Truth
04-24-2008, 11:45 AM
During Markie's senior banquet speech, he shared insight into his history with Duke basketball, including a short story revealing that Wojo was his first idolized Duke player. He specifically mentioned that Wojo was his first real tie to the Duke program and singled out Wojo's memorable dive into the crowd against Arizona as one his earliest memories of Duke basketball. This game was during Wojo's senior season, which happens to align with my freshman year at Duke.
Aside from making me feel old, this also made me think about my earliest Duke memories. Let me preface this by stating that I consider myself an extremely passionate Duke fan with a rather solid history of the program. That said, we are all constrained by our age in regards to how much Duke history we have personally experienced. My "experienced" history begins with faint memories of Johnny Dawkins. I was too young at the time to truly appreciate what he meant to the program, and honestly, too young to understand just how amazing his talents truly were. I have clearer memories of Danny Ferry and several of his great performances, but if asked to pick a defining "experienced" moment, I would have to go back to Laettner's shot vs. UConn in the Elite Eight in 1990. For perspective, I was 10 years old at the time and in 5th grade. It's hard to me to believe that the joys, and equally important the pains, of a deep-rooted passion can truly be felt much earlier in life.
If I were in Markie's position giving my senior banquet speech, I'd have to mention Johnny Dawkins and Danny Ferry for their key roles in making the program great, but my "Wojo-dives-into-the-crowd" moment would be the aforementioned Lattner shot. For comparison, my Duke moment occurred when I was 10, and DeMarcus was 12 when his moment occurred. I think this gives some credence to my personal theory that the double digits through very early teen years are typically when most hard-core allegiances are fully developed.
Analyzing further, this makes me wonder what reference points the recruits of today have in regards to their Duke "experience." I have not done much research into the specific ages of our incoming recruiting classes, but I think its safe to say that the members of the next two incoming classes are approximately 5 years younger than DeMarcus. Consequently, their Duke moments likely occurred 5 or so years after Wojo's senior season. Interestingly, this leaves a surprsingly short period of "Duke relevancy" from initial recognition through recruitment of 4-6 years.
Greedily, I would like to think that this incoming class may reference the 2001 title game as their Duke moment, but it is quite likely that their first Duke "experience" begin a bit beyond that Championship game. (I tend to believe that the overall signifance of winning the championship extends the shelf-life a bit.) Regardless, I recall having multiple conversations as a student in 2001 where my friends and I were thrilled not only about the title, but also the future positive impact this would have to help sustain our stellar recruiting. (By no means do I want to turn this into a re-hash "quality of recruiting" thread for past seasons, and for the record, I do think our recruiting classes have been consistently excellent.) My point is that I am somewhat in awe of how quickly time passes, and even more in awe that an extremely defining moment in my life, the 2001 title during my senior year, is now quite likely beyond the realm of incoming recruits.
It's interesting to take this realization a step further and project how recruiting classes a few short years into the future will define their first Duke "experience." JWill's missed free throw is nearing the end of its life span, as is the brilliance of his phenomenal career... Very, very soon incoming classes will reference the one-and-done ability of Luol Deng as an introductory moment. The amazing shooting capabilites of JJ Redick, and the defensive prowess of Shelden Williams will soon become the building blocks of Duke's future (if they aren't to some extent already.)
On the flipside, some may argue that Duke's recent lack of post-season success, whether real or perceived, will also play a role. Some will point to Duke's lone Final Four appearance in 7 years following the title as liability considering the previously established 4-6 year period of "Duke relevancy" prior to recruit commitments. I suspect that some will see the next few seasons with an increased level of urgency that a Final Four run is critical in order to sustain our position as one of the very top elite programs.
While I am not prepared to debate this viewpoint here in this initial post, I will be interested to see where this thread heads. I am hopeful that it will not denigrate into a "quality of recruiting" discussion, unless specifically related to prognastications of future recruiting class quality based upon Duke's records and levels of success since 2001. Alternatively, I could see the thread spinning off a branch including everyone's first Duke "experiences" which would be quite enjoyable fun to read.
Lastly, apologies for the overall length of the post, but with Markie's senior speech fresh in my mind, I found the topic quite interesting. This concludes my ramble of the moment - have at it...
Aside from making me feel old, this also made me think about my earliest Duke memories. Let me preface this by stating that I consider myself an extremely passionate Duke fan with a rather solid history of the program. That said, we are all constrained by our age in regards to how much Duke history we have personally experienced. My "experienced" history begins with faint memories of Johnny Dawkins. I was too young at the time to truly appreciate what he meant to the program, and honestly, too young to understand just how amazing his talents truly were. I have clearer memories of Danny Ferry and several of his great performances, but if asked to pick a defining "experienced" moment, I would have to go back to Laettner's shot vs. UConn in the Elite Eight in 1990. For perspective, I was 10 years old at the time and in 5th grade. It's hard to me to believe that the joys, and equally important the pains, of a deep-rooted passion can truly be felt much earlier in life.
If I were in Markie's position giving my senior banquet speech, I'd have to mention Johnny Dawkins and Danny Ferry for their key roles in making the program great, but my "Wojo-dives-into-the-crowd" moment would be the aforementioned Lattner shot. For comparison, my Duke moment occurred when I was 10, and DeMarcus was 12 when his moment occurred. I think this gives some credence to my personal theory that the double digits through very early teen years are typically when most hard-core allegiances are fully developed.
Analyzing further, this makes me wonder what reference points the recruits of today have in regards to their Duke "experience." I have not done much research into the specific ages of our incoming recruiting classes, but I think its safe to say that the members of the next two incoming classes are approximately 5 years younger than DeMarcus. Consequently, their Duke moments likely occurred 5 or so years after Wojo's senior season. Interestingly, this leaves a surprsingly short period of "Duke relevancy" from initial recognition through recruitment of 4-6 years.
Greedily, I would like to think that this incoming class may reference the 2001 title game as their Duke moment, but it is quite likely that their first Duke "experience" begin a bit beyond that Championship game. (I tend to believe that the overall signifance of winning the championship extends the shelf-life a bit.) Regardless, I recall having multiple conversations as a student in 2001 where my friends and I were thrilled not only about the title, but also the future positive impact this would have to help sustain our stellar recruiting. (By no means do I want to turn this into a re-hash "quality of recruiting" thread for past seasons, and for the record, I do think our recruiting classes have been consistently excellent.) My point is that I am somewhat in awe of how quickly time passes, and even more in awe that an extremely defining moment in my life, the 2001 title during my senior year, is now quite likely beyond the realm of incoming recruits.
It's interesting to take this realization a step further and project how recruiting classes a few short years into the future will define their first Duke "experience." JWill's missed free throw is nearing the end of its life span, as is the brilliance of his phenomenal career... Very, very soon incoming classes will reference the one-and-done ability of Luol Deng as an introductory moment. The amazing shooting capabilites of JJ Redick, and the defensive prowess of Shelden Williams will soon become the building blocks of Duke's future (if they aren't to some extent already.)
On the flipside, some may argue that Duke's recent lack of post-season success, whether real or perceived, will also play a role. Some will point to Duke's lone Final Four appearance in 7 years following the title as liability considering the previously established 4-6 year period of "Duke relevancy" prior to recruit commitments. I suspect that some will see the next few seasons with an increased level of urgency that a Final Four run is critical in order to sustain our position as one of the very top elite programs.
While I am not prepared to debate this viewpoint here in this initial post, I will be interested to see where this thread heads. I am hopeful that it will not denigrate into a "quality of recruiting" discussion, unless specifically related to prognastications of future recruiting class quality based upon Duke's records and levels of success since 2001. Alternatively, I could see the thread spinning off a branch including everyone's first Duke "experiences" which would be quite enjoyable fun to read.
Lastly, apologies for the overall length of the post, but with Markie's senior speech fresh in my mind, I found the topic quite interesting. This concludes my ramble of the moment - have at it...