Coaching Style and Recruiting

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12-19-2009, 03:11 PM
Sandman

Coaching Style and Recruiting

This topic may have already been covered in this forum -- if so, I apologize for dragging it up again. However, there's something that has been puzzling me -- that's how important a factor is coaching style when it comes to recruiting?

Coach K is known as a defensive coach. How often have we heard "if you don't play defense, you won't play much for Coach K"? Young BBall phenoms are rarely celebrated for their defensive skills - usually running, jumping, and sometimes shooting - the "fun stuff".

The question is: Do most of the outstanding young players want to avoid big defensive requirements and just focus on their offensive skills during their short college stay? Is that likely a major factor in why some of the better players -- e.g., Brandon Wright, Doug Monroe, Brandon Knight, Harrison Barnes -- chose not to come to Duke?

Outstanding players want to get to the NBA. Do they think that offensive performance overwhelms defensive abilities (unless you're Shane Battier, or course!) when it comes to draft position, and is that true?

Looking forward to comments from the experts.
12-20-2009, 03:25 AM
JaMarcus Russell

This is an interesting point that isn't brought up very much when people talk about recruiting. I definitely believe that offensive performance overrides defensive performance in a lot of draft boards for two reasons. First, it is much easier to notice offensive performance through statistics and direct observation. Second, scouts are very interested in getting players with untapped potential, so that often leads to a preference for athletic players rather than experienced players who have already developed multiple aspects of their game.

As for its effect on recruiting, I'm not sure. It is definitely a feasible theory, but a lot of the guys who were targeted by Duke (especially Patterson, Echenique from what I have seen, and Monroe) are very good defenders who would have no problem fitting into the Duke system so I don't think they would be intimidated by K's emphasis on defense.

As for Knight, I think that the only reason why he didn't have as much interest in Duke as many expected is because of Irving's vocal interest in Duke.
12-20-2009, 12:19 PM
Kedsy

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sandman

The question is: Do most of the outstanding young players want to avoid big defensive requirements and just focus on their offensive skills during their short college stay? Is that likely a major factor in why some of the better players -- e.g., Brandon Wright, Doug Monroe, Brandon Knight, Harrison Barnes -- chose not to come to Duke?

Who is Doug Monroe?

I can't imagine recruits are scared off by our emphasis on defense. Although it is true that a lot of recruits enjoy playing in wide open offenses where you run a lot, which is part of the appeal of Calipari and ol' Roy, but it's not like Duke is playing the Princeton offense or anything. I think this is a non-issue.