Another Assist for Tyus Jones

[MCFinARL]

Duke Men's Basketball reports on Twitter that Tyus Jones delivered the ball to Kevin Garnett for the ceremonial first pitch at the Minnesota Twins' home opener today. https://twitter.com/Duke_MBB/status/587709690433445889/photo/1

[MarkD83]

Duke Men's Basketball reports on Twitter that Tyus Jones delivered the ball to Kevin Garnett for the ceremonial first pitch at the Minnesota Twins' home opener today. https://twitter.com/Duke_MBB/status/587709690433445889/photo/1

I hope one of the responses to the twitter thread is not true......

[SilkyJ]

I hope one of the responses to the twitter thread is not true......

Missing a day or two of class to be part of an opening pitch ceremony for your hometown baseball team is hardly the end of the world. I would have done that in a heartbeat. I missed all kinds of classes while tenting...among other things.

[MCFinARL]

I hope one of the responses to the twitter thread is not true......

Me too, and I doubt it is true, though I have no inside info. There are only a couple of weeks left in the semester--the last day of classes is April 22--and Tyus had a good academic record first semester (ACC all-academic, I believe). It would be foolish for him to boot a whole semester's week at this point if he is even entertaining the possibility of ever finishing his education, and Tyus doesn't strike me as a foolish guy.

[Duke95]

At UNC this probably would have counted as extra credit.

[Owen Meany]

I hope one of the responses to the twitter thread is not true......

I may be missing something, since I'm not on twitter and am only looking at the link, so excuse me if there are other responses. I am assuming you are referring to this:

so is he not going to class anymore?

It is important to note that the person responding is asking, not stating a fact. I don't believe there is any reason to believe that Jones is not attending class anymore. I would think people miss a day or 2 of class for reasons much less significant than the opportunity to be honored by a professional team in their home state. I think it is also note-worthy that the Duke Men's basketball program found this a positive event worthy of a tweet.

[DukeandMdFan]

My guess is that he saw it as a great opportunity to be recognized by his hometown fans and saw it as an opportunity he didn't want to pass up. It might have been a good financial decision if it could increase his marketing value.

We can all hope, but it would be surprising if he had another opportunity to celebrate a one-week anniversary of an NCAA championship. I think it is another sign that he is going pro.

I'm also guessing that he isn't spending a whole lot of effort on his schoolwork at this time. Again, his time may be better spent contemplating or preparting for an NBA career than spending it on schoolwork.

A lot of college students skip classes and some of them skip a lot of classes. But, I don't think many of the frequent class-skippers end up with a 3.0 or above in challenging courses unless they are exceptionally gifted (or perhaps if they have good tutors). It seems like he would have missed a lot of classes this semester for basketball and that he would forego this first-pitch opportunity at this time if he was truly serious about doing well in his classes and returning for his sophomore year.

(It is ok with me if his schoolwork is not a high priority. It is also ok with me if the advisors recommended classes that he could pass without making the effort of a typical college student.)

[pfrduke]

When I was a junior, or thereabouts, I scheduled myself a semester where I only had classes on Tuesday and Thursday (with one seminar class that met Wednesday evenings). Four day weekends were every weekend, and it was bliss. Traveling to Minnesota on a Monday to be part of a first pitch would have been easy for me without missing a single class.

I obviously have no idea what Tyus's schedule is, but even if he missed a class or two to do this, it's an awesome opportunity.

[Kedsy]

A lot of college students skip classes and some of them skip a lot of classes. But, I don't think many of the frequent class-skippers end up with a 3.0 or above in challenging courses unless they are exceptionally gifted (or perhaps if they have good tutors).

I admit things may have changed at Duke since I attended a bzillion years ago, but your bolded statement doesn't strike me as being true in my era. Lots of smart but not necessarily "gifted" students managed decent/good/very good grades with spotty attendance. All you had to do was have a good exam plan.

Also, my understanding is basketball players at Duke take light course loads during basketball season and make up for it during the summer sessions. Tyus may not have skipped nearly as many classes as you assume he has.


When I was a junior, or thereabouts, I scheduled myself a semester where I only had classes on Tuesday and Thursday (with one seminar class that met Wednesday evenings). Four day weekends were every weekend, and it was bliss. Traveling to Minnesota on a Monday to be part of a first pitch would have been easy for me without missing a single class.

I also managed a Tuesday/Thursday only schedule my last semester at Duke. It would especially be possible for someone taking a light schedule (which, as I noted above, basketball players supposedly do).

[DukeandMdFan]

I admit things may have changed at Duke since I attended a bzillion years ago, but your bolded statement doesn't strike me as being true in my era. Lots of smart but not necessarily "gifted" students managed decent/good/very good grades with spotty attendance. All you had to do was have a good exam plan.

Also, my understanding is basketball players at Duke take light course loads during basketball season and make up for it during the summer sessions. Tyus may not have skipped nearly as many classes as you assume he has.



I also managed a Tuesday/Thursday only schedule my last semester at Duke. It would especially be possible for someone taking a light schedule (which, as I noted above, basketball players supposedly do).

You may be right - I have no statistics to support the claim. (I went to U of MD also a long time ago...) and of my friends who skipped a lot of classes, by the end of the semester they were generally satisfied with Cs. I agree that summer school classes allow them to have a reasonable workload in the spring.

[NashvilleDevil]

My guess is that he saw it as a great opportunity to be recognized by his hometown fans and saw it as an opportunity he didn't want to pass up. It might have been a good financial decision if it could increase his marketing value.

We can all hope, but it would be surprising if he had another opportunity to celebrate a one-week anniversary of an NCAA championship. I think it is another sign that he is going pro.

I'm also guessing that he isn't spending a whole lot of effort on his schoolwork at this time. Again, his time may be better spent contemplating or preparting for an NBA career than spending it on schoolwork.

A lot of college students skip classes and some of them skip a lot of classes. But, I don't think many of the frequent class-skippers end up with a 3.0 or above in challenging courses unless they are exceptionally gifted (or perhaps if they have good tutors). It seems like he would have missed a lot of classes this semester for basketball and that he would forego this first-pitch opportunity at this time if he was truly serious about doing well in his classes and returning for his sophomore year.

(It is ok with me if his schoolwork is not a high priority. It is also ok with me if the advisors recommended classes that he could pass without making the effort of a typical college student.)

What on earth is this? He goes home to be part of opening day and you extrapolate that to mean he is no longer doing school work and is likely headed to the pros.

[duke09hms]

What on earth is this? He goes home to be part of opening day and you extrapolate that to mean he is no longer doing school work and is likely headed to the pros.

Cmon, it's the 2015 offseason!

[killerleft]

My guess is that he saw it as a great opportunity to be recognized by his hometown fans and saw it as an opportunity he didn't want to pass up. It might have been a good financial decision if it could increase his marketing value.

We can all hope, but it would be surprising if he had another opportunity to celebrate a one-week anniversary of an NCAA championship. I think it is another sign that he is going pro.

I'm also guessing that he isn't spending a whole lot of effort on his schoolwork at this time. Again, his time may be better spent contemplating or preparting for an NBA career than spending it on schoolwork.

A lot of college students skip classes and some of them skip a lot of classes. But, I don't think many of the frequent class-skippers end up with a 3.0 or above in challenging courses unless they are exceptionally gifted (or perhaps if they have good tutors). It seems like he would have missed a lot of classes this semester for basketball and that he would forego this first-pitch opportunity at this time if he was truly serious about doing well in his classes and returning for his sophomore year.

(It is ok with me if his schoolwork is not a high priority. It is also ok with me if the advisors recommended classes that he could pass without making the effort of a typical college student.)

Bubba? Is that you, Bubba?:confused::)

[Ichabod Drain]

Interesting where this thread went.

For anyone concerned, yesterday Winslow posted on twitter a couple links to surveys for one of his classes. So he is obviously still doing work and I have absolutely no doubt that Tyus is as well.

[Troublemaker]

Haha, on top of what everyone else has mentioned, Duke recruits a certain of type of player and Duke sets certain expectations for them. I mean, Tyus was All-Academic ACC for fall semester. You really think he's just going to blow off finals and fail his classes for spring semester, in defiance of the expectations Duke sets for him? C'mon now.

[Newton_14]

Haha, on top of what everyone else has mentioned, Duke recruits a certain of type of player and Duke sets certain expectations for them. I mean, Tyus was All-Academic ACC for fall semester. You really think he's just going to blow off finals and fail his classes for spring semester, in defiance of the expectations Duke sets for him? C'mon now.

Agree and I think it is beyond ridiculous for anyone to come up with some half baked theory that Tyus is blowing off his school work, doesn't care about his grades this semester, etc. These kids were doing homework on the plane flight home after winning the South Regional against Gonzaga for goodness sakes. I am sorry, but it is way out of line to accuse Tyus of doing any of that nonsense, especially when none of us have any earthly idea what his course load was for this semester, what his class schedules are, and how often he is or is not attending class, etc. It is nothing more than rumor mongering, which by the way is against the rules on this board and can bring about an infraction. Someone immediately suggested the exact same thing about Quinn in the ACC Barnstorming tour thread which is also ridiculous. That tour is only 38 years old at this point so I feel confident the Big Four schools have figured out how to support it without jeopardizing the schoolwork and grades of the kids that participate.