Half Full or Half Empty

[SoCalDukeFan]

Mr. Glass Half Full says:
28-6 is a very good season. Traditional powers like Maryland and Syracuse did not even make the NCAA Tournament. We played exciting basketball and split with UNC-CH. We have 4 of 5 starters and 7 of the first 8 in minutes players back, a McD AA coming in, another highly regarded recruit, and a key player coming off injury. Any team would love to have Singler, Henderson, or Scheyer next year. The future is bright for Duke basketball.


Mr. Glass Half Empty says:
We finished the season 6-5 and for the second year in row failed to reach the Sweet 16. We got killed inside and no real help is on the way. Once again a McD AA transferred. UNC-CH won the ACC regular season, tournament, is in the FF, and has great recruits coming in. UCLA is in their 3rd straight FF and also has a great recruiting class. We have gone from a perennial FF team to a team that can not get to the Sweet 16 nor even the final game of the ACC tournament. We are no longer one of the top programs in college basketball.


Which is it? Something in between? Is Half Full in denial? Is Half Empty overly pessimistic?

SoCal

[dw0827]

Most of Empty is worrying about other people. Who cares about UNC, UCLA, et al. Its not that Empty is overly pessimistic . . . its irrelevant.

Definitely, the glass is mostly full.

[-jk]

Don't know what'll happen with this thread. Please post only cogent thoughts or we'll have to over-moderate it, causing too much angst amongst some of the members.

-jk

[dw0827]

Oh man. Cogent thoughts? Not that! Arrrrghghhh!

[rasputin]

A "traditional power"?

[MarkD83]

The team improved from 22-11 to 28-6.

They did this while incorporating a new offense.

They also did this with 7 freshmen and sophomores making significant contributions. (College players get better with age).

Two years ago we worried about depth and teams that were athletic. We are now the deep and athletic team.

Coach K will be finished with his Olympic commitment this summer and can spend more energy on the Duke team in the fall.

We have a commitment from a 6'11 forward to fill some of our inside needs and are looking at a few others.

Remember..."The key to success is not what happens to you but how you react to what happens."

[MarkD83]

I think we agree that 1994-95 was a low point with a 13-18 record.

In 1996 the team went 18-13 which is more comparable to 2007.
Then in 1997 the team went 24-9 a little worse than this year.

What happened next.

1998 32-4
1999 37-2 ACC champs/ Final 4
2000 29-5 ACC champs
2001 35-4 ACC and Natl champs
2002 31-4 ACC champs
2003 26-7 ACC champs
2004 31-4 Final 4
2005 27-6 ACC champs
2006 32-4 ACC champs

The point is the program can bounce back and quickly.

Just imagine what a few bounces would have done for this year's team. Henderson makes the layup-dunk late in the UNC game and Duke is up by 2 possessions .....

[roywhite]

The glass is mostly full, but we look at that glass 8 miles down the road, and it seems to be fuller, for now.

[Misunderestimated]

I'll take full. I'll quit watching sports before I start viewing them in a gloom and doom manner. Whats the point? Duke will bounce back. It might just happen at a slower rate than we're all accustomed to. If you can't wait, I'm sure the UNC bandwagon will make room for ya.

[jimbonelson]

I'll take full. I'll quit watching sports before I start viewing them in a gloom and doom manner. Whats the point? Duke will bounce back. It might just happen at a slower rate than we're all accustomed to. If you can't wait, I'm sure the UNC bandwagon will make room for ya. I think I will wait, and I dont think it will be that long of a wait

[Clipsfan]

Mr. Glass Half Full says:
28-6 is a very good season. Traditional powers like Maryland and Syracuse did not even make the NCAA Tournament. We played exciting basketball and split with UNC-CH. We have 4 of 5 starters and 7 of the first 8 in minutes players back, a McD AA coming in, another highly regarded recruit, and a key player coming off injury. Any team would love to have Singler, Henderson, or Scheyer next year. The future is bright for Duke basketball.


Mr. Glass Half Empty says:
We finished the season 6-5 and for the second year in row failed to reach the Sweet 16. We got killed inside and no real help is on the way. Once again a McD AA transferred. UNC-CH won the ACC regular season, tournament, is in the FF, and has great recruits coming in. UCLA is in their 3rd straight FF and also has a great recruiting class. We have gone from a perennial FF team to a team that can not get to the Sweet 16 nor even the final game of the ACC tournament. We are no longer one of the top programs in college basketball.


Which is it? Something in between? Is Half Full in denial? Is Half Empty overly pessimistic?

SoCal

I think the glass is at least half full. I know that the team didn't do as well in the tournament as I (or any of us) would have liked, but I really did enjoy watching them play this year. I'm looking forward to more of the same next year.

As for UCLA, they may be in their 3rd straight FF, but I'm much more worried about their losses than I am about Duke's. I think that losing Nelson hurts a ton, and losing King is not good, but UCLA is losing a ton more. They've got a great class coming in, but they're going to need every bit of it assuming they lose Love, Collison and Westbrook. They're also losing the guy who started at center last year and contributed significant minutes this year, Splinter. My point is that most teams will lose a lot but Duke is going to have an even older/more mature team next year. Coach K's efforts to reload are still a work in progress as we get to the point where we'll have upper classmen who are both good players and will still be around. The glass is definitely as least half full.

[pless55]

Here is my starting lineup and thoughts for next year. Point guard Greg Paulus even though I think Paulus would be awesome at shooting guard he is next year's point guard. He should have a solid year. Shooting guard John Scheyer he could score about fourteen a game if starting. Guard is good at fakes and can get to free throw line. Could be second team all ACC. Small forward Gerald Henderson this could be a breakout year for him. High riser was improving on perimeter shot and could be a eighteen point scorer next year. Power forward Kyle Singler people should not be criticizing Singler he had a great freshmen year. He had no help underneath and was impressive as a freshman. He could have a All American First Team all ACC next year.

Center Czyz/Zoubek/Thomas this is most critical position on team. If one of them could have a breakout season like say 12 points 8 boards a game this team could go to the final four. Bench Nolan Smith Backup point guard can put up points in a hurry. Elliot Williams Explosive guard like Smith can put up points in a hurry. If Williams can step up as a freshman could be sixth man of year.

McClure glue guy can be a role player. Into next season if we develop that post player we could go to the final four. And into recruiting we should start recruiting Daniel Orton five star center from Oklahoma.

[MIKESJ73]

All this talk about Duke not being able to recruit, players leaving, not having a big man, and the program being dead (because of a short white suburban big man coach according to one) has really kind of irked me. Taylor transferring is disappointting, but sometimes things don't work. It's not like he was a soph that scored 17 in the championship game (McCaffery). Imagine that 2000 team had Chappell and Burgess or that the 2004 team had one more big guy to throw at Okafor (Thompson) so that Shel wouldn't foul out. Those losses were huge. Duke will again have 8 McDees next year, including six of our top 7 players (MPG) from a team that won 28 games and adding Pocius, Williams, and Czyz to it. Wojo has done just fine with our big men.

Duke died in 1995. Grant, Booby and Christian were all gone. We won 13 games. The only top recruit we landed was Taymon. We were dead. 4 years later we were one of the most dominant teams in NCAA history.

Duke died again in 2000. Brand, Magette, and Avery all left early. Taymon and Trajan graduated. Burgess transferred one year after Chappell. We only had three scholarship players (non of whom had averaged double figures). It only took one year before another banner hung from Cameron.

I look at this coming season with alot of anticipation.

[mgtr]

I am perfectly happy with a full glass, or a glass nearing full. I do not need a glass which is overflowing (dump on the hump), since, as it is is overflowing, it will lose some content to the NBA.
How does Duke want to be known? As a basketball school? I don't think so.
As a great school with a great basketball program? Much, much better in my view.

[heyman25]

Half empty til we get an athletic penetrating pg and a pf or center similar to Boozer or Brand.Duke is great in academics, but as an alum and a lifetime Duke fan I want us to get back tothe Final 4 and 1 more National Championship for Coach K before he hangs it up. Would like the women basketball team and Duke Lacrosse to get their 1st. Duke women's golf should keep their streak going as well.Amanda Blumenhurst is playing at the Dinah Shore LPGA in Palm Springs next weekend.

[moonpie23]

an optimist....


.........................just hasn't checked his email yet...

[rsvman]

I'm a pragmatist, therefore I think the glass is twice as big as it should be.


Sure it's just a lame joke, but in this case it seems pretty apt. Perhaps the enjoyment of watching basketball would increase if our expectations decreased slightly.

I also agree with the poster who said that what UCLA does or doesn't do it largely irrelevant.

[throatybeard]

Which is it?

A pointless false dichotomy.

[MarkD83]

A half full glass was poorly designed.

[ice-9]

A pointless false dichotomy.

I thought SoCalFan's post quite succinctly described the mindsets of two general camps posting on this board so I didn't think it was pointless at all. We are all on the same train, just looking in different directions.

[throatybeard]

We are all on the same train, just looking in different directions.

Of which there can be more than two.

[ice-9]

True, but generalizing by the most common lines is easier to write and easier to understand. :)

[accfanfrom1970]

I think it was George Carlin who said something like:
The glass isn't half empty or half full.....the glass to too damn big and there's too much stuff in the glass (only he didn't say stuff).

[Matches]

The easy answer is that the glass is both half-full and half-empty (and by definition, if it is one it would have to be the other as well, right?).

The positive: we remain one of the top programs in the country, a perennial top-10 team, winning 25+ games almost every year. We have assembled a fine collection of players who play the game the right way, stay out of trouble off the court, and represent the university very well. We have a HOF coach who will be knocking on the door of the all-time wins record within the next 4-5 years.

The negative: we have a very undersized team and are having difficulty recruiting blue-chip post players. Our style of play, though it was always perimeter-based, has become increasingly so over the last few years, to the point that we have difficulty playing through poor shooting nights and are susceptible to wearing down late in the season. Our last three postseasons have ended in disappointing losses to lower seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

Pointing out one side of the coin does not mean one is blind to the other side.

[sagegrouse]

I'm pulling for the US to win Olympic Gold, and I expect them to do so.

This will have indirect effects at Duke, of course, because of the credit given to K and the more corporate and disciplined approach to the Games.

sagegrouse
'I'm getting too old to wait seven months until hoops start again -- I need an interim goal!'

[mlk]

Half full but we must address our problems in the post. coach K and the team did well with the talent they had but next year if he remains health z should make a big impact

[pete89]

The glass is half full, but there may be some cracks/leaks in it.

[Edouble]

Duke died again in 2000. Brand, Magette, and Avery all left early. Taymon and Trajan graduated. Burgess transferred one year after Chappell. We only had three scholarship players (non of whom had averaged double figures). It only took one year before another banner hung from Cameron.

Uh, this was 1999, not 2000. You mean we only had three scholarship players returning? I'm not sure if we were exactly "dead" at any point that year. Are you saying that people like Curry Kirkpatrick were saying we were dead?

[MIKESJ73]

I was ranting while doing something else, sorry to be unclear. My point was Taylor King transferring and losing in the second round is not the death of our program.

I was referring to the 2000 team leading into the season and starting 0-2. We had to give Andre Buckner a scholarship so we would have a backup PG. He hadn't signed because he didn't have any other offers. Carrawell, Battier, and James were really unproven at that point. There was definately talk of the dynasty ending.