Congrats to Tony. Hope you do well.
Once again, the parents do not get their way. Alas...
Congrats to Tony. Hope you do well.
Once again, the parents do not get their way. Alas...
Can't be happy about having to fly back and forth across the country to see him... play? Or maybe his parents were just embarrassed by it all.
Here's the thing I don't get... all this ridiculousness and he's barely a top 20 recruit, right? Not saying he won't be good. I mean, who really knows. But, c'mon - he's got quite a lot to prove - and now to live up to. Good luck.
players and bball people(even your own Jay Bilas) know that what went on under Howland happens everywhere. What Ben calls rough practices, a player might feel intimidated and put upon. is not the goal of a coach TO PREPARE a player against rough competition?
the article's author went in with an agenda (yes, he has a history of trying to get the goods on UCLA**), and after months all he could find was an anti-social kid.
** author broke the "story" about baron davis's new car, only to find out later it was a gift from the sister who paid full blue bk price. ie, said author never goes far enough, but only as far as he wants to go.
To me, this again brings up the question of whether or not we will ever get an elite big man prospect again.
As a hard-core Duke fan, I know the label we have about big men is stupid and ignorant. I know that Ohio State didn't develop Sullinger or Kentucky develop Anthony Davis. I know Carlos Boozer, Elton Brand, and Shelden Williams were great college players. Laettner was a legendary player, and played the post in this system. I know it doesn't matter if the coach is 5'0" or 7'5" tall, if they know the game and fundamentals, they can teach a big man. John Wooden was 5'10" and managed to teach Lew Alcinder and Bill Walton. I love Wojo and he is a great big man coach. I know Mason will have an elite season next year and IS DEVELOPING. I know all of this.
Recruits today don't know any of that though. It is all too easy for rival schools to put that bug in the kids' ears. It is suddenly far too easy to perpetuate the myth that Duke can't develop big men. It is very well documented that this exact negative recruiting from other schools is being done. Tony Parker is another example of it.
I love our style of play and am more of a fan of guards and shooting anyway. I enjoy watching our team spread it out and bomb away from long range. I like the reputation we have of utilizing our guards and wing players and let them be free scorers, and I think it serves us well with most recruits. I am smart enough of a fan to know we can win a lot of games this way. I also know we don't NEED a superstar post player in this system and can get by with a solid role player to rebound and play defense. But it would be fun to get some of these stud centers too.
I know Duke can develop big men. I know we won a Championship by getting more out of Zoubek than any other school could have. I know we deserve to have a shot with future 5-star big men. I am concerned we are not going to get that shot if we can't shake this stigma soon. Hopefully after Mason tears up the ACC this year less coaches will be able to throw out "Duke can't develop big men" in the direction of future recruits.
Perhaps Kyle Anderson, Shabazz and Tony Parker wanted to go together to achieve a Kentucky like hoops experience, but with a different culture. Los Angeles instead of Lexington, KY.
Probably they were sitting around at an all-star game, and caught an old TV re-run with the tune:
Kinfolk said Jed move away from there
Said Californy is the place you ought to be
So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly.
Hills, that is.
Swimmin pools, movie stars.
No bitterness here. I will much more disappointed if AJ decides not to come to Duke as I feel he is a much more versatile player with a higher motor and better work ethic. In the end, I predict that TP will fall short of the lofty expectations of many.
I realize people do not believe they are "sour graping" over Tony, but I think the vast majority of Duke fans would have been very excited to land a top-20 big man. Yes, the announcement show was overwraught. My hope would be that Duke fans, at least the ones that post on this board, don't greet this announcement with too many, "I didn't want him anyway!" posts. Our coaching staff clearly wanted Tony.
Next play
s.i.
None here either. I will concede that, as immature as it is, I prefer to miss out on recruits who hold hour-long press conferences than those who simply commit to their school of choice in a no nonsense manner. As others have stated, let us not forget that the Duke coaching staff wanted Tony Parker to come to Duke. Best of luck to him out west.
Interesting take on it. I read the article and it didn't read as a "this goes on everywhere" meme. In fact, some of the players were quoted as saying, "Can you imagine this being allowed to happen at Duke? Do you think Coach K would have put up with this?" (paraphrased). The "rough practices" included a player intentionally trying to hurt other players, multiple times. Multiple statements about drug use before practice, blatent disregard for coaching authority, abuse of staff, etc...
It didn't read at all like it was about "an anti-social kid." I assume that's referencing Nelson, but it read like a program out of control and a coaching staff unwilling to hold athletes accountable. It read like no place I would want my son to play.
I'll admit, I know nothing other than the article, so maybe there are a lot of sources, including Jay, who refute it. If so, I'd love a link.
thanks,
s.i.
Duke recruiting decision making has to improve.2012 is looking more like we chased guys that never wanted to go to Duke.Sulaimon committed in the summer of 2011.I could be mistaken about that time frame.In 2012 we have been shutout. Jefferson is still a possibility. There is huge pressure now on making 2013 a monster class.At the moment Duke needs players just to have competitive practices.
I wouldn't be willing to ascribe our misses on elite big men to the specific issue of being perceived not to develop them. Instead, I would think the decision making whatever the reason, we have had quite a few misses. Maybe our luck will change with AJ. We appear to really need him.
If AJ commits - 2012 will still be a pretty darn good class - Murphy, Sheed, and Marshall.
And with Matt Jones on deck as well as what's looking like good positions with other recruits, I'm not concerned at all. But hey if you want to get EVERY recruit then the pressure will always be high...
As long as we continue to recruit 5-star recruits at the 1(Cook), 2(Rasheed), 3(Murphy), and 4(MP2+Kelly), I frankly don't care if we recruit a 5-star Big-Man. All we need is a center that can grab rebounds, not have stone for hands, and provide some defensive intimidation. We don't have to have Brand and Boozer for this team to win another NC(didn't Z teach us this already). We just recruited the #2 recruit in 2011, a top 5 recruit in 2010, and a good chance to land another top 5 recruit in 2013; I'd say we're doing OK.
This topic is so OLD it's almost comical.
This may come across as bitter, and maybe it is a little bit. Some of the things Tony said really rubbed me the wrong way. I appreciate the fact that he said he loved what Coach K had going and all that, but he didn't go to the school he felt he could be best at, he joined a recruiting class, not a team. If that is the way college basketball is heading, then color me not particularly excited. Was Duke the best place for him? I don't know, probably not. But from what I could gather, he didn't go to UCLA for the rich tradition or the fact that it's a great school, it's just as good as Duke, or Ben Howland, he went because Shabazz and Kyle Anderson went. If I thought that Tony went because he felt UCLA was the place for him to go, regardless of his class, then that would be great and good for him, but I think he's going to be in for a rough couple of years after Bazz and Kyle leave. He's not a 1 and done talent, nor is he a program changer from what I can gather. All the best, but I think there will be a time in the future that he regrets his decision, certainly hope not, but just the way I feel.
I'm not sure how good Amile is or can be, but just for general morale for the fans/program, it would be really nice if we landed him. Hopefully we do, because I think he can be a really good piece. Our 1 man recruiting class coming into 02 with Ewing and 04 with Deng were different because they joined a top 4 team. A 1 man recruiting class to help a team in the top 20 (I think we're better than that), but it doesn't look good, nor does it feel all that great.
I like Nike, maybe thats where all the disdain comes from.
I too am not worried. 2013 and 2014 look to be coming together nicely. I think we will have a solid team next year even if we don't add Amile, Przemek, or a transfer. I would love to add Amile in particular though, but mostly for what he will be able to contribute AFTER his freshman year.
We fans too often view recruiting at the ground level from which every single recruit is the be all end all. K and company see it from a bird's eye view in which the plan includes not just this recruiting cycle but multiple years into the future. In that context, a recruiting miss is just a bump in the road, not an earthquake.
TP concerned me to be honest. Don't get me wrong, I would've loved for him to come, but mainly because K seemed to be head over heels for the guy (and I trust K). It would've been risky though. If Tony, as a guy who is on record as being concerned about Duke's development of big men, struggled out of the gate, who knows what would've happened. Amile seems the better fit overall.