Austin Rivers Video From MSN

[obsesseddukefan]

I didn't see this posted anywhere, if so please forgive me. Nice little video....

http://scouthoops.scout.com/2/973465.html

[_TheFakeJWill_]

very nice to hear him say that Duke is the best in the business! BUT he did say Carolina is trying to out recruit everyone. Might go down to Duke/Carolina once again. GO DUKE!

[SMO]

very nice to hear him say that Duke is the best in the business! BUT he did say Carolina is trying to out recruit everyone. Might go down to Duke/Carolina once again. GO DUKE!

I really hope Austin powers us to another championship!

[oldnavy]

very nice to hear him say that Duke is the best in the business! BUT he did say Carolina is trying to out recruit everyone. Might go down to Duke/Carolina once again. GO DUKE!

I actually read into that comment a positive for Duke. It seems that he is subtly saying that Duke is better, but UNC is pulling out all the stops to try and woo him... as if he recognizes he is being sold a bill of goods or something. Maybe I am all wrong but through my dark blue glasses this looks like another positive sign for us...

[Lord Ash]

I really hope Austin powers us to another championship!

I see what you did there.

[Class of '94]

I actually read into that comment a positive for Duke. It seems that he is subtly saying that Duke is better, but UNC is pulling out all the stops to try and woo him... as if he recognizes he is being sold a bill of goods or something. Maybe I am all wrong but through my dark blue glasses this looks like another positive sign for us...

I think Carolina and Roy is focused specifically on trying to out recruit us; forget everyone else. I've said this before in another thread; but it seems that Roy is really fixated and obsessed lately on trying to outdo us and Coach K in everything IMO. It's seems like he's taken on the mindset that if he's identified players that we're interested in that he thinks could be a major force on our team, he's determined at the very least to keep them from coming to Duke if he can't get them to come to UNC. To me for example, it felt like his full court press on HB was more about keeping him from Duke than Roy wanting him for UNC.

And I think that mentality came back to bite him in the rear end last year. From all indications, it does seem like Austin gets that; and I hope he continues to keep Duke at the top. But I still feel really good about Austin choosing Duke to play college basketball.

[G man]

I think Carolina and Roy is focused specifically on trying to out recruit us; forget everyone else. I've said this before in another thread; but it seems that Roy is really fixated and obsessed lately on trying to outdo us and Coach K in everything IMO. It's seems like he's taken on the mindset that if he's identified players that we're interested in that he thinks could be a major force on our team, he's determined at the very least to keep them from coming to Duke if he can't get them to come to UNC. To me for example, it felt like his full court press on HB was more about keeping him from Duke than Roy wanting him for UNC.

And I think that mentality came back to bite him in the rear end last year. From all indications, it does seem like Austin gets that; and I hope he continues to keep Duke at the top. But I still feel really good about Austin choosing Duke to play college basketball.

Agree up to a point! That point being only an idiot would not want Barnes! He wanted him just as much as he wanted to keep him away from us.

[COYS]

Agree up to a point! That point being only an idiot would not want Barnes! He wanted him just as much as he wanted to keep him away from us.

I do think that Roy's sense of self worth seems to be fragile and that he does get caught up in a war with the Joneses, at least in the press . . . but I definitely agree with G Man that there was not a team in the country that wouldn't take Barnes. Also, the idea that Roy swooped in and scooped him up at the last second is overstated. I think UNC offered Barnes within 4 months of Duke offering him (and this is before his junior year of high school started, or shortly thereafter, IIRC) and recruited him the entire time. As Barnes expressed more interest in UNC, I would imagine that Roy turned up the pressure in the last six months (remember his call to Barnes an hour after the Holes cut down the nets?) as he realized that Barnes had more and more interest in UNC.

Also, remember that the frosh and sophs on this past year's NIT Runner Up Team (too much fun not to type it) were almost all early commitments, not players that he decided to recruit as soon as Duke started to. He also stayed out of the Kyrie Irving chase and appears to be staying the course with Marshall. Both Austin and Barnes are elite recruits that any coach of a top program would be crazy not to at least gauge the recruits interest.

[Class of '94]

I do think that Roy's sense of self worth seems to be fragile and that he does get caught up in a war with the Joneses, at least in the press . . . but I definitely agree with G Man that there was not a team in the country that wouldn't take Barnes. Also, the idea that Roy swooped in and scooped him up at the last second is overstated. I think UNC offered Barnes within 4 months of Duke offering him (and this is before his junior year of high school started, or shortly thereafter, IIRC) and recruited him the entire time. As Barnes expressed more interest in UNC, I would imagine that Roy turned up the pressure in the last six months (remember his call to Barnes an hour after the Holes cut down the nets?) as he realized that Barnes had more and more interest in UNC.

Also, remember that the frosh and sophs on this past year's NIT Runner Up Team (too much fun not to type it) were almost all early commitments, not players that he decided to recruit as soon as Duke started to. He also stayed out of the Kyrie Irving chase and appears to be staying the course with Marshall. Both Austin and Barnes are elite recruits that any coach of a top program would be crazy not to at least gauge the recruits interest.

Good points by you and G Man.....I still think there was some extra motivation by Roy to try and keep Duke down....and that's understandable being that we are intense rivals; and his goal IMO is for UNC to be king of the ACC and the national landscape.