Men's BBall Banquet

[Billy Dat]

I didn't see a thread on this topic, usually people who attended post their observations. I was attending via Twitter and it sounds like the Wojo departure really dominated the evening. Here are some links and tweets that help capture the vibes...

"Duke's Wojo, Parker, Hood in spotlight at annual banquet"
http://www.heraldsun.com/sports/duke...team-MVP-award

Laura Keeley tweets:

-Jon Scheyer introduced as an assistant coach here at the #Duke banquet

-K mentions the special people up in the stands. Clearly, no one told him the media was seated up here, too

-Special memories from this season K mentions: the UVA game at home (Amile keeping ball alive, Sheed’s crazy bounce 3, Amile’s steal)

-More K memories: The Maryland game, Tyler’s defense on that last shot that rimmed out. And the Carolina game at home, as a whole

-Andre thanks his teammates this year for welcoming him back and just treating him like one of the guys. That’s all he wanted, he says

-Andre’s video has the 3s he made against Baylor to send #Duke to the final four in 2010. Mary J Bilge’s The Living Proof the soundtrack

-Todd Z told a story about accidentally yawning at practice. Josh of giggling in a huddle after Kyrie got to him. Wojo unpleased both times

-Josh Hairston gets real emotional, starts crying as he thanks Tyler Thornton for being his guy

-Andre Dawkins used notecards for his speech. Josh Hairston had notebook paper. “It’s 2014, my notes are on my iPhone,” Tyler Thornton says

-Emotion creeping into Tyler Thornton’s voice as he thanks his hero, Nolan Smith @NdotSmitty

-Tyler mentions Kyrie ordering late night food at 1:30, asking him if he wants some just so he could tell him no. Gotta get right, get tight

-K mentions he went to 1 of Wojo’s soccer practices while recruiting him in high school. Just 1 other person watching soccer, too: Dean Smith

-“There’s never been a player that I’ve had that’s given more to the team and to me than Steve” - K on Wojo

-“I’m going to miss you terribly. I lost a brother this year, and I also lost a son.” K sniffling, talking about Wojo. Wojo teary eyed, too

-I mean there should be no doubt of how highly K thinks of Wojo. That’s his guy.

-Wojo said he’s part of 3 families: the Wojo, Duke & Krzyzewski family. Thanks K’s 3 daughters for letting him be their brother

-Wojo tells K he didn’t lose a son. He’ll always have his back

-K to the returning guys: “A lot of times something great happens after something tough happens. It makes great that much better.”

[Bluealum]

I didn't see a thread on this topic, usually people who attended post their observations. I was attending via Twitter and it sounds like the Wojo departure really dominated the evening. Here are some links and tweets that help capture the vibes...

"Duke's Wojo, Parker, Hood in spotlight at annual banquet"
http://www.heraldsun.com/sports/duke...team-MVP-award

Laura Keeley tweets:

-Jon Scheyer introduced as an assistant coach here at the #Duke banquet

-K mentions the special people up in the stands. Clearly, no one told him the media was seated up here, too

-Special memories from this season K mentions: the UVA game at home (Amile keeping ball alive, Sheed’s crazy bounce 3, Amile’s steal)

-More K memories: The Maryland game, Tyler’s defense on that last shot that rimmed out. And the Carolina game at home, as a whole

-Andre thanks his teammates this year for welcoming him back and just treating him like one of the guys. That’s all he wanted, he says

-Andre’s video has the 3s he made against Baylor to send #Duke to the final four in 2010. Mary J Bilge’s The Living Proof the soundtrack

-Todd Z told a story about accidentally yawning at practice. Josh of giggling in a huddle after Kyrie got to him. Wojo unpleased both times

-Josh Hairston gets real emotional, starts crying as he thanks Tyler Thornton for being his guy

-Andre Dawkins used notecards for his speech. Josh Hairston had notebook paper. “It’s 2014, my notes are on my iPhone,” Tyler Thornton says

-Emotion creeping into Tyler Thornton’s voice as he thanks his hero, Nolan Smith @NdotSmitty

-Tyler mentions Kyrie ordering late night food at 1:30, asking him if he wants some just so he could tell him no. Gotta get right, get tight

-K mentions he went to 1 of Wojo’s soccer practices while recruiting him in high school. Just 1 other person watching soccer, too: Dean Smith

-“There’s never been a player that I’ve had that’s given more to the team and to me than Steve” - K on Wojo

-“I’m going to miss you terribly. I lost a brother this year, and I also lost a son.” K sniffling, talking about Wojo. Wojo teary eyed, too

-I mean there should be no doubt of how highly K thinks of Wojo. That’s his guy.

-Wojo said he’s part of 3 families: the Wojo, Duke & Krzyzewski family. Thanks K’s 3 daughters for letting him be their brother

-Wojo tells K he didn’t lose a son. He’ll always have his back

-K to the returning guys: “A lot of times something great happens after something tough happens. It makes great that much better.”

Thank you for this!! Was waiting to see some news from the banquet!

[MCFinARL]

Lots of informative tweets by Adam Rowe as well (this is not all of them):

--Coach K talking now, thanking the crowd for coming out on a Wednesday night to honor the team, and specifically the seniors.

--K thanking Andre Dawkins for coming to Duke a year early out of high school. Says they wouldn't have won title in 2010 without him.

--K also thanks Dawkins for choosing to come back this past year. Says he could've gone anywhere.

--Dawkins says he's so thankful for the support of the best fans in the world. Says this group was a lot of fun, always hung out, tight knit.

--Dawkins says he and Wojo have always had their differences, but he was the first person to reach out when it was time to decide what to do.

--Dawkins talking about K recruited him when he was 16 years old. "When Coach tells you to do something, you pretty much just do it."

--Andre Dawkins: "It's been an amazing five years. I wouldn't have wanted to spend them anywhere else."

--K says they recruited Thornton and Hairston partly because of how much their moms rode the refs during AAU.

--Josh Hairston says he spent most of his freshman year in awe of Duke, but his soph year he really started to understand what Duke was about.

--Josh Hairston getting emotional talking his best friend, his right hand man: Tyler Thornton.

--Hairston: "Duke is where my heart is and where it always will be."

--K says he told Tyler Thornton when he was recruiting him he wasn't as good as Kyrie, probably wouldn't start & would be a senior captain.

--K says you can't tell kids that now and expect them to come to your program.

--Tyler Thornton gives some love to @NDotSmitty. Says he was his childhood idol and always wanted to be like him. Can never repay him.

--Tyler says emotionally that he doesn't know how he ever would have been able to do the things he did here at Duke without @NdotSmitty

--K says for the last 15 years, Steve Wojciechowski has made him better. Says Wojo was put on this earth to make people better.

--Wojo says he flew back to Durham on his plane. Continues, "I guess it's not so bad being a head coach."

--Wojo overwhelmed tonight coming back to Duke. Says he doesn't understand how he's been so fortunate to do all the things he's done.

--Wojo to K: "You came in my home as a 17 year old and said you would do your best everyday and you'd expect me to do the same."

--"There will never be a day that goes by when I won't think about what you told me, did for me and taught me." - Wojo to K

Some of the speeches and tribute videos are also available on Youtube. This Youtube account has a lot of them. http://www.youtube.com/user/RockstarJamie12

[Son of Jarhead]

Well, that about covers it...


Laura Keeley's tweets pretty much covered everything, but I'll add a couple things:

K said he would write all of Wojo's Marquette players and first, he would tell them not to yawn or giggle (nodding to Todd & Josh), but then he would tell them to listen to Wojo and do what he tells them, and Wojo will make them better every day (just as he made K better every day).

Andre mentioned that he remembered the day Todd yawned at practice their freshmen year and deadpanned that he learned from it and made sure never to yawn at practice. He also thanked Wojo because he was the first one he talked to when returning this year and all Wojo asked about was if Andre was ok and had the time away helped him, nothing about basketball. This Andre used as a main point when talking about the "family" that is Duke. He also said that family was what made his decision to come to Duke, and stay at Duke, an easy one for him. K made a point to reiterate "family" to Andre and pointed out that we wouldn't have that 4th banner with out Andre. K asked Jon if he remembered a big dunk by Andre that year and teased Jon by asking him if he ever dunked.

All the tribute videos were awesome, as usual. I really wish I could have a collection of those to watch over and over... Oh, wait... THANK YOU, MCfinARL! I did not know that existed... Thank you, thank you for the link!

The TT line, directed at Andre (notecards) & Josh (notepaper) about it being 2014 and HE had HIS notes on his iPhone was the best of the night.

I'm sure I could come up with something else, but I've gotta jet... work beckons.

[airowe]

Thought you all might enjoy this photo gallery of last night's banquet:

Photo Gallery

[dukefan1980]

How great is Wojo's goodbye video?! I've seen it before at a K Academy and everyone in the room had a tear in their eyes. What a remarkable man! He gave all that he had to Duke and will be sorely missed!

Lots of informative tweets by Adam Rowe as well (this is not all of them):



Some of the speeches and tribute videos are also available on Youtube. This Youtube account has a lot of them. http://www.youtube.com/user/RockstarJamie12

[pfrduke]

Thought you all might enjoy this photo gallery of last night's banquet:

Photo Gallery

They make the guys all wear the same suit, huh? Interesting.

[Billy Dat]

They make the guys all wear the same suit, huh? Interesting.

Maybe they were gifts? I heard the new NCAA unlimited food and drink policy has been expanded to include haberdashery.

Rodney gets Defensive Player of the Year, eh? Perhaps a case of being the tallest in a room full of dwarves? (rim shot!)

[Henderson]

I've never understood the man crush with Brad Stevens, and I think Wojo is now on the short list of possible successors. Let's see how he does at Marquette, and not just by looking at his W-L record. Ignoring that was part of Tom Butters' brilliance in hiring K.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Maybe they were gifts? I heard the new NCAA unlimited food and drink policy has been expanded to include haberdashery.

Rodney gets Defensive Player of the Year, eh? Perhaps a case of being the tallest in a room full of dwarves? (rim shot!)

Wow. We just weren't a defensive team last year, were we?

[MCFinARL]

They make the guys all wear the same suit, huh? Interesting.

Also kind of interesting that nobody, with the possible exception of Coach K (can't really tell here), is wearing a blue suit. Admittedly, a Duke blue suit would be a bit odd (though it works for that guy in the front row of the Cameron Crazies), but still...guess maybe blue not so popular a choice for younger folks.

[Son of Jarhead]

They make the guys all wear the same suit, huh? Interesting.

I noticed that too last night. Also noticed matching ties, the four seniors had on one design while everyone else had another.

[Edouble]

-Tyler mentions Kyrie ordering late night food at 1:30, asking him if he wants some just so he could tell him no. Gotta get right, get tight

I have read and reread this. Can someone explain what it means?

Kyrie ordered some late night food. OK... typical college thing to do. But Kyrie did it just so that he could ask Tyler if he would like some food and Tyler had to say no because he was on a diet or something? Or did this occur when Kyrie was injured, but generally players are not allowed to eat after a certain time of night?

[MCFinARL]

I have read and reread this. Can someone explain what it means?

Kyrie ordered some late night food. OK... typical college thing to do. But Kyrie did it just so that he could ask Tyler if he would like some food and Tyler had to say no because he was on a diet or something? Or did this occur when Kyrie was injured, but generally players are not allowed to eat after a certain time of night?

Interesting--I have no more idea than you do, but I assumed it meant that Kyrie would order food, offer Tyler some and, when Tyler agreed, Kyrie would say no to taunt him. Kind of a sophomoric (or freshmanic) guy prank.

But I don't know.

[wk2109]

I have read and reread this. Can someone explain what it means?

Kyrie ordered some late night food. OK... typical college thing to do. But Kyrie did it just so that he could ask Tyler if he would like some food and Tyler had to say no because he was on a diet or something? Or did this occur when Kyrie was injured, but generally players are not allowed to eat after a certain time of night?

I remember Tyler talked in a DukeBluePlanet video about gaining a lot of weight during freshman year because he ate a lot of bad food late at night. He then cleaned up his eating habits and lost around 15 pounds. I'm guessing his story was from the period he was trying to lose that weight.

[Edouble]

I remember Tyler talked in a DukeBluePlanet video about gaining a lot of weight during freshman year because he ate a lot of bad food late at night. He then cleaned up his eating habits and lost around 15 pounds. I'm guessing his story was from the period he was trying to lose that weight.

Thank you for the reference. That fits, and now "Get right, get tight" makes a lot more sense.

[MCFinARL]

Thank you for the reference. That fits, and now "Get right, get tight" makes a lot more sense.

Yes, Laura Keeley's article about the banquet confirms this interpretation. There is, however, a clear sense that Kyrie was teasing Tyler a bit as he knew Tyler was dieting. http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/04/17/3792018/thoughts-from-dukes-banquet-seniors.html

[Son of Jarhead]

Josh's recounting of the time he and Andre were on a bus going to an AAU tourney when they were 16 (at least, I think he said 16) and Andre sitting down next to him and saying that they would be going to Duke together, as well as Tyler's comment that Nolan was his idol, got me to thinking. We've had quite a little run on friends from the DC area... Nolan, Andre, Tyler, Josh, & Quin. Of, course, we've always done well up there in recruiting, but these guys seem more connected together than most. I'm sure Quin will recount his close relationship with Nolan next year to tie a nice bow on things.

[dball]

We've had quite a little run on friends from the DC area... Nolan, Andre, Tyler, Josh, & Quin. .

Andre is from Hampton Roads, not DC. Josh is from Fredericksburg though he did transfer to play in a more competitive league (just senior year IIRC).

Andre, Josh, JJ...lot of good Virginia recruits.