high on him. Gonzaga has been on him for two years. Wojo just called him for the first time a week ago. Kansas has started to recruit him real hard of late.
Big guys generally take a while to develop, but there are exceptions. He's 19 years old (I'm pretty sure on that one) so he could go pro but he wants to play in college.
Bleacher Report can be useful as a clearinghouse for articles from reputable sites. But I have not been impressed by the quality of their original work.
The Polish guy? Color me skeptical. To me, this only makes sense if he is a significant upgrade over Marshall Plumlee. Perhaps he is. But 280-pounds is awfully big to play Duke's brand of man-to-man defense.
Then again, I guess he could set pretty decent screens, inasmuch as that's all Duke big men are asked to do.
Last edited by Bob Green; 04-22-2012 at 06:24 PM. Reason: Fix quote tag
It's also very close to Marty Nessley and Matt Christensen size.
Mason Plumlee and Marshall Plumlee, with a sprinking of Ryan Kelly as-needed, is more than enough for the center spot for 2012-13.
Obviously, Duke needs more post help for 2014. Is Karnowski good enough to play in 2014? Is he better than guys like Nichols, Meeks and Anya in the class of 2013? [Randle is a special case]. What are Duke's chances with top post players in the class of 2013? These are questions Duke needs to address before offering Karnowski. It does no one any favors to just bring in a warm body.
Last edited by Bob Green; 04-22-2012 at 06:29 PM. Reason: Fix quote tag
I'm not a fan of BR but saw it there first before I saw it on Duke report which is why I included it.
We have 2 centers, both named Plumlee. We have a third guy (Kelly) who is probably better suited defensively at C than at PF given his lack of quickness. Center is, aside from SG, arguably the deepest position we have.
I'm not saying we should pass on a 7-footer. But getting a third true center isn't going to address the points of concern for this team.
I'd prefer a lifelong fan like Nichols who would likely stay 3-4 years and be "all in". I just don't completely trust these supposedly NBA-ready European bigs who say they want to play college ball - in general, it seems pretty obvious that they just want to increase their stateside exposure before jumping to the league.
I would think that Nichols (6'8" PF - 2013) and Przemek (7'1" C - 2012) could coexist. They both look good to me in the limited videos. ESPN has Nichols at a 92 (out of the top 60); that looks like it should change.
I followed the European championships off and on via videos, and I was impressed with Karnowski. I expect he is going to become an excellent player, often a man amongst boys, though he might play best at around 265-270. He already has some significant basketball skills developed against some tough competition. I had been aware that Gonzaga was recruiting him heavily for some time, and am pleasantly surprised that Duke is making a run at him. Though it may be too late in the process, one never knows. In my opinion, he would be a real recruiting coup.
Interesting, thanks. The highlight reel looks promising, but then again they always do. Even selected best plays cannot make him look faster than he is. He looks more mobile than Z and has even better hops, :-) Is he potentially as smart defensively and as a rebounder? Don't know, but there is a something to the ol' Can't coach seven feet. On defense his feet don't have to be faster than a penetrating guards feet, he just needs his hands to be. Looks like long arms.
No reason to hoard the scholarships. Three or four seniors graduate, and with {g} gone there are a lot of spots open. Even if Dre red-shirts and Duke picks up Hood or Jefferson they would still have 4 scholarships for 2013. Perfectly reasonable to use one more for 2012 and have "only" 3-5 available for 2013 class (Hood and Jefferson and Karnowski would allow only 3). Obviously the main use would be for 2013-14 and beyond. A year of training seems valuable for a big man.
I saw this on the TP thread.
"This boils down to the fact that UCLA did everything right to get him. They signed his AAU coach"
Doesn't being able to sign a recruit's AAU coach seem wrong?