CBSSports.com does a really good college basketball podcast a few times a week. It is hosted by Matt Norlander, one of CBSSports.com's bloggers, and typically features CBSSports writers Gary Parish and Jeff Goodman and on-air talent Seth Davis and Doug Gottlieb as guests (not all at the same time).
On the most recent episode, Doug Gottlieb was the guest. From the 39:45 - 45:45 mark, Norlander and Gottlieb do a deep dive on Duke. It is really interesting. Gottlieb, citing sources inside the program, gives an extremely candid take of the team. I know there are a lot of Gottlieb critics on DBR, and as you listen you may continue to feel that he is an acerbic, opinionated jerk (I don't feel that way, but many do), but the takeaways are hugely positive, and while he shares some inside info that many have assumed, I haven't seen it aired with such openness, including:
-Quinn Cook is the key reason why the team is playing better. Last year, he was a source of frustration for the coaches who said he wasn't running what they told him to run and was too often freelancing. That has changed this year.
-While Plumlee has made huge improvements, it is the emergence of Cook and, more importantly, the subtraction of Rivers, that has made the primary difference in Plumlee's game. He portrays Rivers as an island on the team, cut off and doing his own thing. Despite the public staff assertions that the team was united, he calls it a fractured team because of Rivers. Good kid, huge talent, good attitude, but made no one better and stunted the team's growth.
He says a lot more, but his frank descriptions that I have paraphrased above, which he says came straight from people on the staff, were thoughts I had never heard spoken so plainly. Both he and Norlander have Duke pegged as legit title contenders.
The whole pod is good. The first 35 minutes or so are all about Rick Majerus and are really entertaining with several crazy anecdotes. He also gets heavy into the UCLA situation and spares no feelings. For those who want to hear some piling on Larry Drew III and Tony Parker, have at it.
You can get it here or on iTunes
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebask...ajerus-stories