I still dont get the lack of excitement or understand why everyone is sleeping on Mike G. the kid has a great game, high bball IQ, and is physical...besides AR I think he has the most impact on next years team of the incoming recruits, maybe even more since AR is most likely 1 and done...Mike is gonna be a big time player during his time at Duke
Do you get it more or less than someone taking the time to talk about a future "nasty" team when we can field a current lineup including Nolan, Kyrie, Kyle, and Mason?
Also, the aforesaid "nasty" lineup failed to mention Andre and Mason, both of whom I would expect to be starters, as well as Mike G, Josh, Tyler, Quinn, and Marshall, who I wouldn't expect to start.
Well I think it is just the embarrasment of riches Duke has. I kinda feel bad for the players but I don't think they notice much. Thornton was the DC Gatorade POY and everyone here just relegated him to a non-factor his freshman year and a good 4 year player. MG could be a very dynamic player but don't see him being a huge impact player. The one thing that scared me a bit with MG is in his interview with one of UNC's recruits, he mentioned being a 1 and done, and while I think he will have a reality check, my one concern is that he won't necessarily buy into being a role player. (I'm not trying to start the whole transfer stuff, but its something to keep an eye on.)
But I think we always get excited by freshman's potential but K always seems to rely on older players unless they are KI or AR types. I'd say Thornton and Hairston will have a bigger impact than all freshman not named Rivers. I guess Cook could pass Thornton but I don't see it happening.
The starting line up will be 2/3 of the elder Plums and Kelly. It really doesn't matter as they will share time with Hairston grabbing probably 10-15 minutes next year. Then I could see Curry, Rivers, Dawkins b/c K likes having 3 guards and Rivers/ Dawkins are both 6'4. Thornton could start and Dawkins/Curry could come off the bench but I would be very surprised to see anyone other than Rivers start as a freshman.
Not an insider, but Bazz apparently had a good visit to UK saying he felt 'comfortable' there. In addition, he decided to see a UK game over the UNC/Duke game which should be indicative of both team's chances. UNC got Tokoto and if Duke gets Daniels, I'd say its all but over for 'Bazz and Duke.
Duke would have Daniels, MG, and Murphy already signed or at Duke. They'd also have Sheed and Dawkins to play the 2 and Curry would probably get some time off ball as Thornton and/or Cook progress.
Yea I definitely agree w/ alot of things you said, as far as MG I didnt hear the 1 and done talk, not gonna happen though. But MG is not a put up 20+ shots a game has to have the ball player, thats actually been a big knock on his game is that he seems to float and fall into a role player role, I hope he comes to Duke w/ some aggresion. I don't see him not fitting into whatever role K has for him though.
I do think he can steal minutes at the 3 though, at 6'6 6'7 I think he has a far better handle than anybody else who would get minutes there besides AR...I love Dre and think he has star potential but the kid has to develop some kind of decent handle, its odd to me that at 6'4 he has the handles of a 7 footer...w/ that deficiency in his game that opens up the idea of sliding Rivers to the 3 w/ his size. I still see Josh getting clean up minutes, I think they increase slightly as his understanding of playing defense improves.
As far as line ups for next year like u said you've got a Plumlee, Kelly, or 2 Plumlees then its kind of a toss up...maybe Tyler has a great summer and gets handed the keys to the car which i could see because of his steadiness and good IQ w/ Seth at the 2 and Austin at the 3 or maybe u start Seth at point w/ AR at SG and Dre at the 3 which is the line up where I think MG could steal alot of minutes assuming Dre does nothing to improve his ball handling over the summer...Either way we should be pretty good, like u said an embarrassment of riches, talent at every position
It might have just been fooling around and I won't read too much into what he said. I agree that he can steal minutes but that would probably be in the range of 10-15 minutes which is respectable for a freshman but nothing unheard of. I did only see his game a few times and he did seem to get lost so I didn't think he would have an issue but we'll see if he struggles through his freshman year. But if Daniels commits, then it becomes a fight and I'd see it being like the Curry/Dre thing where each get their games to shine but neither is that dominant over the other.
Dre does have to work on his handle but it is getting better and I see him developing a nice pull up off the dribble. But in reality, all he has to do to get on the court is stay at his current defensive status or get better. I suspect they will work on him to get some more lateral quickness and perhaps that is why older players play for K is b/c they understand the D.
But I would say Josh gets 10-15 minutes probably the time Singler was at the 4. As of right now, the Plums and Kelly account for 62 of 80 minutes in the post. I'd expect their time to go up a bit but not too much.
Larry Saunders
I reffed an IM game at Duke in which Terry Chile and Willie Hodge were on the same team (Business School, IIRC). They were both pretty long -- it was hard to see if the the frat boys were fouling down low while also trying to see if the big guys went over the top on rebounds. I gained some respect for real refs that day.
I also T'd Chile up for hanging on the rim.