Nope. Not a one of them. However, it was widely known that Dahntay and JWill were close and that's one of the reasons we got DJ.
http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/dahntay-jones
Totally agree. One way to combat not being able to get a true back-to-basket stud center in recruiting is to go big on the wings and at guards.
Coach K often talks about players just being bball players and not being set into positions. But does any of Duke's recent rosters really strike you as being all that versatile?
I think Coach K would like to get back to the early 90s style of play with lots of versatile guys on the court.
Here's our 2014 starting lineup, if all goes well: Sheed, Hood, Jabari, Randle/Murphy, Mp3/Randle. Just lots of versatility there, that can compete on the boards because the 1-3 positions are so big, and can switch every screen and force turnovers on defense, and can invert the offense by posting up Sheed and Hood and Jabari, and can space the court to drive and post up.
Ahhh, rosterwanking.
My memory tells me we recruited both Roshown and Dahntay. Of course, my memory tells me lots of things. I believe Roshown headed off to St. John's because Joey Beard headed to Duke. Beard transferred after his freshman year and Roshown became interested in Duke again ultimately leaving St. John's after two seasons.
Bob Green
I found it interesting that the mock draft linked above has Andre going in the second round to the Portland Trailblazers. I certainly think Andre has enough natural ability to play in the NBA, but if I'm an NBA gm im not drafting Andre unless he significantly improves his handle. I wonder if NBA scouts/gm see past that or if this draft is just taking a blind guess. Only time will tell...
I meant to ask this yesterday...why do you consider Hood a "second-tier SF"? He was a 5 star recruit rated 5th for his position, but 16th nationally. To put that in comparison with today, Sulaimon is a 4 star rated 5th for his position and 32 nationally. (Both stats according to Rivals.) I wouldn't consider Sulaimon "second tier" either, and Hood was up above him by a good margin.(I realize the postitions are not the same but the ratings still apply.)
http://rivals.yahoo.com/basketballre...O40Mholo7SO5B4
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
To be fair, Rivals is not generally considered to have a great basketball ratings service. Hood was the RSCI #27 recruit in 2011 (Gbinije #28), while Sulaimon is the RSCI #17 recruit in 2012 (and is only that low because Rivals is the only service that has him outside of the top 20).
Of course, Hood did have a good freshman year. But I also think it's confusing that we're going after wings right now.
My memory is that Duke looked at both of them, and liked them, but made offers to others. When they decided to transfer, Duke was somewhat familiar with them. Of course, my memory is no better than Bob's and certainly not as good as Jim's.
The new look at everyone who transfers approach seems like a huge change. Doesn't mean it's bad, but it's a big change.
I've seen this sentiment a few times on this board. Leaving Murphy and G out (since they are already here), I am curious to know how posters feel about Amile Jefferson vs. Rodney Hood. They are certainly comparable in size and somewhat comparable in abilities. If we could have one of them for 3-4 years which one would you want?
Dahntay Jones was in the high school class of 1998. Duke went after Corey Maggette, Dane Fife and Danny Miller from that class. The friendship with Jason Williams would have been irrelevant at that time.
McLeod was in the high school class of 1993. Duke was all in on Joey Beard from that class but also brought in Carmen Wallace, which suggests there was room for McLeod, had their been mutual interest.
I wonder if part of it is that we have four seniors this year, so we're losing a lot of bodies. Bringing in a transfer who would be eligible in 2013 means we add someone with much more experience than a new freshman would. It's kind of like the college equivalent of the one-and-done rule - we get a year or two to evaluate these guys before deciding if we should "recruit" them to join our program. On top of that, we get an "extra" year of them practicing with the team before they become eligible.
It also may be a response to the fact that our staff is going to be busy with Olympic work this summer and will not have as much time to devote to scouting/recruiting the Class of 2013. They have seen more of guys like Zeigler and Hood and Oriakhi (presumably) than they have of the current high school juniors. As of now, we have only two offers outstanding to the 2013 class, and those are out to the top two players in the class, so competition for them will be fierce.
"I don't like them when they are eating my azaleas or rhododendrons or pansies." - Coach K
Don't forget that Duke has one committment from the class of 2013.
It's been hard for Duke to make offers to the class of 2013 without knowing how all the class-of-2012 stuff would play out. I suspect Duke will offer a number of other players from that class long before the Olympics kick in. Lots of evaluation scheduled for the next few months. Lots.