Elliot Williams to Duke

[dkbaseball]

If we want to talk about great lefties at Duke, we start with Johnny Dawkins, move down a tad to Jack Marin, and hover for awhile on Hack Tison, Steve Vandenberg, Dick DeVenzio, Gary Melchionni, Pete Kramer, and Thomas Hill, while appreciative of the contributions of Suddath, Greg Wendt, Lee Melchionni and others. I'm sure I've left out some folks. If you want pre-1960 or so, you'll have to rely on somebody else's recollections

So Elliott has some work to do to make the Duke all-lefty team, especially as a guard.

Another pretty good lefty nearly played in the program, in fact the best lefty in the American League for a few years -- Frank Tanana. I believe he was all set to come play basketball for Duke in 1971, when the Angels tempted him away with signing money.

Presumably there was at least one from pre-1960 -- the lefthander himself, Charles Driesell.

[dkbaseball]

Also, how about John Harrell?

[captmojo]

After reading that Elliot is a left hander, I wondered how many of our past prominent players were lefties. Does a lefty have an advantage playing on the left side of the court?

Dawkins' style of shot, I'm speaking of the one-hand fingertip rolling push shot, is very hard to defend. Remember the great majority of the world are right-handed. When those right-handers try to defend this previously mentioned style of shot, their mind automatically tells them to block-reach for the ball from the shooter's right side. The mind set is that powerful. The victim of discrimination left-hander, is already programmed to expect his opponent's shot from the right and furthermore, with the ball in the shooting hand of the right-hander, the left-handed defender is automatically expecting the shot to come from that side. The right-handed has to make mental adjustment.

[wisteria]

hmmm.. Does anyone know why Elliot is called "E-mail" ? I know it may sound like a silly question, but I am just curious.

[DukeBlood]

I have been doing a little research on him. Just thought I would share what i have discovered.

I watched him on TV the other day as well.

Things I like.

A very good thief. Quick hands and possibly step in as one of the better defenders for Duke next year.

A decent outside shooter. His form looks really good(no really odd release or anything). Has a pretty high arc to his shot.

IF Henderson stays he will be the second most athletic player on the team. I would say a little more athletic then Nolan Smith.. Almost as quick too.

Like Kyle Singler, He just looked comfortable(and good) playing the game.

With all this said. He has a chance to be a All ACC type player.


Things I didnt like.

Didnt look comfortable at the point. He IS a SG not a combo. Maybe this isnt a bad thing since we have a couple of Combo guards.

Outside of a little ballhandling he looked really good.

[Duke09]

I've been thinking this for a while, but I'm finally going to say it. I'm worried about next years team will be as good as this one because D-Mark is leaving. We will lose our 2nd leading rebounder, the area in which this team is weakest. I'm not worried about scoring because E-Will and other guys could replace his scoring, but without replacing the boards we could be in trouble. Czyz is not going to play much his frosh year. Underneath we will have Lance, Zoub, Singler, and I guess King. I understand that players improve year to year, and Lance and Zoubek could break out and become 8-10 reb contributors. But right now I am a bit worried about it. Yeah, we got 20-30 games left this year, and we should concentrate on that before next year, but I'm just saying.

p.s. sorry for high jacking the thread if thats what happens

[DukeBlood]

I've been thinking this for a while, but I'm finally going to say it. I'm worried about next years team will be as good as this one because D-Mark is leaving. We will lose our 2nd leading rebounder, the area in which this team is weakest. I'm not worried about scoring because E-Will and other guys could replace his scoring, but without replacing the boards we could be in trouble. Czyz is not going to play much his frosh year. Underneath we will have Lance, Zoub, Singler, and I guess King. I understand that players improve year to year, and Lance and Zoubek could break out and become 8-10 reb contributors. But right now I am a bit worried about it. Yeah, we got 20-30 games left this year, and we should concentrate on that before next year, but I'm just saying.

p.s. sorry for high jacking the thread if thats what happens

No worries. I as well have thought about that.

Williams isnt a bad rebounder. Probably along the lines of Henderson. He can get up and grab a rebound. But that doesnt replace Nelson as a rebounder.

Now, Either LT, Zoub or McClure will step up. If not all 3. Those guys IF they step up can replace Nelson and then some. Zoubek is a OK rebounder, McClure is a garbage guy and always seems to rebound well. Lance is streaky but has proved he can crash the boards. Hopefully a JR Thomas will prove to be a very good one.

I honestly believe you will have nothing to worry about. All the 3 FR will be WAY better(How often do FR not improve to their SO seasons?).. I can see rebounding being a concern. But the team as a whole will be that much more experiened and better.

[dukestheheat]

Duke09 and DukeBlood-

I'm thinking about the Pitt game where we were soundly outrebounded (don't have the stats in front of me) and we all knew going into that game that Pitt was stronger in that category and that would go in their favor, no surprises.

Yet, with the rebounding edge decidedly going to Pitt (again, as we all knew it would) Duke lost that game by only one point and the bottom-line is this: the rebounding edge TO the other team did NOT matter.

Going down the stretch that was Duke's game to lose, and they did because of: very poor free throw shooting, very, very poor shot selection in the second half, poor made shot % in the second half and also very poor decision making when it came to ball control.

So, I still say that any team that can outrebound Duke is not really going to affect Duke this year because we are scoring so well.

If Duke hits its average on free throws, keeps turnovers to average or less than average, makes a usual % of shots and three point shots, and makes the usual good decision on shot selection and off-the-ball movement/spacing, Duke will win most games its going to play this year, including going very deep into the NCAA's and also the Final Four. I think this same line of thinking applies also to next year's team, without Demarcus Nelson due to graduation, as we'll still be quite up-tempo.

We have the offensive horses and firepower, now we need to bring ALL the stuff I just listed above (like we normally do) and Duke is looking GOOD.

dth.

[Saratoga2]

Duke09 and DukeBlood-

I'm thinking about the Pitt game where we were soundly outrebounded (don't have the stats in front of me) and we all knew going into that game that Pitt was stronger in that category and that would go in their favor, no surprises.

Yet, with the rebounding edge decidedly going to Pitt (again, as we all knew it would) Duke lost that game by only one point and the bottom-line is this: the rebounding edge TO the other team did NOT matter.

Going down the stretch that was Duke's game to lose, and they did because of: very poor free throw shooting, very, very poor shot selection in the second half, poor made shot % in the second half and also very poor decision making when it came to ball control.

So, I still say that any team that can outrebound Duke is not really going to affect Duke this year because we are scoring so well.

If Duke hits its average on free throws, keeps turnovers to average or less than average, makes a usual % of shots and three point shots, and makes the usual good decision on shot selection and off-the-ball movement/spacing, Duke will win most games its going to play this year, including going very deep into the NCAA's and also the Final Four. I think this same line of thinking applies also to next year's team, without Demarcus Nelson due to graduation, as we'll still be quite up-tempo.

We have the offensive horses and firepower, now we need to bring ALL the stuff I just listed above (like we normally do) and Duke is looking GOOD.

dth.

We got outrebounded 53 to 39. That is way to many for us to have a chance against a very good shooting team, like Memphis for instance. We need Lance back and recovered and we need him to pick up the rebounding slack. He was really hurting in the Pitt game but with two weeks of rest he should be at full strength.

[jma4life]

Not to get ahead, but there are numerous cases where Duke loses one player, gains maybe one player and improves. The championship team in 01 comes to mind. They lost Carawell, the ACC player of the year, brought in only Chris Duhon (and Andre Sweet but he was ineligible for much of the year if I remember correctly) yet due to improvements by the freshmen class and other members of the team, that team improved pretty significantly.

Even this year, we lost our best rebounder but have been able to compensate with freshmen and improved sophomores.

No, next year's team will not be bringing in another Kyle Singler but this team will have plenty of players capable of making big jumps next year. As good as Singler is this year, he will be that much better as a sophomore. Henderson will only continue to improve and the same can basically be said for anyone on this team.

[captmojo]

...you should always be prepared. However, if the field goal percentages rise, there won't be as many rebounding opportunities, at least on the offensive end of the floor. No more Pitts, please.

[sandinmyshoes]

What I've seen of him, just highlights, for some reason he reminds me of a blend of Phil Henderson and Daniel Ewing. He also looks like he would play the 2, but could do spot duty at the pg position from time to time.

[Patrick Yates]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiting/briefingroom

Apparantly he got hurt last night. His knee. The doctor visit is today, but I haven't seen an update. Any news?

Patrick Yates

[MChambers]

Somebody check out that floor.

Seriously, I hope he's okay.

[jzp5079]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQNv_7IiqXk

we are finally getting a player that WANTS to take over a game.

(x shav, x mcroberts, x paulus, x singler, x thomas)


no knock against singler as he is still a great player, but he dosn't look like he wants to take over.

Judging the looks of Mr. E. Williams, he could end up being one of the best freshmen in the nation, and possibly end up starting, and leading the team in scoring.

Hopefully he'll be fine.

PG Smith
SG Williams
SF Henderson
PF Singler
C Thomas, Zoubek, Olek, McClure?

[Turtleboy]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiting/briefingroom

Apparantly he got hurt last night. His knee. The doctor visit is today, but I haven't seen an update. Any news?

Patrick Yates

Seems like good news :

Williams, meanwhile, returned to the St. George's bench under his own power with less than two minutes remaining in the period. The trainer taped an ice bag to his knee and he watched the conclusion. He scored 20 first-half points.

"I'm OK. I'm going to see the doctor (today)," he said. "I'm just proud of the team pulling that one through. When I went out, I had total faith."

Said Ruffin: "Luckily, thankfully, I'm told by the trainer that he'll be back in the next few days, so that's a good thing."

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news...or-narrow-win/

[Ignatius07]

we are finally getting a player that WANTS to take over a game.

You don't think Henderson wants to? Sure looks like he does... at least he did until the staff reined him in somewhat.

[Jumbo]

we are finally getting a player that WANTS to take over a game.

What does that even mean?

PG Smith
SG Williams
SF Henderson
PF Singler
C Thomas, Zoubek, Olek, McClure?

Yeah, Williams is going to just step in and start over a kid who is currently one of the team's best four players and is second in minutes played (Scheyer). Right.

[Ignatius07]

Maybe Scheyer will fall in love with his role as 6th man and refuse to start.

In all seriousness, Elliot would have to beat out Scheyer, Paulus, AND Pocius in that scenario. Well I expect EW to contribute, starting probably won't happen, at the very least initially.

[johnb]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQNv_7IiqXk

we are finally getting a player that WANTS to take over a game.

(x shav, x mcroberts, x paulus, x singler, x thomas)


no knock against singler as he is still a great player, but he dosn't look like he wants to take over.

Jumbo already said it better, but the limiting factor in "taking over" a game is not generally desire. There are simply very few people who have the talent of an elton or jj; their individual presence regularly altered games in a positive way (it's easier to take over a game by hogging the ball and blowing up your own team). Short of having a player of the year on the team, we'll have to make do with guys who are only really great basketball players.