I think the happiest guy in the world right now has to be Mason. Without Shabazz (or Austin for that matter), he is now the team's #1 option on offense - not that he'll necessarily lead the team in scoring, but our first option has to be to try to get the ball into him. If there's a silver lining in not getting Bazz, it's that maybe we'll for real try to develop an inside game this year (and stick to it).
Rich
"Failure is Not a Destination"
Coach K on the Dan Patrick Show, December 22, 2016
I'm disappointed that we didn't get Bazz, but I will say this: he could have made a big spectacle of this announcement, and IMO, he didn't.
I think he was very respectful and complimentary of all 3 schools. He actually seemed a bit nervous.
Oops, my bad. The rest of the points appear to be accurate, though. Just got the NCAA tournaments mixed up. Still a #2 seed that got upset (although admittedly not as large of an upset, but got destroyed by 'Nova), 7 losses on the season, best player left after the season. Thanks for the correction!
Wow. Unstoppable? Best players in America? How much have you seen both play this year. Anderson is notoriously slow - which means he is likely not a great defender at his position. Also I am not sold on the outside shooting of either of these guys. UCLA will be better than last year- but much depends on how they play on defense. Also do not count out how Larry Drew II might negatively affect the chemistry on this supposed great team.
Yeah, we didn't have times where we just stopped scoring. We didn't look for an isolation play when we needed something done on offense. We won some quality games, but to claim that the end wasn't painful/painful to watch would be insane. You can call it baseless, but our scoring droughts were common during the last season to anyone who was watching. It would be blind to say that we had a potent offense. One of the most telling stats that shows that we either shot it on the perimeter or gave it to Austin in hopes of him doing it on his own is our 204th in assists last year.
Last six games, we were 3-3 and averaged 68 points a game. Early, we found ways to score, but towards the end, it dried up and we relied heavily on a player we don't have.
The same can be said for every other elite program like UNC, Kansas and KY. At least Duke was in the running for Bazz; and still in the running for a player like Parker. These are two guys that rules UNC fairly early in the recruiting process. I'd rather Duke be in it till the end than not making an initial cut.
With all the positive things being said about Duke's chances with the elite players of the 2013 class, I think next year's results for Duke will be exponentially better. And btw, Duke still go an elite SG in Sheed.
I can't believe I just watched this stupidity. Shabazz seems like a really nice, down to earth kid. I would have loved to have him at Duke, but wish him the best of luck at UCLA.
Just got in from the golf course to see the decisions of these 2 recruits. Best of luck to the both of them. If UCLA was not an adidas sponsored team, I doubt Bazz goes there
Yeah, there's something that doesn't exactly fit.
The SI article was pretty clear in it's portrayal of Howland as somewhat aloof and not communicating well with the recent group of players.
Perhaps the article was wrong, but the results of the last couple years seem to be consistent with poor communication somewhere along the line.
I've been impressed with Shabazz as a serious, thoughtful young man; seems likely to me that he'll be a good teammate and leader (or is it presumptuous to have a freshman as a leader?)
But do things all of a sudden fit together at UCLA and everybody pull together?
I don't think that saying that the top freshman will be among the best players in America is shocking. Kentucky just won the championship with 3 starting freshman two of which were easily some of the best players in the country.
As for Kyle Anderson, I've heard many say that he is much faster than he looks. My opinion is that being 6-8 he will be very difficult to stop in college.
Obviously having chemistry problems could hurt them and I'm not saying that UCLA will be a juggernaut but considering the state of college basketball I think its ridiculous to not put them in the Top 10, and I would put them in the top 5.
Not everyone can be as polished as ...
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pigeon fella.
btw, what happened to your avatar?