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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!

    Podcast #63 with a special guest!

    Donald was unavailable so we wrangled in former ESPN hoops writer (and current Bleacher Report editor) Jordan Brenner to join us. He's someone who has gotten very close to the Duke program and others in the college basketball world. You won't want to miss his insight into the insanity that is the life of a "student athlete" and the issue of paying players. Some great stuff here!

    Be sure to reach out to Jordan on Twitter if you have any questions for him.

    Timestamps --
    0:00 Jason and Sam are here, but where is Donald?
    1:00 In Donald’s place, we are joined by Bleacher Report’s Jordan Brenner, formerly of ESPN The Magazine
    2:15 Recap of the Florida victory, starting with Jordan who was at the game
    3:50 Sam says the most impressive player on the floor was Amile Jefferson
    6:00 Jordan talks about Duke’s depth and what he saw from the big men when he visited with the team during preseason practices
    10:00 Jason and Jordan start talking about PGs and Duke’s ability to move the ball
    19:50 Jordan has a warning, the team D needs to get better
    23:55 Let’s reflect on the Michigan St game, and the greatness that was Matt Jones’ D
    27:55 Jason marvels at how we got to 7-1 with only 6 players
    30:45 Why are we talking about the Maine game? Because it was our fist look at Tatum and Bolden!
    34:05 Jordan says Luke Kennard is, “pretty good at basketball.”
    35:00 UNLV preview. This is not the UNLV of the past.
    40:35 Jason interviews Jordan. First question – how is the sausage made?
    43:20 Jordan riffs on the notion of paying athletes, but he can’t really decide how to fix the broken system
    48:30 Jason and Jordan talk about the reality of players being paid under the table
    55:00 Jordan talks about his Giant Killer project at ESPN and how to figure out who is going to bust your bracket in March
    1:00:40 Player of the week… you only have 2 choices!
    1:05:30 Parting Shot – Sam loves to party with Dukies, Jordan actually wants to do this with us again some time, and Jason marvels at Klay Thompson

    -Jason "if you don't already subscribe to the pod on iTunes... what is wrong with you?" Evans
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  2. #2
    Thank you , thank you, thank you for the Podcast. I look so forward to it and really appreciate all your work that goes into it.

    This was a really good podcast. I listen to them all. Really enjoyed the guest who brought some neat insight on athletes / academics / college balance.

    A few of comments just off the top of my head from this week.

    1. I told my sons and dad when we were at CDTC that there was no way Kennard would not be on the court for Duke a lot this year. I see him as a potentially better NBA player long term than even Grayson (and that is saying a lot). He can be very successful as a pro with the size and skill he has offensively. I think he can be a great shooter at pro level aka J.J. -- Who else see Kennard as being a really good pro? Even all-star maybe? I want him to stay at Duke 4 years, haha.

    2. There was a discussion about 'giant killer' predictions with the guest today. He brought up the Mercer and Lehigh games (and he did apologize for the examples), as upsets that no statistical model would have given good odds on. The Lehigh game was off the radar, but we did have a major injury to deal with, Ryan Kelly. Ryan was a key player.

    3. Con't from #2: The Mercer game should have been an upset alert for Duke. I saw it before the game and called it as a scary game. Mercer had 7 seniors in the rotation which I knew would bring good chemistry. Duke had significant issues that year with defensive consistency and I was thinking Mercer would get some easy points. Lastly, as much as I liked Jabari and Rodney, I knew they were going to charge the lane and attack the rim, which was the perfect setup for a disciplined veteran Mercer team to force travels, bad shots, and or travels. I remember watching it all happen right before my eyes. Did anyone else see this one?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham
    Great podcast again! Always look forward to these and wish that they are longer to sustain me on my hellish commutes in California.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Quote Originally Posted by CY_devil View Post
    Great podcast again! Always look forward to these and wish that they are longer to sustain me on my hellish commutes in California.
    Longer? Really? I try to keep us under control and keep it always in the hour kind of range, unless we have a special guest who demands time and we also have big news to discuss.

    Do others feel the same? Shorter? Longer? Just right?
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    Longer? Really? I try to keep us under control and keep it always in the hour kind of range, unless we have a special guest who demands time and we also have big news to discuss.

    Do others feel the same? Shorter? Longer? Just right?
    I sympathize with the California commuter but for those of us who have a more Raleigh-sized commute, a longer pod would take about 4 trips to finish

    I think it's just right as is- just adjust to how much there is to discuss, and you guys have done a great job of doing that.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham
    I want to reiterate - these podcasts are awesome. I guess more of a good thing is always better on my book

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Mount Kisco, NY
    Jordan Brenner was an excellent guest. He is the second college basketball writer I have heard, in the past year, discuss how widespread it is that player's extended circles (families, friends, influencers) get paid. The other was Gary Parrish this summer on an episode of "CBS Eye on College Basketball Podcast" (8/19 episode - http://podbay.fm/show/268800565/e/14...50?autostart=1)

    While Jordan didn't go quite as far as Parrish, both basically said that if you think your program is clean, it's not. That doesn't mean a school directly paid the player (cause that's not how it works), but if you examined every player on a top team, including Duke, someone attached to a majority of the players got money from someone attached to an agent. There are certainly exceptions, but it is true in most cases. It makes sense, but it's not something we choose to think about very much.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Cary, NC
    I agree with coots regarding the Mercer upset. I remember before the brackets were announced that season, some sportswriter wrote an article saying that Mercer was a nightmare team and that whoever got matched up against them was gonna be screwed. They had experienced guards who shot the three well, which fit into Jordan's criteria. He didn't go into detail as to what characteristics in the favored team make them more likely to BE upset, but I'd have to imagine that poor defense and heavy reliance on the 3 are pretty high. I'm also curious what his model predicted about MSU's chances of getting upset last season. I didn't see that one coming at all.

    Good discussion about athletes getting paid - I agree with the notion that a viable D league in which the athletes get comparable exposure to playing in college and also get paid a more competitive salary is the best answer. Regarding whether college players ever accept money to commit to a certain school, I had this discussion with a friend who is a college basketball fan with no allegiance to any team. He assumes this goes on everywhere. I told him I don't think it happens at Duke, that if it did happen someone would eventually find out. Surely if Duke went around offering money to all of the guys they recruit, at some point one of them would tell the media about it. But I also had to admit that I don't really know for sure that it doesn't happen at Duke, I just believe so based on what I know about Coach K and the program, and honestly because I'm a blind homer.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Mount Kisco, NY
    Quote Originally Posted by UrinalCake View Post
    IRegarding whether college players ever accept money to commit to a certain school, I had this discussion with a friend who is a college basketball fan with no allegiance to any team. He assumes this goes on everywhere. I told him I don't think it happens at Duke, that if it did happen someone would eventually find out. Surely if Duke went around offering money to all of the guys they recruit, at some point one of them would tell the media about it. But I also had to admit that I don't really know for sure that it doesn't happen at Duke, I just believe so based on what I know about Coach K and the program, and honestly because I'm a blind homer.
    My takeaway from the various articles/pods is that it's not so much the school paying for a player to come. It's more agents paying $ so that the player eventually chooses to be represented by them, which might have nothing to do with the school. Where the schools are more involved is around the sneaker companies, and there are a thousand stories of a kid who plays for a Nike or Adidas or Under Armour AAU team winding up on a college team tied to that same sneaker company. That seems so common place that it is actually a surprise when a kid crosses those lines to go from one to the other. K and Duke, as Nike stalwarts, are part of this. Part of the Team USA sniping - the K advantage in recruiting - was related to the Nike presence as Team USA's primary sponsor.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Baltimore
    Quote Originally Posted by CY_devil View Post
    Great podcast again! Always look forward to these and wish that they are longer to sustain me on my hellish commutes in California.
    They could set up a podcast of Cameron barking angrily as the names of former and current UNC players are read out loud. There's no limit to that pup's emotion!

    I feel like the length is just right at the moment. I definitely look forward to every new podcast release. It's nice to listen to other unabashed Duke fans discuss the team.
    Duke '03
    Tent 1 '99/'00

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Quote Originally Posted by DukeDevil View Post
    They could set up a podcast of Cameron barking angrily as the names of former and current UNC players are read out loud. There's no limit to that pup's emotion!
    This is where Cam typically listens to the podcast from... sitting under the table while I prattle away.

    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    This is where Cam typically listens to the podcast from... sitting under the table while I prattle away.


    Cam looks really thrilled with the whole thing.

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