DBR Podcast #94 - A truly great interview and MSU recap

[JasonEvans]

Folks, you need to listen to the interview here with former Dukie Chris Burgess. We have interviewed many former Dukies including Shane Battier, Mason Plumlee, Nolan Smith, and Chris Collins... but this podcast contains what may be the best interview yet. Burgess is an assistant coach at Utah Valley, and only days after his team came to Cameron he lets us in on his scouting report on the Devils. He also spins some tales about his time in college basketball playing for two of the most colorful coaches in the history of the game, Coach K and Rick Majerus. It truly is an interview not to be missed.

We also break down that impressive win over Michigan St.

https://soundcloud.com/dbrpodcast/dbr-podcast-94-mich-st-recap-and-interview-with-chris-burgess
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/duke-basketball-report/id954964236?mt=2

0:00 Byrd Campbell means business!
0:30 Donald welcomes us to a midweek edition and teases something special coming up
2:05 Sam kicks off our coverage of the MSU game by talking about what it was like to be there, live, in the arena for the game
6:30 Donald asks Jason about the rebounding… we are impressed with how Duke hits the glass
8:45 Jason gushes about Trevon Duval, who made several moves that seemed reminiscent of Kyrie Irving
12:50 Jason talks about the transformation of Coach K in his 38th season… it is truly stunning
14:50 Donald talks about how Duke demoralized Michigan State by beating them at their own game
17:25 We spend a little time talking about the maturity and leadership of Grayson Allen
20:30 Tucker Byrd of Byrd Campbell has a message about Grayson’s intensity and perseverance
21:25 A very special interview – former Dukie and current assistant coach at Utah Valley Chris Burgess
24:40 Burgess talks about how he scouted Duke and what impressed him about them
27:45 Burgess agrees that Duke is the best team in the country
29:20 We find out what it was like to play Kentucky and Duke on back-to-back nights
32:15 Donald asks Chris about his memories of being at Duke
34:05 Chris talks about the pain of losing the national title in 1999
36:10 We ask Burgess about being a part of one of the great recruiting classes of all time and he tells us a crazy story about Baron Davis
40:40 What is it like to be a coach versus being a player?
42:55 Burgess tells a couple great stories about being behind the scenes with his 2 head coaches… Coach K and Rick Majerus
48:55 We talk about how great the Burgess interview was. Sam loved the Majerus story, Jason talks about Bagley’s “second jump,” and Donald talks about how much the 1999 loss hurts
1:00:20 Parting Shots – Jason recommends a movie
1:02:50 Parting Shots – Sam mentions the loss of Jeff Capel’s father and then tells a story about the nicest airport ticket attendant in history!
1:05:10 Parting Shots – Donald says you should go see the play, Mean Girls: The Musical
1:06:55 Goodbye folks! Have a happy Thanksgiving!

[BandAlum83]

Wow, this dropped fast and deserves a bump up. I subscribe to the podcast, but for those who don't, I would hate for you to miss that there is another podcast available.

I look forward to listening to it on tonight's commute!

[BandAlum83]

That's just sick.....and unwarranted.

Bump redeux

[JasonEvans]

Wow, this dropped fast and deserves a bump up. I subscribe to the podcast, but for those who don't, I would hate for you to miss that there is another podcast available.

I look forward to listening to it on tonight's commute!

Please, let us know what you thought of the Burgess interview. I found him so insightful and revealing.

[Dev11]

revealing.

Oh indeed. *nightmares of Rick Majerus*

[somf4eva]

I have a full list of podcasts but have to say that you guys are a must listen right now. I am so excited for this team. thanks for the great content.

[juise]

Enjoyed the podcast (apart from Donald bringing up the 2004 FF... I was in the seat next to him). The Burgess Majerus stories were hilarious and cringeworthy... in that order. I also was not yet a Duke fan when Chris was on the team, but from years on these boards, I seem to remember buzz that Chris's dad is viewed as a driver in his decision to transfer (totally apologize if I'm making that up). I think it was interesting that parental interference was the topic of his story. This could be a "Usual Suspects" moment in regard to understanding the truth behind the Burgess transfer. ;) I may have just dropped my coffee mug.

I enjoyed the quick scouting report of the team. What stood out to me was his comment about Grayson looking like sophomore Grayson. That tells me that he didn't just scout the team to prepare for the game, but he actually follows Duke. I like that.

My one wish would have been to get some behind the scenes info about Shane's pep talk for Utah Valley before the game and Chris's ongoing relationship with Shane and other former Duke teammates.

Keep up the good work, guys!

[BandAlum83]

Please, let us know what you thought of the Burgess interview. I found him so insightful and revealing.

That was a great interview! Burgess is gracious, funny, articulate, insightful, engaging and a credit to UVU (and Duke).

Great job preparing for the interview while not smothering the interviewee with completely pre-canned questions. Good job listening to what he was saying and appropriately following up and allowing Burgess' personality shine through.

Well done!

[UrinalCake]

DBR has totally stepped up its interview game! I have to say, I found it hard to find humor in the story about Burgess's mom, as his dad had a number of scathing things to say about K following his transfer. I still believe that this helped lay the groundwork for the whole "Duke doesn't develop bigs" perception that persisted throughout the 2000's and basically until Okafor came. Knowing that BOTH of his parents were overly aggressive in meddling with their son's career only makes me more angry. As Jason said, if Burgess had stayed he could have been a key member on the 2000 team.

It does sound like Burgess has put the past behind him with regards to Duke, which is good. I guess I should do the same. The interview was great and really insightful. I didn't realize that signing Baron Davis was even a possibility, man that would have been an epic class even moreso than it already was.

[Dukehky]

I just want to add my own little story about Chris Burgess. At the National Championship game in 2015, I kind of friend of a friend of a friended my way into the Team's after party in the hotel. Funny enough, I ran into Chris Burgess. People were more or less swarming a lot of the old players, but he was able to kind of stand around and just enjoy himself instead of being harassed by fanboys (and girls).

Unfortunately for him, as a youngster, Burgess was one of my favorite players on the '99 team (I got an autograph as a kid from him and he was just the nicest guy), so I went up and started to talk to him. He could not have been nicer. We talked about what he was doing, what he thought about the game, whether he was better than Jah (he said no). We talked about whether the 99 team would have beaten that team. We both agreed that the answer was yes and that the margin would have been about 20.

I told him that I was surprised to see him there, and then we started talking about his leaving. I know that was avoided during the podcast, and I understand why. A lot of it was his transfer was his dad's belief that he was being under utilized (I know his mom was the helicopter parent in the story on the podcast, but his dad was, ahem, involved), and he was just like, yeah man, I loved my time at both Utah and Duke, but there will always be a part of me that will wonder and have a little regret over not seeing what it would have been like to stick it out with Shane.

He really is a great guy, and despite his transfer, has been a wonderful representative Duke.

That was definitely a top three night of my life, and Burgess made it even better. I'm really glad you guys were able to speak to him. I hope he continues to move up the coaching ladder and reaches whatever goal he may have for himself in that field.

[gep]

I finally had a chance today to listen to the Podcast. First of all, you guys do a GREAT job with the Podcast... I (and I gather, a lot of us) REALLY enjoy them.

But, as you guys said, the interview with Chris Burgess was more than excellent. Chris sounds like a great guy. I wasn't following Duke basketball that much when he played at Duke, and only know that he transferred out. But wow... he's got a fan in me now. And that story from Dukehky reinforces it.

Thanks a bunch...

[WillJ]

Please, let us know what you thought of the Burgess interview. I found him so insightful and revealing.

It was great. Thanks much.

[Saratoga2]

Excellent podcast and interview. Might be interesting to hear going forward, how you feel about coach K's comments following the Southern Game and in particular the difficulty of getting practice time when playing 9 games in 20 days along to traveling to some of the venues. The team was not sharp and the shooting in particular suffered,, perhaps due to lack of practice time. Who schedules this kind of trek into the season and put limits on days off required?

[JasonEvans]

Excellent podcast and interview. Might be interesting to hear going forward, how you feel about coach K's comments following the Southern Game and in particular the difficulty of getting practice time when playing 9 games in 20 days along to traveling to some of the venues. The team was not sharp and the shooting in particular suffered,, perhaps due to lack of practice time. Who schedules this kind of trek into the season and put limits on days off required?

Well, Duke only has 3 games in 31 days from 12/6 - 1/5 so the team will have a lot of time to rest and hone things in practice over that break. I think K stacked the early season schedule and knows he will have time in December to really tweak and adjust as necessary.

[BandAlum83]

After the PK80 and the long Holiday Weekend, I need me some DBR Podcast!

Pre AND Post IU???

[JasonEvans]

After the PK80 and the long Holiday Weekend, I need me some DBR Podcast!

Pre AND Post IU???

In edit as we speak. Should have it posted in less than 2 hours.

[CY_devil]

In edit as we speak. Should have it posted in less than 2 hours.

YES!!!! Only thing that makes winning a championship better is the DBR podcast immediately following it.

[Billy Dat]

I finally got around to the Burgess interview and want to echo the praise of others - it was well done and he was certainly an excellent interviewee.

The stories about Rick Majerus were classic, and the oft repeated one of him being naked in front of players, strangers and the like has such a different tenor in the wake of Harvey Weinstein. Granted, Weinstein was a predator and we assume Majerus was just an eccentric kook, but very bizarre that they both had the same tendency, to invite people to their room and force them to essentially witness them shower and walk around naked. Charlie Rose was also a "come to my room and I'll walk around naked" guy.