Offering Scholarships Early

[dukefan47]

Do you think that Duke should offer scholarships earlier so that they have a better chance at landing prospects. Many teams have offered kids in the 2010 class already?

I was just wondering but I think that Duke waits until Junior and senior seasons so that they can get people that develope late.

[Icarus09]

Do you think that Duke should offer scholarships earlier so that they have a better chance at landing prospects. Many teams have offered kids in the 2010 class already?

I was just wondering but I think that Duke waits until Junior and senior seasons so that they can get people that develope late.

I think that they are in an enviable position where they can wait until the players' junior and senior seasons to offer and still get them. While they may lack the early interest in the player, there is a certain amount of prestige that goes along with being one of the last schools consistently to offer. Most importantly, it allows Duke to evaluate the players a little bit more. It can be very difficult to envision how a freshmen or sophomore in high school will progress over the next two or three years before college.

[SilkyJ]

Do you think that Duke should offer scholarships earlier so that they have a better chance at landing prospects. Many teams have offered kids in the 2010 class already?

I was just wondering but I think that Duke waits until Junior and senior seasons so that they can get people that develope late.

couple different comments to make, but i'll focus on the first question of whether we should offer scholarships earlier. I would say that to say that we should be doing this there would need to be an identifiable need to do so. We win a ton, so it can't be that. You could argue that there is a trend towards doing that, but rarely do kids commit before junior year, and when they do they often back out. So the only thing left is the constant "we can't recruit anymore," which I don't believe in. So my answer is pretty much no. I don't think its a bad thing or something, but basically you are asking if I think we should do something different, and I would just say: if ain't broke...

Admittedly, every once in a while, maybe 10 years or so, a talent comes along that warrants an early offer, like Lebron. Now, we have have done it before as well with Demarcus. Possibly even with others. Every once in a while someone will come along who is highly developed and physically and mentally mature enough to warrant a scholarship offer early on. Lebron would have been a perfect example. Demarcus, who has been a gym rat since he was in 6th grade is another example, obviously not as developed as lebron, but he had an NBA body when he entered college, was playing ball with NBA players in 8th grade and COULD PLAY. just as important was his mental maturity. he was a gym rat with a great work ethic when he young, was a good student, and his and his family's values aligned with Coach K's. so in some instances yes we could and perhaps should. (another factor is that with some guys like that you HAVE to get in the game early recruiting wise b/c everyone else is...like lebron)

Generally speaking, I have 100% faith in the coaching staff and particularly Coach K. They/he do a better job of evaluating talent and putting a team together than anyone in the country so if they want to make a scholarship offer to someone in 9th/10th grade, then sure, go for it. If they believe that year in and year out they would rather evaluate talent at a later stage then that is fine. They know what they are doing.

Personally, I agree with that strategy right now (middle-late stage recruiting), mainly b/c I believe that there will be plenty of talent left. Not many people commit before junior year, and as long as we have coach K Duke will at least be somewhat attractive to the top recruits (hopefully very attractive). So I find no need that would push us to say that we should offer recruits earlier.

On a related note: At some point in the future, I would not be surprised if we saw a general shift towards offering kids earlier in college bball and in that case we might have to shift that way. We have adapted recently to some shifts in recruiting dynamics (more transfers and early entries) and I believe we would adapt in this case as well. But as of now I don't really see a large enough shift occurring, yet. A handful of scholarship offers a year doesn't make a difference. Of course, that could change in 2 years or 20.

[DukeBlood]

I am starting to see a trend of kids starting to commit early.

Right now the 2010 class already has 4 of the top-10 kids verbally commited. 2 to Ohio State, 1 to Illionois and 1 to UNC. This worries me a little because Kendall Marshall is really a true talent. Just have a feeling Duke will soon change its ways because they have to adapt.

I have read that we have been talking with Brandon Knight? Or was that just something on someone's wish list that I read? He is one of the kids who would balance the UNC commit.

[Richard Berg]

Didn't JJ commit his sophomore year?

[Karl Beem]

Didn't JJ commit his sophomore year?

He made a commitment (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2339265) in 1992.

"In spirit, he's been one of them since age 7. That's when he watched Laettner hit the most famous shot in college hoops history against Kentucky. Right then and there, on March 28, 1992, Redick declared he would play for Duke one day, and the vision never wavered."