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  1. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham at heart
    Ooooooooo-Kaaay... so I think its a bit of a mischaracterization to say that Deng was a one and done player. Those of you who "knew" that he was gone after a year must have been closer to him than the coaching staff and the basketball office, because they were shocked, absolutley shocked that he left after his freshman year.

    Let me take this opportunity to address a couple of issues that have been on my mind for a while...

    1. Why does everyone just assume that players want to come to Duke? I mean, regardless of your standing as a four year player or a one and doner, K will make you go to class. You're not sliding here. When people talked about Josh, what'd you hear? "He hated going to class, he disliked studying, etc." What you DIDN'T hear was, "Josh isn't going to class anymmore." To play at Duke you attend class and make grades... period.

    Now, if you're Michael Beasley, and you know that you're going to college for a year and you've got K in your living room (and yes, I know we weren't in on Beasley, but go with me here) and he says, "Michael we'd love to have you join our program for as long as you like. With your skill set, you will probably play a ton because we don't have a lot of depth at the post postion, and you'll work out in the best facilities in the country. We also play in a great conference and you'll play against great competition. Furthermore, we have great academics... some of the best in the nation. We'll expect you to attend class and represent the University as a student-athlete to the best of your ability."

    Then Bobby Huggins walks into your living room (and yes I know that Huggy Bear isn't the coach at KSU, but he did recruit Beasley, so go with me here) and Huggy says, "Michael we'd love to have you join our program for as long as you like. With your skill set, you will probably play a ton because we don't have a lot of depth at the post postion, and you'll work out in the best facilities in the country. We also play in a great conference and you'll play against great competition. Now, as far as class goes, I don't give a flying s*** if you go or not. We'll drop you in a few classes to keep your grades, up, but if you don't want to go to class, don't worry about it."

    Do you think that its possible that an 18-year old kid who figures he's 12 months away from living out his dream and making millions to play basketball would like what Huggy has to say just a bit more than what K has to say? Maybe? I mean, a lot of kids struggle with thier studies in high school, and not all of them can be Sean Dockery.

    2. The changing landscape of college basketball has changed our recruiting philosophy. There is no question about that. Fact is that in 03-04 when we brought Deng in, we assumed that he would be staying for at least 2 or 3 years. If he'd stayed until he was a senior or even a junior, we'd have had some pretty formidable teams. I think that his leaving caught the coaching staff off guard, and the fact that Livingston went straight to the NBA, they were caught off guard again... and he'd have been a senior this year. So it seems like, with the G, Z, LT, Scheyer, et al class we started recruiting a different kind of player. I think that K is bringing in more guys that will be around longer so that we end up with a continual series of teams that are deep with seniors. Livingston and D-mark would have been formidable together. Think about it, next year we will have a senior class of Paulus, Marty, possibly McClure. 2 years from now we'll have a Sr class of Scheyer, Zoubek, Thomas and possibly G. The following year it will be TK, Nolan, and possibly Kyle (hey... its possible). We will continue to recruit guys who are willing to stay for a while, and hopefully end up with teams that are loaded with Jrs and Srs as oppsed to Freshman. I think before we start screaming that we should bring in a bunch of guys who don't have the willingness to become a part of the Duke family the long term, perhaps we as fans should just place some trust in the coaching staff and see how this new strategy goes.

    3. Why don't we go get X? Why aren't we looking for a (insert position of need here)? Do y'all reall think that the coaching staff is inept in identifying the needs of the basketball team? Do you believe that they are unaware that we're pretty thin in the post right now? Or is it possible that they believe that Z and LT will make progress over the summer that will make them more valuable than, say, an unproven freshman who was a highly rated recruit who averaged 10 points and 5 boards as the biggest guy on the court in high school? I'm just sayin'

    I guess, I think people should jsut relax about the recruiting stuff. We get who we get, and more often than not they are the guys we want. If guys don't want to coem to Duke, then its OK that they go elsewhere, because they most likely wouldn't have worked in the system or with the coaches.
    Last edited by Jumbo; 03-27-2008 at 12:04 AM.

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