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  1. #101

    Murphy becomes a pretty critical guy now, IMO

    Leaving aside the wringing of hands over whether Silent G got enough playing time last year or what prompted him to transfer, I'm primarily interested in the effect on the next year's team. This development obviously now makes the emergence of Murphy all the more important to next year's success. As many have noted, the 2011 team had guards and big men, but was lacking on the wing and lacking in versatility in general, particularly on the defensive end. I saw Gbinije and Murphy as the potential solutions to that problem, as both seem to have the size and skill-set to play/guard multiple positions.

    With Silent G now gone, that responsibility falls to Murphy alone. Without him, we are looking at basically the same team as last year in terms of make-up -- several guards who can chuck it from long-range (Curry, Rasheed, Dawkins) and a few big men who have great size (Plumlee, Kelly, MP3). Without Rivers, we lose the slashing/attacking element on offense and now without Silent G we lose a potential option on the wing. That's certainly not to say that Gbinije was the panacea to these problems (or that I have any special insight into whether he would be truly good enough to contribute next year), but Silent G at least offered a possibility of improvement in this area. It strikes me that we are now very reliant on Alex to step up his game. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised by Andre next year, but I sort of think he is who he is at this point.

  2. #102
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    I'm bummed to hear SG is leaving. I'm going to have a moment of Silent G.

    OK, that's done. I wish Mike success wherever he goes (as long at it's not CH). I felt for months that Quinn and Mike were the keys to our tournament success. With Quinn having knee issues and Mike getting sick and not progressing, our season didn't go where it could have. Before I found out that Mike had been quite sick I really thought that not bringing him along was a huge miss on the part of our coaching staff. Even knowing he was sick I still feel there was an issue.

    I do hope that this means that Alex is very ready to contribute in a big way. We will need him.

  3. #103
    Quote Originally Posted by sagegrouse View Post
    Cause and effect. Ya think there's a reason he didn't get more PT? --sage
    I'm going to hazard a guess and say yes. What that reason was and if it was the right one, well that might be up for debate.

  4. #104
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Bluealum View Post
    Agreed. Seemed like a great, high character kid, who valued academics and certainly appeared to be a very good athlete with a lot of potential. All the best to him in his future endeavors, I hope he finds what he is looking for.
    I agree, as well. This somewhat reminds me of Boykin, who seemed like a "Duke kind of guy" when he came here, and I was sad to see him go, but wished him well. Likewise, Mike seems the same to me. He has always come across as a good kid, quiet and reserved, and very bright. He also seems to have a lot of basketball potential. I will miss watching him grow, and I hope he finds happiness and success wherever he goes.
    -Son of Jarhead

    The Duke fan formerly known as BuschDevil

  5. #105
    Quote Originally Posted by ArtVandelay View Post
    Leaving aside the wringing of hands over whether Silent G got enough playing time last year or what prompted him to transfer, I'm primarily interested in the effect on the next year's team. This development obviously now makes the emergence of Murphy all the more important to next year's success. As many have noted, the 2011 team had guards and big men, but was lacking on the wing and lacking in versatility in general, particularly on the defensive end. I saw Gbinije and Murphy as the potential solutions to that problem, as both seem to have the size and skill-set to play/guard multiple positions.

    With Silent G now gone, that responsibility falls to Murphy alone. Without him, we are looking at basically the same team as last year in terms of make-up -- several guards who can chuck it from long-range (Curry, Rasheed, Dawkins) and a few big men who have great size (Plumlee, Kelly, MP3). Without Rivers, we lose the slashing/attacking element on offense and now without Silent G we lose a potential option on the wing. That's certainly not to say that Gbinije was the panacea to these problems (or that I have any special insight into whether he would be truly good enough to contribute next year), but Silent G at least offered a possibility of improvement in this area. It strikes me that we are now very reliant on Alex to step up his game. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised by Andre next year, but I sort of think he is who he is at this point.
    Having Alex and Andre as the two options at '3' is a pretty good situation really. Not many rosters have that kind of 2 man punch at the 3 spot around the country. We've all heard K's accolades for Alex and the Singler comparisons he has elicited. He has also put on strength and muscle and now knows the system. Furthermore I am definitely not in the 'is what it is' camp with Andre.

    I submit that at each level of hoops, from grade school to high school, to college, to the pro's players bring physical talent and basketball IQ. Physical talent, I would argue, is much harder to improve upon than basketball IQ, but basketball IQ can compensate for physical limitations to a point. Paulus had a high b-ball IQ, but hit his limit based on his physical talent in college. Kendall Marshall has a very high basketball IQ which carried him through college, but I suspect his physical talent will limit him in the pro's (it was good he left early when his value was high). Andre has the physical talent, and he still has a chance to develop his b-ball IQ. I don't believe we have seen the best of AD yet.

  6. #106
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Deeetroit City
    Quote Originally Posted by ncexnyc View Post
    ... Seems like things aren't always sunshine and lollipops in Kville ...
    It is when you keep on your royal blue glasses!

    Me, I'm a glass half full kinda guy. To me this indicates that "G" wasn't seeing great opportunity in his future. For next year, I hope that means Alex is expected to be in the rotation. Mason coming back pushes Alex more into the 3 than the 4.

    For the year after, this could suggest we are expecting success in next year's recruiting class with a tall athletic wing ...

    Good luck to Mike, I hope he winds up in a good situation

  7. #107
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Undisclosed
    Good luck {g}. I hope you end up in a happy situation and do well. OPK

  8. #108
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by Channing View Post
    Being wed to this idea that upper classmen are inherently better or more deserving of PT over freshmen, unless the freshman is a stud (see Kyrie and Austin) is going to result in more transfers in years to come.
    Are you confusing Coach K with Dean Smith? Coach K is certainly not wedded to the idea that upper classmen are inherently better.

    Greg Paulus, Billy McAffrey, Mike Chappell and Nate James all say hello.

  9. #109
    They are all still just freshman though. Really, Murphy is just a freshman. I think it hurts Duke in the bench depth. They won't be as deep. He could have been a really good player.

  10. #110
    Quote Originally Posted by gus View Post
    Are you confusing Coach K with Dean Smith? Coach K is certainly not wedded to the idea that upper classmen are inherently better.
    Yeah, I think people generalize a little too much from a few specific examples. Wojo playing over Avery and Paulus over Nolan seem to be the ones that get the most play - but that very well may say more about K's attachment to those specific players than a trend. (Plus as you note, Paulus did eventually head to the pine.)

    There's a laundry list of Duke freshman who have gotten big minutes as freshmen, and not all of them were the elite Kyrie/ JWill level talents. (Scheyer, Duhon, Carrawell, Thomas and Paulus all come to mind as relatively recent examples.)

    Anyway, sorry to see Gbinije go. I always feel like the university has failed a kid that chooses to go elsewhere, unless it's an academic situation (obviously not the case here). Sucks but it's part of the game.

  11. #111
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Cary, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by DeBlueDevil View Post
    Not saying that this will be the case with Silent G but I feel most of the time when players transfer from Duke it usually doesn't turn out to be a total loss for the team and the player doesn't really end up living up to the lofty incoming expectations elsewhere.

    But I'm just speaking with out doing any research honestly.
    Other than Billy McCaffrey, I can't think of a transfer who left who we then really regretted losing, except maybe Elliott Williams, and even then we won the title without him so we did okay for ourselves. Not trying to put down our former players, but I do think there's a reason that people transfer and a lot of times it's because they weren't as prepared for college ball as everyone thought. Like you said, this may or may not wind up being the case with Gbinije.

    I think a positive way to look at things would be that we run a high-level program and every year we bring in top recruits who are very accomplished in high school and accustomed to being the star. There's always a degree of uncertainty in evaluating players, for any school, and there's only so much playing time to go around, so inevitably some players are going to find that Duke doesn't work for them, or that they'd be better off going elsewhere. Sometimes players leave, and other times they're willing to play a supporting role (Nate James comes to mind as a guy that could have started at a lot of other schools and there were in fact rumors that we was going to transfer, but he instead decided to stay).

    If nobody every transferred away from Duke, that probably wouldn't be a good thing either.

    We basically have ten guys who would qualify for being "in the rotation" next year - Quinn, Tyler, Seth, Rasheed, Andre, Murphy, Josh, Ryan, Mason, and Marshall. Coach K typically plays a 7-man rotation, maybe 8. Someone was going to get pushed for time. Even without Gbinije, someone will still be playing fewer minutes than they "deserve."

  12. #112
    Heard he was a good kid and think he will a long and successful career ahead of him.

  13. #113
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham
    This is unfortunate, I really think Gbinije could've been solid player for Duke. That said, this does place more importance on Murphy. I also wonder if this has anything to do with Amile Jefferson's upcoming decision.

  14. #114
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Los Angeles
    Quote Originally Posted by Big Pappa View Post
    Although I certainly hate to see G leave, I think that you are right about his meeting with the coaches. In fact, in the Herald-Sun article about it by Steve Wiseman he has a quote from Frank (Mike's Dad):

    “We were still on the fence and wanted to know more about his role going forward,” Frank Gbinije said in a telephone interview. “He gave us general plans from general perspective. He felt (Michael) would have more opportunities this season with potential change in the system. It was all promising.”

    It seems that G wasn't happy with where he stood in regard to playing time - simple as that. On the bright side though, I think this is a strong indicator of how confident our coaches are with Alex, as well as how much G respects Alex as a player. If Mike thinks that he would have trouble getting minutes after practicing for a year with Alex, that is a great indicator of just how good Alex really is.
    I was going to post essentially the same thing. While there are certainly a number of negatives about Mike transferring out, including feeding some negative perceptions about Duke's player development, I think one of the silver linings is, or at least potentially could be, the idea that Mike knew he wasn't going to be beating Murphy out for minutes at the small forward position. If so, that is really encouraging about Murphy's development and readiness to assume major minutes at a position where we had essentially nobody last year.

  15. #115
    this is also made harder based on AR's glowing comments that Gbinijie was really a high talent kind of player. Would have liked to see that prophecy come to fruition.
    My Quick Smells Like French Toast.

  16. #116
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by UrinalCake View Post
    Other than Billy McCaffrey, I can't think of a transfer who left who we then really regretted losing,
    Duke won the title after he transferred too. I suppose the '93 team would have been better with a Senior McCaffrey, but I think the drop off that year was in the front court.

  17. #117
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Greenville, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by g-money View Post
    I have no idea what the reason is for Gbinijie's transfer, but here's what makes it a real bummer in my mind: Prior to his freshman season, it seemed like he really wanted to be a Dukie. Unlike many players who draw out their recruitment for more publicity or a better chance at immediate PT, Silent G came to a Carolina game, liked what he saw, and committed shortly thereafter (without any stunts, might I add).

    It's always sad when a kid who is so eager to don a Duke uniform ends up not feeling that way in the end.
    My sentiments exactly! Just can't understand why he couldn't get any playing time...SMDH!

  18. #118
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Matches View Post
    There's a laundry list of Duke freshman who have gotten big minutes as freshmen, and not all of them were the elite Kyrie/ JWill level talents. (Scheyer, Duhon, Carrawell, Thomas and Paulus all come to mind as relatively recent examples.)
    I agree with your main point, but disagree with your statement here. Duhon was the #6 prospect in the country coming out of high school. He was an elite prospect. And even he came off the bench for much of the season until Boozer's injury. Carrawell averaged 16 mpg and Thomas averaged 15 mpg as freshmen, and both arguably only saw those minutes because of a real lack of alternatives. And it was either going to be Scheyer or Henderson playing major minutes along with Paulus and Nelson on the wings because we didn't have anyone else to do it (thanks to the 2003, 2004, and 2005 recruiting classes having only 3 key players (only 1 upperclassman) returning for the 2006-2007 season. Paulus started because we again had a shortage of guards in the 2005-2006 season, and he was a top-15 recruit.

    It is pretty rare for a freshman to play major minutes at Duke unless said freshman was a top-10/15 prospect in his class. It really only happens when there is a complete absence of players at his possession.

  19. #119
    Quote Originally Posted by MulletMan View Post
    Maybe there were other factors that we don't know about as well.
    I'd guess, if wildly, that this is an accurate statement, that some non-basketball things were at play here.

    Sticking to what is less, if still somewhat, speculative, I assume almost no one would disagree that it's very likely that Michael has been thinking about his role on the team next season, which, in shorthand, is PT.

    In that regard, the wonderful news that Mason will return was perhaps, domino-like, less than wonderful to Michael. For, had Mason departed, and absent any decision yet from Amile or Tony, we have to assume that Alex would have spent lots of time next season at the 4. [If you don't agree with that, you must think that Josh and Marshall would - if they were 2 of Duke's only 3 bigs - each get about 25 mpg each next season.]

    Michael would, in the no-Mason/no-TP/no-AJ scenario, have been competing with Seth, Andre, and Rasheed for PT on the wing, and Michael would have had the advantage of being the only true SF among the wings. But Mason's return likely means that the backup bigs are Josh and Marshall, thus allowing Alex to compete for SF/wing PT.

    I don't know whether all the chatter about Rodney Hood "hurt" Michael. Obviously Hood would redshirt next season, but the idea that Duke "needs" Hood is not, whatever it is, a statement of confidence in Michael. But speculation about Parker, Jefferson, and Hood is, right now, still speculation. Mason's return is a fact. And while Alex may split his time between wing/SF and the 4, he will certainly compete for some PT at wing/SF. And while Rasheed is no wing/SF, he is a combo/wing, so he, too, would compete with Michael for PT.

    Not to mention the great hope that Jabari Parker will arrive in 2013...

    I want to echo the disappointment and frustration expressed by several previous posters, and say further that I'm likely to follow Michael's career with another team rather more closely than I did the post-Duke years of Boateng, Boykin, and Czyz. It may be that those fellows disappeared from my view because they all went way west. But I think I'll want to keep up with Michael. I really hope he finds a place where he can shine. Wish it had been in CIS.

  20. #120

    :(

    i need a new hero...

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