Recruiting is an art, not a science

[Saratoga2]

Several people in this and other threads have made the point that, with one and done, or two and thru, we need to build a team for right now, and not for the future.
Looking at the KU team in the championship game, I find that there were seven players who got significant minutes: Arthur and Collins are sophomores, Chalmers and Rush are juniors, and Jackson, Kaun, and Robinson are seniors. Aldrich, a freshman, got limited minutes in the championship game, but played a lot in the semi-final.
I conclude from this that it is certainly possible to build a team over time, that a coach doesn't have to run out and grab a bunch of one and dones.
While it is only my own hangup, if Coach K brought in a bunch of one and dones, I would probably start to lose interest in the Duke team. Our most recent one and done, Luol Deng, didn't start out as a one and done, but became as his freshmen performance improved with a) his ability, b) Duke coaching, and c) time.

As Bobby Knight says, you win games with good players. Coach K has certainly done that of late in the guard area with Henderson, Scheyer, Paulus, Smith, Pocius and Williams. They all look to be multi-year players and there is a lot of athleticism and length in this group. The Memphis team showed how lanky guards can shutdown teams with shorter guards (Texas, Michigan State), so coach K is going in the right direction. McDonald is another 6'5" guard possibly on the horizon who fits the mold well.

We haven't been as fortunate in the area of the front line, but have a real gem in Singler and two improving bigger men in Thomas and Zoubek with Czyz coming. They also are multi-year guys, so while other teams are suffering a lot of one and doners, Duke will have a veteran team with a nice mix of young athletes coming in.

Coach K has tried to come up with at least one banger, but chance has kept that from happening. All he can do is to keep trying with the guys who fit the Duke mold and hope that a Shelden type comes along. I am happy with coach K's approach and definitely am happy that we won't be losing a lot of talent to the NBA or in transfers. The King transfer was kind of inevitable.

[Jumbo]

Just added some more transfers and early-entry guys. I'll add more early-entry guys once they sign with agents. Gary, I'm still waiting for your response!

[CDu]

As Bobby Knight says, you win games with good players. Coach K has certainly done that of late in the guard area with Henderson, Scheyer, Paulus, Smith, Pocius and Williams. They all look to be multi-year players and there is a lot of athleticism and length in this group. The Memphis team showed how lanky guards can shutdown teams with shorter guards (Texas, Michigan State), so coach K is going in the right direction. McDonald is another 6'5" guard possibly on the horizon who fits the mold well.

I probably wouldn't include Paulus on a list of players who are lanky and athletic who can shut down other teams' shorter guards...