I guess it depends on how the team would deal with having Chase Jeter and hopefully Harry Giles out there on the floor at the same time filling out the "stretch 4" position already.
If Battle or any player wants to come to Duke, he will have to consider the possibility that other very talented players with a similar skill set are going to be on the roster for 1 or more years. The current team is a bit thin due to transfers and attrition. Still, Luke Kennard knew that at least Matt Jones and Grayson Allen are going to be on the team next year and he committed. Chase Jeter must have known that Amile Jefferson and Marshall Plumlee would be on the team next year and he committed.
Duke is not going to stop recruiting and hopefully won't have to deal with transfers or dismissals anytime soon. Maybe Tyus Battle and his family are the kinds of guy that can see into the future a little and imagine a scenario in which they are right there in the mix during a sophomore or junior season. I sure hope so, because the team needs guys like that in addition to the top-line talent like the Jayson Tatums of the world.
Anyone hear any talk about Danny Manning pulling in several top players in class of 2016? I haven't, but then I'm out of all loops. Anyhow, I notice Wake is at least listed by a surprising number of top prospects.
I think that 2016 will be a vital recruiting class for Danny Manning.
He's done a good job coaching and improving the team he inherited from Jeff Bzdelik. But Brad Brownell is a superb coach -- his limitation is that he hasn't recruited the big-time players he needs to win. Manning has to do that.
He's in on some of the best players left in 2015 -- Brandon Ingram, for instance, although his chances don't look good there.
But in 2016, he's really working it, especially for Harry Giles ... a Winston-Salem kid who looks and plays very much like the young Danny Manning did.
I know we want Giles (so does UNC, Kentucky, etc.), but I think he's the prep superstar than Manning has to get to take his program into the upper level of the ACC. Giles will attract other top players (he and Jayson Tatum are talking about a package ... could Jr. Smith also join?). When will Manning get another chance to land a local kid who is ranked so high? He can do it without Giles, but I think it becomes much, much tougher.
I'm not disputing what you say about Brownell, Olympic, but I have to say his strategy on Saturday (not matter the talent level he has, which is bad as you say) was hard to fathom.
A team known for poor shooting pretty much limited its offense to bombing away from three land, its attempts to penetrate Duke's not impenetrable (but improving) zone were somewhat
farcical. Virtually no attempts to take advantage of Okafor's absence inside. In short, they played REALLY poorly. Perhaps it was just one bad game (and of course Duke did play very well).
True. Still, for the class of 2016, a package of Tatum, Giles, and Smith, whether planned or serendipitous, strikes me as the most elite imaginable. Moreover, the jury's out on UNC's recruitment for 2016. Their whole recruiting program seems in limbo, understandably and gratifyingly. So maybe not true.
There is no way Tatum ends up at Wake Forest. He is more of a kid I worry about stayng in the Midwest. Concerning Dennis Smith, I do not know his contact with Wake Forest. I dont see how Duke stands with him either, considering he was saying for a long time that he was the only PG in the class of 16 and we go out and offer Thornton. I honestly do not see Thornton reclassifying, even if Tyus leaves early. The staff would have to push very hard to try to get him to, and even then there is obviously no guarantee. With Harry, I think there is a good chance it comes down to Duke/UNC/Wake/UK, with the in state schools having the best chance.
I can't speak to your expectations of Winslow pre-Duke, but on the USA Hoops team, he was one of the strongest rebounders despite his 6'6 height. He was also, obviously, built like a linebacker, so calling him a 3/2 rather than a 3/4 would be a stretch. Add to that his (according to scouts) deficiencies shooting from range, and you get further from a 3/2. Anyway, the guy is clearly a wing, so classifying it further is a bit of an useless exercise.
In college, I thought Winslow would be a 3. Turns out he's a 3/4 who can play either position effectively. In the NBA, I'd fire the GM who tries to play Winslow at the 4. Winslow is a 3 - maybe even a 2 if he continues to work on his shot. There are a lot of good rebounding 3s in the NBA; Winslow will be one of them.
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill
President of the "Nolan Smith Should Have His Jersey in The Rafters" Club
That would be quite a package, especially since each of them would be not going to UNC-CH.*
Imagine if Duke were to show that a package of elite talent could win a natty and send the entire package to the NBA. I'm not talking about elite players individually going someplace, but looking at it as a team play before any of them commits. I think that might cause some buzz for the "package to Duke" concept.
I'm not hoping that Tyus goes early; rather I'm just saying recruits notice these things, and the "package" idea might get some traction if recruits saw it could work for them both in terms of competitiveness and their futures.
*Sorry, Roy, but I don't see a good recruiting class for you in 2016, a critical year for you. Not unless the NCAA gives you a clean bill of health between now and 15 months from now. Good luck with that.
Zagoria is the one pushing the package deal. Have the kids talked about it seriously? Possible, but unlikely. I don't see Tatum leaving the Midwest unless his visit is really really good. Dennis smith is probably also peeved that we have started recruiting Thornton after he heard he was the only PG Duke was after.