Brandon Ingram's Roots

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Nice article on ESPN (http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/15051127/duke-brandon-ingram-turned-hometown-kinston-blue-devils-fans) (I know, I felt weird typing that too) about Brandon Ingram, his roots in Kinston, and his family's friendship with another Kinston wunderkind, The Evil Jerry Stackhouse. Definitely worth a read.

[Lar77]

Nice article on ESPN (http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/15051127/duke-brandon-ingram-turned-hometown-kinston-blue-devils-fans) (I know, I felt weird typing that too) about Brandon Ingram, his roots in Kinston, and his family's friendship with another Kinston wunderkind, The Evil Jerry Stackhouse. Definitely worth a read.

Thank you for this MD. Brandon is just a good guy and maybe he will open up the coastal plains for us (I was kind of surprised that Wake made the list. My experience is that it's State and ECU with pockets of UNC).

[flyingdutchdevil]

I'm gonna miss that talented, sleepy-eyed, lanky, wonderful young man. He is just so much fun to watch.

Here's to praying that the Celtics get the #2 pick in the draft. Hey, a man can dream, right?

[luburch]

I'm gonna miss that talented, sleepy-eyed, lanky, wonderful young man. He is just so much fun to watch.

Here's to praying that the Celtics get the #2 pick in the draft. Hey, a man can dream, right?

Just imagine the things Brad Stevens could do with Brandon Ingram. Someone please make this happen.

[dball]

I'm gonna miss that talented, sleepy-eyed, lanky, wonderful young man. He is just so much fun to watch.

Here's to praying that the Celtics get the #2 pick in the draft. Hey, a man can dream, right?

the Celtics want Ben Simmons?

[flyingdutchdevil]

the Celtics want Ben Simmons?

Hahahaha. Good one. Simmons will be #1. Scouts and GMs questioning his heart need to look at the coaching staff. If Ben Simmons was at Duke, do you think he'd have that reputation? Me thinks not

[kAzE]

Hahahaha. Good one. Simmons will be #1. Scouts and GMs questioning his heart need to look at the coaching staff. If Ben Simmons was at Duke, do you think he'd have that reputation? Me thinks not

Simmons does have some flaws, but he's the safer pick. GMs will probably still go with him as the #1 guy when it's time to draft. He's NBA ready now, whereas I believe it could take Brandon 2-3 years to get to that point, meaning he will be in the process of developing over the majority of his rookie contract. By the time he's ready to dominate, you're going to have to pay him. Simmons is a player who will only become exponentially better the more talent you surround him with. There could not have been a worse basketball situation for him than LSU. He has nightly triple double potential. I believe Brandon has a higher ceiling, but he's not guaranteed to reach it. Simmons probably has a slightly lower ceiling, but higher floor.

That said, I like Brandon way more as a person and as a competitor, and I would personally take him over Simmons. The kid has way more heart than Simmons ever will. He also doesn't need to have the ball in his hands as much as Simmons, which I view as a huge plus. You have to build your team around Simmons, but Brandon fits any team, and does everything on defense, too.

[Sir Stealth]

It's nice to see a positive article about Brandon and his background, but unfortunately I find this to be yet another trash article that engages in hyperbole to pump up a narrative about Duke. Duke is a "faux-Ivy" "full of Methodists(??)." Apparently no one from "Down East" North Carolina ever goes there or roots for them (except, of course, the subject of the article, who it turns out was always a huge fan) (also, as I understand it "Down East" is a term more accurately limited to sections of the NC coast and shouldn't really be used for Kinston except in cases where the author is trying to pump up some sort of regional narrative - yet there I see it again in ESPN alert for the article that just popped up on my phone). Naturally, part of Brandon's fit within Duke's team chemistry has been Grayson "playing the part of Duke's traditional bad guy," as if this media narrative actually has any affect on the way that the team plays or interacts with each other.

Obviously, the allegiance of most North Carolinians, probably even more so in more rural towns like Kinston, is heavily weighted to the local state schools and not a national school like Duke (the author tries to throw Wake in as a school locals would root for more heavily, which is ridiculous). And of course UNC was long able to take it's pick of top in-state talent such as Stackhouse (who seems refreshingly mature in fully supporting Brandon without worrying about pressing the UNC allegiance). That could be a nice setting and background to set the scene for a bio story on Ingram. But most of the article is dumb hyperbole, right down to "blood-spattered paint" of the semi-pro leagues that Brandon's father played in (massive eye-roll). It relies completely on the dramatic narrative when Brandon is an interesting enough person to tell the story without it - too bad.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

It's nice to see a positive article about Brandon and his background, but unfortunately I find this to be yet another trash article that engages in hyperbole to pump up a narrative about Duke. Duke is a "faux-Ivy" "full of Methodists(??)." Apparently no one from "Down East" North Carolina ever goes there or roots for them (except, of course, the subject of the article, who it turns out was always a huge fan) (also, as I understand it "Down East" is a term more accurately limited to sections of the NC coast and shouldn't really be used for Kinston except in cases where the author is trying to pump up some sort of regional narrative - yet there I see it again in ESPN alert for the article that just popped up on my phone). Naturally, part of Brandon's fit within Duke's team chemistry has been Grayson "playing the part of Duke's traditional bad guy," as if this media narrative actually has any affect on the way that the team plays or interacts with each other.

Obviously, the allegiance of most North Carolinians, probably even more so in more rural towns like Kinston, is heavily weighted to the local state schools and not a national school like Duke (the author tries to throw Wake in as a school locals would root for more heavily, which is ridiculous). And of course UNC was long able to take it's pick of top in-state talent such as Stackhouse (who seems refreshingly mature in fully supporting Brandon without worrying about pressing the UNC allegiance). That could be a nice setting and background to set the scene for a bio story on Ingram. But most of the article is dumb hyperbole, right down to "blood-spattered paint" of the semi-pro leagues that Brandon's father played in (massive eye-roll). It relies completely on the dramatic narrative when Brandon is an interesting enough person to tell the story without it - too bad.

Oh lordy. You are being too touchy. Perhaps there's a bit of hyperbole in the article, but as someone who drives through that area semi-regularly, the generalization that you are more likely to run into fans from almost ANY other school than a Duke fan is pretty accurate. And it's not "pumping up some regional narrative" to accurately depict the existing perceptions of people in the area towards Duke - and it's equally absurd to complain about it when the descriptions are used in the article to explain that Ingram is CHANGING that point of view.

I swear people here are champing at the bit to find things to be upset about.

It's a nice article, it makes Ingram seem like a very likable kid, and it digs into a friendship with Stackhouse that I was unfamiliar with heretofore. Let's not dig into it looking for things to flood the comments section with, thus confirming some of the things other fanbases think about us.

[Sir Stealth]

Oh lordy. You are being too touchy. Perhaps there's a bit of hyperbole in the article, but as someone who drives through that area semi-regularly, the generalization that you are more likely to run into fans from almost ANY other school than a Duke fan is pretty accurate. And it's not "pumping up some regional narrative" to accurately depict the existing perceptions of people in the area towards Duke - and it's equally absurd to complain about it when the descriptions are used in the article to explain that Ingram is CHANGING that point of view.

I swear people here are champing at the bit to find things to be upset about.

It's a nice article, it makes Ingram seem like a very likable kid, and it digs into a friendship with Stackhouse that I was unfamiliar with heretofore. Let's not dig into it looking for things to flood the comments section with, thus confirming some of the things other fanbases think about us.

If this stuff still doesn't bother you, that's cool. I also made it pretty clear that I don't disagree with the fact that the local population generally does not root for Duke - if anything I'm very skeptical that Ingram has actually changed rooting interests there outside of his own friends and family. What I don't like is bleeding the narratives about Duke's basketball team and fan reaction to it (whatever) into narratives about Duke as an institution. The article doesn't start off with "People from Kinston don't cheer for Duke," it has to take it a step further by saying "People from Kinston don't go to Duke." It could easily tell a good story by saying, "Ingram has locals rooting for the national school over the usual state teams," but instead it falls in line with everything else we have to hear about how Duke University is an invasion of rich, white, arrogant "faux-Ivy" preppies that have nothing to do with the real North Carolina (with the strange anachronistic twist here of Methodism). Maybe I'm more sensitive to it here because my father (also a Duke alum) grew up 20 miles from Kinston, but I just don't need that narrative blown up in every other article about our basketball team.

The reference to Grayson as the typical [white] Duke villain is a close cousin to all if this and right at home in the article, and when the discussion of the "villainy" of a kid who took much more than he dished out this year continues to set records for blowing things out of proportion the deeper we go in March, it's really hard not to be annoyed by that. And I would say that the viewpoints of opposing fanbases have much more to do with this kind of false narrative about Duke and nothing to do with taking exception to it. Opposing fanbases wouldn't think you or I would care to find Kinston on a map for all our genteel arrogance. So I'm sorry if you think that my taking exception to it distracts from an otherwise nice article about Brandon, but I'm not the one who inserted all of that crap in there.

[Li_Duke]

Naturally, part of Brandon's fit within Duke's team chemistry has been Grayson "playing the part of Duke's traditional bad guy," as if this media narrative actually has any affect on the way that the team plays or interacts with each other.

You just knew that the anti-Duke hate would be especially high this year, considering that we won it all the year before. Grayson being on the team and being the target of all the anti-Duke hate allows Brandon to be himself. For example, without Grayson, Brandon playing as the clear star for Duke against UNC, the team he spurned,... the UNC crowd could have been ugly for him.

[DukieTiger]

Hahahaha. Good one. Simmons will be #1. Scouts and GMs questioning his heart need to look at the coaching staff. If Ben Simmons was at Duke, do you think he'd have that reputation? Me thinks not

Or maybe his heart and his makeup is why he chose a place like LSU, where he could hunt his stats and do his thing?

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

If this stuff still doesn't bother you, that's cool. I also made it pretty clear that I don't disagree with the fact that the local population generally does not root for Duke - if anything I'm very skeptical that Ingram has actually changed rooting interests there outside of his own friends and family. What I don't like is bleeding the narratives about Duke's basketball team and fan reaction to it (whatever) into narratives about Duke as an institution. The article doesn't start off with "People from Kinston don't cheer for Duke," it has to take it a step further by saying "People from Kinston don't go to Duke." It could easily tell a good story by saying, "Ingram has locals rooting for the national school over the usual state teams," but instead it falls in line with everything else we have to hear about how Duke University is an invasion of rich, white, arrogant "faux-Ivy" preppies that have nothing to do with the real North Carolina (with the strange anachronistic twist here of Methodism). Maybe I'm more sensitive to it here because my father (also a Duke alum) grew up 20 miles from Kinston, but I just don't need that narrative blown up in every other article about our basketball team.

The reference to Grayson as the typical [white] Duke villain is a close cousin to all if this and right at home in the article, and when the discussion of the "villainy" of a kid who took much more than he dished out this year continues to set records for blowing things out of proportion the deeper we go in March, it's really hard not to be annoyed by that. And I would say that the viewpoints of opposing fanbases have much more to do with this kind of false narrative about Duke and nothing to do with taking exception to it. Opposing fanbases wouldn't think you or I would care to find Kinston on a map for all our genteel arrogance. So I'm sorry if you think that my taking exception to it distracts from an otherwise nice article about Brandon, but I'm not the one who inserted all of that crap in there.

It is an accurate description of how people in rural parts of North Carolina feel about Duke. The point of the article is that Ingram is part of changing that perception. I truly don't understand what someone can find offensive about that. It's true! That's how people feel toward Duke in lots of places (I can't speak specifically towards Kinston, but being born and raised in North Carolina, that jives with what I have heard for 30+ years).

Since you tied in the Grayson angle, what if there was an article that started off "Grayson Allen is seen in the media as an evil win-at-all-costs Duke player who sometimes pushes too close to the edge. Allen himself is trying to change that perception through charity and good works." Would you consider that to be offensive?

It's a nice article. It paints Brandon as a nice guy who defied expectations and chose Duke and is helping change the perception of Duke in his hometown.

[Doria]

Not just people in rural NC. I grew up in the triangle and stayed there for basically 20 years before leaving the state. Now, it might have changed since I've been gone (since it's been a while), but back then, Duke was absolutely seen that way; and I can't imagine that the narrative would have been any different in more rural areas. I had friends in Kinston, but since we didn't talk about Duke, I have no idea what their perception of the school was, so I can't speak to that. Obviously, much of that view is distorted and doesn't fit many students/alums, but I can't see how one can really believe that many people in NC don't see Duke that way.

[dubldvman]

I am a Duke grad who now lives in the Triangle but lived in Kinston between 1992-2004. Kinston is just like many eastern North Carolina towns with mostly UNC or State basketball fans (admittedly more Carolina than State) and a good number of ECU football fans who line up behind a North Carolina ACC school during basketball season. However, there are most certainly a number of Duke grads and Duke fans in Kinston and there are on average 2-3 kids per year from the local public high schools and the regional private school who headed to Duke. For example, in 2007, I know that there were 11 Kinston kids who were undergrads at Duke. Brandon had lots of Duke folks in Kinston to encourage him and welcome him to the Duke family.