Originally Posted by
superdave
This comment from Tony's Dad seems to confirm a lot of the sentiment on these boards. Whether this is predictive of what the final decision is or not remains to be seen.
“Tony would be like the Morris twins and like [Thomas] Robinson,” Virgil said. “They’ve done a good job with their bigs the last few years.”
One thing that has struck me about the comments from Tony and his camp, including this one from his father, over the past several months. Tony, more than most bigs, seems to be believe that these programs will magically turn him into something. At Ohio State, they'd make him into the next Sullinger. At Kansas, they'd transform him into the next Morris twins and TRob. UConn would turn him into the next in a long line of good bigs. It just seems to me that his quotes are always about what these programs will turn him into.
Contrast this with what I distinctly remember Shabazz saying after Coach K's in-home visit: something to the effect that "there is no question in my mind that if I go to Duke, they will help me become as good a player as I want to be." With Shabazz, the impetus to getting better lies with himself, and the program would do everything possible to support him. With Tony, I never hear about his internal drive to get better. The quotes imply that the program is responsible for turning him into something. The personal accountability doesn't seem to be there.
I don't intend to be critical of Tony, but it's just a difference in the rhetoric that I've noticed. I know a lot of potential recruits buy into the "Duke doesn't develop their bigs as well as ______" line of thinking, but I don't notice the same lack of personal accountability in the rhetoric.
Incidentially we heard personal accountability from Austin during his recruitment too. He would talk about how he wanted to work on his defense, and Duke would be a great place to help him with that. Not that Duke would turn him into something.
"I don't like them when they are eating my azaleas or rhododendrons or pansies." - Coach K