Seth Davis visits Duke practice, responds:

[loran16]

SethDavisHoops
After watching Duke practice, I have to say Devils are better than I thought. Kyrie Irving is best, most mature frosh PG Coach K has had.
Dawkins & Curry are lethal zone busters. Plumlees solid. Singler & Smith set tone as Srs. Long way to Houston but Duke has big head start.

Coming off the heels of the Dan Wetzel tweets, this has me salivating with excitement. My only question is: How much can you really tell from practices? I can tell from games who's good and who's impressive, and who isn't, but practices? I don't get it.

[Duvall]

SethDavisHoops
After watching Duke practice, I have to say Devils are better than I thought. Kyrie Irving is best, most mature frosh PG Coach K has had.
Dawkins & Curry are lethal zone busters. Plumlees solid. Singler & Smith set tone as Srs. Long way to Houston but Duke has big head start.

Coming off the heels of the Dan Wetzel tweets, this has me salivating with excitement. My only question is: How much can you really tell from practices? I can tell from games who's good and who's impressive, and who isn't, but practices? I don't get it.

I can see how a knowledgeable basketball type like a coach or a scout could spot player skills and development in a practice, and could assess a team from that. Not sure if that has anything to do with Seth Davis, though.

We probably need an omnibus thread for the Duke Hype Machine, 2010-2011. Seems like there's going to be a lot of it.

[ajgoodfella7]

I think more then any of the outside media gushing, listening to Coach K is what has me most excited. Usually he is very reserved before a season, sometimes because he may believe that his team has a ways to go, and sometimes because he probably just doesn't want to give his team any reason to have a feeling of entitlement. But his comments this offseason have been very different. He knows just how good this team is and he hasn't even tried to hide it.

[Kedsy]

SethDavisHoopsComing off the heels of the Dan Wetzel tweets, this has me salivating with excitement. My only question is: How much can you really tell from practices? I can tell from games who's good and who's impressive, and who isn't, but practices? I don't get it.

Maybe he's reporting his impression of the scrimmage part of the practice? My guess is if they're playing hard you can tell more about this year's team from an intrasquad scrimmage than you can from an exhibition against a DII team.

[gumbomoop]

We probably need an omnibus thread for the Duke Hype Machine, 2010-2011. Seems like there's going to be a lot of it.

I buy the hype ......


I think more then any of the outside media gushing, listening to Coach K is what has me most excited. Usually he is very reserved before a season, sometimes because he may believe that his team has a ways to go, and sometimes because he probably just doesn't want to give his team any reason to have a feeling of entitlement. But his comments this offseason have been very different. He knows just how good this team is and he hasn't even tried to hide it.

....... principally for the reason ajgoodfella7 notes here: K isn't much of a hype guy, yet he can hardly contain himself.

It's only [or mostly] because our, including my, Entitlement Appetite is near-insatiable, that so many of us are straining to be as reserved as possible in our predictions of just how special this team might become. I do understand, having been educated by expert posters more attuned to probabilities than I, that while Duke may be the preseason, now-hyped "favorite" to win the NC, that doesn't mean the Devils are "likely" to win it. That is, injuries, off-night in NCAAT, insufficient rebounding intensity, anything could happen, etc.

Fair enough. It's also fair to say that the vibes in the air, which vibes seem to have a lot to do with the eye-test, are vibrating. So if we have to keep the bad-karma-gods at bay by curbing our enthusiasm, we might also be forthright enough to assert, straightforwardly and confidently, that: these guys (1) have demonstrated talent, (2) meaningful experience, (3) two new weapons who'd start and star for pretty much every other top team, (4) a couple of role+ players who'd also start for most teams, (5) and a first-rate coaching staff. The details of these points - and yet others you could undoubtedly add - are even more impressive than the mere summary version here listed.

Any Duke fanatic not optimistic these days is too enthralled by, possibly in thrall to, the bad-karma-gods. The bad-karma-gods can go to hell, you should pardon the expression.

[greybeard]

I can see how a knowledgeable basketball type like a coach or a scout could spot player skills and development in a practice, and could assess a team from that. Not sure if that has anything to do with Seth Davis, though.

We probably need an omnibus thread for the Duke Hype Machine, 2010-2011. Seems like there's going to be a lot of it.

Is this the same guy who had Duke going out WHEN in the tournament last year? I'm not saying that there isn't reason to be excited, but to quote a HEAD about the prospects of a team before it has played a single game, or a whole regular season for that matter, especially one who has some shall we say fence-mending, or we could say, crow-eating, to do, well, I say let em prove it on the court.

The HEADS, let em talk. But if you're going to ride em before things get started, watch out, it's a long way down, when they cut and run if things turn south.

[ChicagoCrazy84]

Nice to hear comments like that from guys like Seth Davis, who I have a lot of respect for, BUT I feel like he is telling us things we already know and have come to expect. Of course Seth and Andre are zone busters and Kyrie is a stud. Kyle and Nolan setting the tone isn't too surprising either. I would've liked to see something more specific from Seth or something that catches someone's eye such as a blurb on Ryan Kelly, the play of Josh or Tyler. Tell us something that confirms you were there and what exactly caught your eye.

[loran16]

Nice to hear comments like that from guys like Seth Davis, who I have a lot of respect for, BUT I feel like he is telling us things we already know and have come to expect. Of course Seth and Andre are zone busters and Kyrie is a stud. Kyle and Nolan setting the tone isn't too surprising either. I would've liked to see something more specific from Seth or something that catches someone's eye such as a blurb on Ryan Kelly, the play of Josh or Tyler. Tell us something that confirms you were there and what exactly caught your eye.

He wrote a column about his visit to Nova last week, that was posted yesterday. He spent the last 2 days in Chapel Hill/Durham. I would bet another column with more details is coming soon, probably next week, on both teams.