Czyz playing in D.C.

[shadowfax336]

Finished with 23 points (9-14? FG, I believe) and 9 rebounds. Looks good at the FT line, too.

Typical all-star game disclaimers aside, this guy looks like a player. IMO, if he reacts well to coaching, and learns Duke defense, he could get 20+ minutes a game next year, and be even better down the line.

Yep he'll be getting 20+ a game along with Marty, and Email, and every other "backup quarterback syndrome" player on the team...

just look at the Marty thread...

[dkbaseball]

Yep he'll be getting 20+ a game along with Marty, and Email, and every other "backup quarterback syndrome" player on the team...

just look at the Marty thread...

Do you not think there's a difference between Duke's needs on the perimeter next year and its needs inside?

[FireOgilvie]

Yep he'll be getting 20+ a game along with Marty, and Email, and every other "backup quarterback syndrome" player on the team...

just look at the Marty thread...

Except he'll be competing with Lance Thomas, McClure, and Zoubek for minutes... I like his odds.

[roywhite]

Yep he'll be getting 20+ a game along with Marty, and Email, and every other "backup quarterback syndrome" player on the team...

just look at the Marty thread...

Just speculation at this point, but our frontcourt situation is different than our backcourt situation. We need size and athleticism up front, and Olek has some tools.

[yancem]

I was quite impressed! I'm not sure I'm buying the 20+ mpg but Czyz looks like he should be able to contribute next year. He definitely brings much needed size and athleticism to the team. It was also nice to see that he has some low post moves. I was a little worried he would be a little like McRoberts and rely solely on dunks. I wouldn't confuse him with Kevin McHale but he looks like fairly solid in the post.

[CDu]

Yep he'll be getting 20+ a game along with Marty, and Email, and every other "backup quarterback syndrome" player on the team...

just look at the Marty thread...

There's a BIG difference between saying Czyz could get 20+ minutes per game and saying Williams or Pocius could get 20+ minutes per game. Czyz doesn't have multiple potential All-ACC players in front of him at his positions. In fact, he doesn't even necessarily have a sure-fire starter in front of him right now. Both Zoubek and Thomas certainly have their questions.

I'm not saying that Czyz will get 20+ minutes per game. But there's certainly an opening for those minutes. Singler will play close to 30 minutes per game. That leaves probably 45-50 minutes per game at the "4" and "5" spots (assuming as many as 5 minutes per game when the team goes small). The best of Czyz, Zoubek, Thomas, and McClure may very well get 20+ minutes per game next year. It is not completely out of the question for Czyz to be that guy.

If I had to guess, I'd say Czyz won't be getting 20+ minutes per game next year. But I'd say it is most certainly more likely that he will play 20+ minutes per game next year than that Pocius will play 15+ minutes per game next year.

[Jumbo]

Do you not think there's a difference between Duke's needs on the perimeter next year and its needs inside?

The point is he hasn't proven anything against the kind of competition he'll face next year. It's way too early to be placing any kind of expectations on him, and posts predicting 20-plus minutes out of him based on watching an all-star game are absurd.

[CDu]

The point is he hasn't proven anything against the kind of competition he'll face next year. It's way too early to be placing any kind of expectations on him, and posts predicting 20-plus minutes out of him based on watching an all-star game are absurd.

I agree with you that he's proven nothing yet. But regardless, wouldn't you agree Czyz has a better shot at being a 20+ minutes per game player next year than Pocius, based simply upon who is on the depth chart at their respective positions? I think that was the point that the previous poster was trying to make - not that Czyz is in any way a proven commodity at this point.

[Kishiznit]

I would have to think that he gets more minutes than Marty next year but that is only because I'm trying to predict the rotation. The last 3 years I have tried to predict the rotation but the only rotation that I'm good at predicting is that the 5 that are on the court with 8 1/2 minutes to go in the game will be the same 5 when the horn sounds (if the game is close).

This kid can play and he plays to win rather than playing not to lose. I was less than impressed with his ability to get defensive boards but it was an all star game.

[beltwayBD]

Czyz was a beast tonight. "Czyz!" Can't you just here the Crazies whispering that? "Shhhhhhhizzzssss..."

I was very impressed. Even with the missed windmill dunk that the announcers couldn't stop talking about.

He's strong. He's very built. He's agile and fast. Stronger than Thomas, faster than Zoubek. If he can play defense (who knows in this kind of game), I think he will get major back-up time behind Singler and Thomas (whom I envision starting again next year). If he learns quickly, he might even challenge Thomas for that starting spot. Might.

Wish I had seen Email (not used to saying that yet) at the McDonalds game, this was fun.

[roywhite]

The point is he hasn't proven anything against the kind of competition he'll face next year. It's way too early to be placing any kind of expectations on him, and posts predicting 20-plus minutes out of him based on watching an all-star game are absurd.

Ouch. Here I thought this was a fan's board where we talked about Duke basketball, and in the off-season there are not many basketball things to talk about. I was just expressing an observation and opinion. No need to be so harsh.

[Jumbo]

I agree with you that he's proven nothing yet. But regardless, wouldn't you agree Czyz has a better shot at being a 20+ minutes per game player next year than Pocius, based simply upon who is on the depth chart at their respective positions? I think that was the point that the previous poster was trying to make - not that Czyz is in any way a proven commodity at this point.

I think it's sort of a pointless argument, as neither will happen.

[Jumbo]

Ouch. Here I thought this was a fan's board where we talked about Duke basketball, and in the off-season there are not many basketball things to talk about. I was just expressing an observation and opinion. No need to be so harsh.

I'm sorry if you thought that was harsh. This is a fan board where we discuss Duke basketball. That means people will also disagree with you, as I did in that case. It's no big deal.

[roywhite]

I'm sorry if you thought that was harsh. This is a fan board where we discuss Duke basketball. That means people will also disagree with you, as I did in that case. It's no big deal.

Fine with me. Did you see Czyz play tonight? Have you seen him play? What is your opinion of how he fits into Duke's plans for next year?

[CDu]

I think it's sort of a pointless argument, as neither will happen.

So you're saying that there's no chance that any of the following could happen?

a) Czyz is better than both Thomas and Zoubek
b) Zoubek winds up not being healthy, and Czyz and Thomas are about even (both getting about 20 minutes per game)

I agree that I don't THINK Czyz will play 20+ minutes next year. As I said, if I had to guess, I'd certainly guess that he won't. I suspect that Thomas and Zoubek will be further along. But to say that there's no chance of Czyz averaging 20+ minutes is, well, pretty short-sighted, in my opinion. It's rarely a good idea to deal in absolutes like that. Especially considering that you haven't seen him play against college competition (or against Thomas and Zoubek).

[Cali-Duke]

http://prepballerstv.com/olekczyz.html

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...11291717438546

hopefully people will upload more recent clips

[ikiru36]

Glad to hear that Czyz played well though I certainly agree it doesn't mean a lot in and of itself (one game, and a regional all-star game at that).

In terms of him stealing interior minutes from Lance or Zoubek, how tall is he (a real 6'8"+?), what is his wingspan like and (while everyone seems to agree he has impressive vertical leap), is he quick off his feet as a rebounder/shot blocker? These are three things that pretty much can't be taught (Obviously the third can be improved upon but it still seems a largely innate talent.) Zoubs already offers us real height/size, Lance a solid wingspan (I think), but (while I love 'em) neither has thusfar proven to have a special knack as a rebounder or interior defensive presence. If Czyz can bring either of these, I imagine he may garner some significant minutes. I'm guessing his other main competition will be David but if Czyz is a legit 6'8" that does give him some added versatility at the 5 that McClure can't naturally offer against most front-courts.

Anyways, thanks to all for any Czyz information. I know he's kind of a late bloomer as a top prospect but him doing well at this All-Star game certainly is better than him stinking there. I'll take it to at least indicate that he may be continuing to improve which is great!

Go Czyz!!!!!!!!! Go Blue Devils!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GTHCGTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[beltwayBD]

In terms of him stealing interior minutes from Lance or Zoubek, how tall is he (a real 6'8"+?), what is his wingspan like and (while everyone seems to agree he has impressive vertical leap), is he quick off his feet as a rebounder/shot blocker? These are three things that pretty much can't be taught (Obviously the third can be improved upon but it still seems a largely innate talent.) Zoubs already offers us real height/size, Lance a solid wingspan (I think), but (while I love 'em) neither has thusfar proven to have a special knack as a rebounder or interior defensive presence. If Czyz can bring either of these, I imagine he may garner some significant minutes. I'm guessing his other main competition will be David but if Czyz is a legit 6'8" that does give him some added versatility at the 5 that McClure can't naturally offer against most front-courts.

Nice analysis.

Funny part I didn't mention. In the post-game interview (where they told him he was the MVP of the game), they just couldn't stop giving him a hard time about the missed dunk. I felt so bad for him. Here's this 17-18 year old kid, winded, and some aging boomer is giving him a hard time about missing a dunk. So poor Czyz is defensive through the whole interview.

On the predictive value of this stuff...I did the scouting report of the Blue Devils at the Verizon Center last month. Not cuz I thought it would be predictive of anything. Just cuz I thought it was fun. And this kind of thing is fun, too, even if it's predictive of nothing.

[roywhite]

Funny part I didn't mention. In the post-game interview (where they told him he was the MVP of the game), they just couldn't stop giving him a hard time about the missed dunk. I felt so bad for him. Here's this 17-18 year old kid, winded, and some aging boomer is giving him a hard time about missing a dunk. So poor Czyz is defensive through the whole interview.

One of the announcers was Chris Knoche, who is the basketball color analyst for the Maryland Terp network. He, especially, was getting in the anti-Duke jabs at every opportunity.

[Kishiznit]

Get ready for a lot of this lineup next year....
Singler
Czyz
Henderson
E. Williams
Smith/Paulus

It would be nice to see Zoubek at 5 and Singler and Czyz playing 3/4 but with the talent we always have in the backcourt and wings, we have to go <6'5" in at least 3 positions.