If you could pick one player from 2010 or 2011 to be on this team

[Chris Randolph]

Just for fun....

If you could pick one player from the 2010 championship team or the 2011 sweet 16 team to be on this year's team, who would it be and why?

I would go with Jon Scheyer based more on intangibles/leadership than skill. Kyrie, Nolan and Kyle are more talented but.... This year's team is in need of a guy who can lead and backup his leadership with consistent play and Jon is that guy. Out of all the players over the last 2 years, Jon was the most vocal leader who backed it up with his play.

[Wander]

Scheyer's skill set overlaps too much with Curry's. Although I think the smart money would be on Singler to provide us with some size and defense at the small forward position, I wouldn't be able to resist taking Irving, who would probably be the national player of the year favorite. Irving and Rivers would be the coolest starting backcourt of all time.

[Nrrrrvous]

Scheyer's skill set overlaps too much with Curry's. Although I think the smart money would be on Singler to provide us with some size and defense at the small forward position, I wouldn't be able to resist taking Irving, who would probably be the national player of the year favorite. Irving and Rivers would be the coolest starting backcourt of all time.

Just thinking about those two in the same backcourt makes my ankles hurt.

[Chris Randolph]

While I agree with Irving and Rivers being the best backcourt in the nation, I think this year's team is in need of a veteran who backs up his commanding of the team with his play. For instance, it has been said this year that Thornton is emerging as the leader but he isn't one of our better players. As much as people may want to believe that you can be a leader regardless of skill (which you can I know), your voice is heard more when you can ball on the court, thats just the way it is. Scheyer, Curry, Rivers would be the starting backcourt, with a revolving point guard door between the 3 of them and I have no problem with that

[_Gary]

While I absolutely love all the upperclassmen we had in both 2010 and last year, the choice for me would be simple: Kyrie Irving.

The reason for that pick is also simple in my mind for two reasons:

1) I'm not sure but what Kyrie wasn't the best pure and most dynamic PG Duke has ever had. I know, I know. He was only here for half a year so how can I say that. Well, I'm not going to write a long dissertation and try to defend my opinion. All I'll say is I've followed Duke closely for about 30 years now and Kyrie gets my vote based on the most important and reliable test I personally can use - My Two Eyes Test!

2) I still believe the most important position on any team, but especially a Coach K team, is the point. And this year we are lacking in that spot so I'd take Kyrie in a heartbeat.

Having said all that, I love the team we are fielding and believe that with some gelling we can be extremely good come March.

Go Duke!!!

[phaedrus]

I guess no one on this board cares about having an awesome, manly beard anymore. Sad.

Zoubek.

[UrinalCake]

Loved Jon but I agree that his skills overlap too much with Seth. We need both a penetrating guard and a defensive stopper, so I'd have to go with Kyrie. Nolan would give us a vocal leader and elite defender, but I'd still opt for Kyrie's offense. With him and Rivers on the court combined with our versatile big men we'd be unstoppable on offense.

[UrinalCake]

I guess no one on this board cares about having an awesome, manly beard anymore. Sad.

Zoubek.

The problem with bringing back big Z is that you have to take either Mason or Ryan off of the floor. I guess we could go back to our dual tandems with Ryan taking the place of Lance. So Zoubek and Ryan would start and then the Plumlees would sub in for them. But I don't think that improves our team as much as adding Kyrie, Nolan, or Kyle would.

[dukerev]

"Kyle plays winner."
- Coach K

[MChambers]

"Kyle plays winner."
- Coach K

And he can play the 3 or 4, plus he'd improve the defense significantly.

[1 24 90]

I pick Kyrie because I would love to see him play a full year.

[loldevilz]

Wow tough question. The obvious choice is Kyle Singler simply because we don't have a small forward. But I think that I might go with Zoubek. Zoubek + Mason in the front court would be a heck of a duo. With Ryan and Miles on the bench you would be extremely deep. Curry would also benefit by playing at Zoubek's pace.

[weezie]

"Kyle plays winner."
- Coach K

2010 Final Four MVP Kyle Singler. Always in the right place at the right time.

[DukieInBrasil]

Singler would be my pick, cuz he can play various speeds, and b/c he's a bada**.
This team needs a SF more than it needs more guards, as awesome as Kyrie is.
Honestly, putting any one of Scheyer, Singler, Smith or Kyrie on this team would make it a NC favorite.
Basically we would be using one of those guys rather than Thornton as a starter. Adding either Singler or Smith would make our perimeter D much, much better.
Zoubek would make our interior brutal, but we're not having many problems in the post. As much as LT was a crucial part of the 2010 Champs, i don't think he brings what this particular team is lacking.

[UrinalCake]

After thinking about this some more, I'm changing my vote to Kyle. The main reason is that I'm not so sure Kyrie and Austin could coexist in the backcourt. On paper it sounds awesome, but both guys need to have the ball in their hands. It would seem the most natural to let Kyrie initiate the offense, but I don't know how well Austin could play off the ball. And the two of them plus Seth would occupy nearly all of the minutes at the two guard spots, so Tyler and Quinn would almost never see the floor.

Meanwhile, as others have said, we don't have a true small forward on this team, and we definitely don't have anyone to guard the athletic 6'7-6'8 swingmen. Unfortunately having Kyle would eat up a lot of Andre's minutes and he'd likely regress to being a spot-up shooter.

[zack2014]

I have to go with Kyle. The kid is a winner, and as my coach always said, "You can't coach heart."

[throatybeard]

I would live in the present.

[CLT Devil]

Lance Thomas

I think we could benefit from his interior defense and rebounding and his leadership. How many times did we see him firing up his team mates in the huddle when we really needed a spark? I would love to have Kyrie, of course, but our back court is pretty well loaded - and I recognize that Kyrie could get the ball to Seth and Austin in positions for them to score. Kyle is one of my favorites of all time, no need to elaborate on why, but I think Ryan Kelly can do a lot of what he does. I think a high-energy, defensive minded player who can guard the 3 and 4 would really help us out. In 2002 I think the main thing we were missing was Shane's tenacity and interior D, and Lance had a similar game in some respects on the defensive end.

Anyway, fun question. Sure, live in the present but there's nothing wrong with this question...but there are way too many what-ifs in sports in my mind already. I still think if Michael Thompson didn't transfer we would have beat UCONN in 2004...now you know how delusional I really am

[moonpie23]

nolan

[OldPhiKap]

Kyrie. I wish we had more chances to see him in Duke blue.

{sigh}