Jeter Gone

[CDu]

There was a point in the summer before his junior year when Randolph was touted as the No. 1 player in his class. I could be misremembering, I think he was the only rising junior on the US Under 18 National Team that went to Moscow and won the world championship.

But in the spring of his senior year, Randolph hurt his foot. Trying to compensate, he developed leg problems. His production went way down. He was not very effective on the AAU circuit that summer. His stock dropped -- down to 14 in the RSCI. Now, the same thing happened to Chris Carrawell, who suffered injuries in both shoulders and dropped from the top 10 to barely in the top 50.

That worked out well. Randolph not so much.

Still, it's interesting. In his first game (against Army), Randolph had 23 points, seven rebounds. He made 1-3 3-pointers. The next time out against Davidson, he had 17 points and 12 rebounds. After two bad performances, he came back with 11 points and five rebounds in 17 minutes against Michigan.

That was the high point of his freshman season. He ended up averaging 7.4 points and 3.9 rebounds in 13.5 minutes a game. Those are actually not bad numbers.

Randolph had surgery that offseason to fix the issue that had bothered him since his junior year of high school. As a junior, he averaged 7.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and shot 59 percent from the floor in 19 minutes a game. As a junior, he got mono and had a less productive season. Then he jumped to the NBA (to help his family -- his father went bankrupt).

He played parts of eight seasons in the NBA and earned $8.9 million in NBA salary. So, hard to say it was a bad decision.

Randolph was hindered by recruiting and Coach K's roster alignment.

The first problem is that he was stuck behind Shelden Williams in the big man rotation. That's always a bad thing in a Coach K rotation. And we had a senior Sanders and a junior Horvath in the rotation as well. And of course we had Duhon, Redick, Ewing, and Dahntay Jones. That, combined with injury issues, really limited Randolph.

In 2004, we brought in Deng, who almost immediately grabbed the starting PF spot. With Williams entrenched as the starter, that again put a huge limit on Randolph's minutes.

In 2005, the stars were in theory aligned for Randolph. But, as you said, he got mono, which hurt his season a lot.

And then, in 2006, we brought in McRoberts. That would have forced Randolph to the bench again. So he saw the writing on the wall and decided to go pro.

So in a way Randolph was hurt by the same thing that hurt Burgess: he was simply stuck behind a better player at his college position. I think he could have been a 12-15 ppg scorer at another school, or if we simply hadn't gotten Williams. But opportunities just never worked out for him.

[Hauerwas]

I watched Jeter play in high school on the same TEAM USA squad with Kennard, Tyus, and Justice and he was obviously well behind all of them in terms of his readiness for college basketball. He was clearly offensively challenged so it's not surprising that he took time to crack K's limited rotation. So, not sure who this is really on if there is even any blame to go around. He was over projected and over hyped in HS, there is no way he was a 5 star talent. He has developed just obviously not enough to play at Duke, which is a shame. Seems like a great, great kid. Again, best wishes Chase.

He was way behind Myles Turner and Zimmerman who were also on that team. And, they also haven't set the world on fire.

[budwom]

In one of K's pressers after the game he alluded to increasing the depth of the rotation. For many reasons the 7 man rotation bit him this year. Should have had other players who could step in against South Carolina. Might have given Chase some minutes - might have stayed, seems like a great guy ...

Yes, I do think it bit him, and I think it's being generous saying we had a seven man rotation. Harry averaged 11.5 (in games in which he actually played) and often didn't get off the bench in the second half...my opinion is we had
a 6+ man rotation, with the "+" not being worth wore than .5 at the most...

[scottdude8]

This is very sad news, as I really thought Chase had the chance to develop into a key contributor as an upperclass-man and follow the career trajectory of Brian Zoubek and Marshall Plumlee. Plus, I loved how great of a teammate Chase seemed to be, as well as his contributions in the classroom.

There is a potential silver lining to this though, as Chase leaving could be an indication that Harry or Marques (or both) have indicated that they're returning, that Coach K sees Vrank or Javin as rotation players next season, or that another big time recruit is coming.

Nonetheless, despite how common transfers are becoming across the NCAA landscape, I never like to see them happening as they give fuel to Duke-hate and negative recruiting tactics. It might be confirmation bias, but it does seem like this happens to Duke more than other top programs, and that could in turn be due to K's desire to have a short rotation. The short rotation definitely makes our great teams into championship teams, but I think we're starting to see how it also hinders the development of longer-term project players... in seasons where we aren't juggernauts it makes so much more sense to have an 8-9 man rotation, even if the weaker guys are just getting 5-10 minutes a game. This helps their development tremendously (see Michigan for an example, although Jon Beilein often goes to the reverse extreme and plays bench guys too much... but I digress. Go Blue!) I love watching 4 year guys develop and it's sad that that's becoming more on an exception rather than the rule (again, to clarify this is more of an NCAA-wide problem than a Duke/K problem, but it does seem to have been especially problematic for us lately).

Unfortunately, I think we all should've seen this coming. As I've mentioned a couple times when talking about Chase, Chase's trajectory this season mirrored that of Michael Gbinije in a LOT of ways. Both were on an upward trend in terms of their minutes heading into the beginning of ACC season before falling out of the rotation completely without much way of an explanation (yes, with Chase there was the back issue, but that seemed to be dealt with by the end of the year based on how people have said he looked in practice). I think we can all take a lesson from these two instances: when a player goes from rotational playing time to zero playing time without any explanation, more times than not something is going on behind the scenes.

Despite the fact I/we should've seen this coming I'm still heartbroken for all the reasons listed above. I wish Chase all the best and hope he gets the chance to flourish like we all think he can.

[wsb3]

I did not want to believe the T talk. Very disappointed in this news. Best of luck Chase. I hope u find the right place for you.

[Edouble]

This pretty much guarantees Chase of becoming an All-American and Naismith Award finalist in 2 years.

Congratulations to Nevada on their #9 seed in the NCAA 2020 East Region!

[DukieTiger]

Random observation, but in spite of only playing 1/3 of the season, Chase Jeter was in one of the top 3 lineups at the end of the year in terms of cumulative +/-

Even though he was injured and never reclaimed a starting spot, the guys who pushed him out of the lineup never really clearly out produced Chase- at least from the perspective of lineup productivity. Hard to blame him from going elsewhere.

I know this happens to pretty much every program, but it's a tough pill to swallow when you consider the "depth issues" Duke can tend to have in the post.

[uh_no]

Random observation, but in spite of only playing 1/3 of the season, Chase Jeter was in one of the top 3 lineups at the end of the year in terms of cumulative +/-

I mean, that'll happen when the vast majority of your minutes are against patsies in november and december. it's easy to rack up gaudy +/- numbers that way.

[DukieTiger]

I mean, that'll happen when the vast majority of your minutes are against patsies in november and december. it's easy to rack up gaudy +/- numbers that way.

Sure, he still played against URI, MSU, FLA, KU... my main point was that other lineups had about twice as many games to overtake that particular lineup and it still stayed in the top 3.

[MChambers]

I would not underrate Nate.

Or Mr. Capel, who did okay with Blake Griffin.

My tongue was in my cheek. Perhaps you weren't around here when Wojo was our big man coach. There was much concern about having a former point guard as our big man coach (concern I did not share).

My guess is that Jeter's limited progress isn't the fault of the staff. I wish Chase well, and wish he were staying, however.

[CDu]

Sure, he still played against URI, MSU, FLA, KU... my main point was that other lineups had about twice as many games to overtake that particular lineup and it still stayed in the top 3.

Twice as many games isn't a good thing when all of those extra games are against major conference teams.

[kAzE]

There is a potential silver lining to this though, as Chase leaving could be an indication that Harry or Marques (or both) have indicated that they're returning, that Coach K sees Vrank or Javin as rotation players next season, or that another big time recruit is coming.

Nobody has really been talking about Javin much when discussing next year's team. I'm VERY excited about him. He should be an energy/defense/rebounding guy off the bench next season, but by his 3rd year, he could develop into a more athletic Amile Jefferson.

[budwom]

Nobody has really been talking about Javin much when discussing next year's team. I'm VERY excited about him. He should be an energy/defense/rebounding guy off the bench next season, but by his 3rd year, he could develop into a more athletic Amile Jefferson.

I am a major DeLaurier fan as well, and had even hoped he'd get some play this year...ack.

[bbosbbos]

I am a major DeLaurier fan as well, and had even hoped he'd get some play this year...ack.

In your eyes, what lineup would we have in the next season?

[Troublemaker]

Nobody has really been talking about Javin much when discussing next year's team. I'm VERY excited about him. He should be an energy/defense/rebounding guy off the bench next season, but by his 3rd year, he could develop into a more athletic Amile Jefferson.

Yep, silver lining in any departure is it allows other guys to step up.

I'm completely serious when I say I wouldn't mind rooting for Vrank, Javin, Jack, etc to provide depth for Duke. I'm confident in them. Now, I do want a loaded starting lineup. I want Duval and Knox. But I don't need to have McDonald's All-Americans coming off the bench to be pleased with Duke's roster or Duke's chances next season.

[budwom]

In your eyes, what lineup would we have in the next season?

What I'd love to see would be (in no particular order) a core of Carter, Trent, Knox, Jackson and Duval...with Delaurier
and of course either Allen or Kennard should one choose to return. I think that would be a solid 6.5 to maybe 7.
White of course could compete, not sure what to think about him, haven't seen enough to have an opinion...

(I'd love to see Bolden too, of course, but...)

[Bluegrassdevil1]

Great kid. Wonderful representative of the Duke program. I hope he is a star wherever he ends up.

As for the Duke program moving forward in his absence... I am not losing any sleep over it.

[gam7]

What I'd love to see would be (in no particular order) a core of Carter, Trent, Knox, Jackson and Duval...with Delaurier
and of course either Allen or Kennard should one choose to return. I think that would be a solid 6.5 to maybe 7.
White of course could compete, not sure what to think about him, haven't seen enough to have an opinion...

(I'd love to see Bolden too, of course, but...)

Wow, if no Allen or Kennard, you'd be hard-pressed to find a rotation with less returning experience. In all of college basketball. Ever. Maybe UK 2014? There would be some ... growing pains (to put it kindly).

[Devils Librarian]

Jeter aside, if the OP is the real Stanley Hauerwas, I'm super excited.

I have thought the same thing for each of his posts!

[MrPoon]

Well crud.
I completely get the decision but I did like his trajectory and the struggles he had seemed mostly mental, not physical. He'll still have a very good college career.
Maybe this wouldn't have hit me so hard if it wasn't on the back of what feels like such a missed opportunity this year so a departure feels even more weighted emotionally. A good kid who will get better.
I worry this takes a young team next year, younger. This OAD era really puts a burden on the coaching staff (and my nerves!). Next year should prove interesting. So many variables still to come.

I'd say "next play" but that feels too cold when it comes to a transfer that I wish well. Transfers after one year are disappointing, after two years feels more personal. I still get it but it hits home more.