"The Lost Boys" - Duke players you wish had gotten more of a chance

[FerryFor50]

The Dawkins thread, and to a lesser extent, the McRoberts thread, got me thinking... through the years, we've had a number of players that fans seem to want to see playing more than the coaching staff, for whatever reason. Just off the top of my head, here's who I remember:

Marty Pocius
Andre Dawkins
Bill McCaffrey
Brian Zoubek
Shav Randolph

Who else can you think of that just didn't get the minutes you felt he deserved?

[GGLC]

Kyrie

[freshmanjs]

The Dawkins thread, and to a lesser extent, the McRoberts thread, got me thinking... through the years, we've had a number of players that fans seem to want to see playing more than the coaching staff, for whatever reason. Just off the top of my head, here's who I remember:

Marty Pocius
Andre Dawkins
Bill McCaffrey
Brian Zoubek
Shav Randolph

Who else can you think of that just didn't get the minutes you felt he deserved?

McCaffrey played 25mpg as a soph (3rd on team behind hurley and laettner and more than grant hill) and started 21 games. how much more do you think he "deserved?"

[FerryFor50]

McCaffrey played 25mpg as a soph and started 21 games. how much more do you think he "deserved?"

Did I say *I* thought he deserved more?

I commonly hear people talk about how much more McCaffrey should have played. And he transferred to play more.

Feel free to stay on topic, though.

[freshmanjs]

Did I say *I* thought he deserved more?

I commonly hear people talk about how much more McCaffrey should have played. And he transferred to play more.

Feel free to stay on topic, though.

he transferred to play pg as prep for the nba. not because of lack of playing time.

[CDu]

I'm not sure McCaffrey would have made my list. He was a fairly regular starter (25mpg) on the 1991 title team.

I'd add Elliot Williams to the list. I'm sure some will add Ojeleye, Gbinije, and Murphy, though I'm pretty agnostic on them. I personally feel like Zoubek got just the right amount of minutes over his first three years. Once he figured it out as a senior, he played a lot.

So Elliot Williams leads the list for me. After that, maybe Pocius. Then maybe Dawkins (especially this year, probably in place of some of Thornton's minutes). But beyond that I think Coach K has gotten the right guys on the floor.

[CDu]

he transferred to play pg as prep for the nba. not because of lack of playing time.

Yup. He knew his only shot at the NBA was at PG. And he wasn't going to play PG at Duke. Had he stayed, he'd have played ~30 mpg as a junior on a championship team. It was the opportunity to show his PG game that he wanted.

[FerryFor50]

he transferred to play pg as prep for the nba. not because of lack of playing time.

Well, like I said, not necessarily on *my* list... just one of the names I've heard tossed around.

Eliot Williams isn't a great comp either, since he left to be closer to his ailing mother and *did* end up playing a lot more minutes later in the season. But he does fall into the "what if" category, similarly to "what if McCaffrey had stuck around."

[Edouble]

The Dawkins thread, and to a lesser extent, the McRoberts thread, got me thinking... through the years, we've had a number of players that fans seem to want to see playing more than the coaching staff, for whatever reason. Just off the top of my head, here's who I remember:

Marty Pocius
Andre Dawkins
Bill McCaffrey
Brian Zoubek
Shav Randolph

Who else can you think of that just didn't get the minutes you felt he deserved?

For me, it's not always minutes, but there were some guys I wanted to see featured in the offense more. I wished that we had gotten Mason and Miles the ball down low more often in the 2011-12 season. No, they were not polished, but I thought we could maybe play through some rough patches.

I remember McCaffrey and Shav getting plenty of minutes. I kept waiting for Shav to explode, which he did in the 2004 tournament a bit, but I never really had a problem with the PT he got.

Funny you should mention Dawkins, as I actually wanted much less Dawkins and much more Michael Gbinije during the 2011-12 season, just to see if he could play better D and get some rebounds. Dawkins' body language was awful that year, and now we know much more of the back story.

I was never in the Marty camp. I always kind of wanted to see more of Taylor King, but apparently he was a prima donna that didn't care about D. I just got the impression that he could score 20 points very quickly.

I have probably never wanted more time for any player in all my years of watching Duke hoops than the extra minutes that I wanted for Marshall this past season. I stand by that. Kid delivered consistently when he was in.

[chadlee989]

Alex Murphy
Marty Clark
Marty Pocius
Lee Melchionni
Any walk on (means we winning)

[Des Esseintes]

While it's slightly different from the original thread idea, I admit I often wonder what could have been had we kept Seth Curry at the point in '11-'12. Maybe it would have turned out untenable, as K decided. But I do question whether the plug was pulled too early on a lineup that could have assuaged some of the perimeter-based size and athleticism limitations of that team.

[mattman91]

Eric Boateng (sp?)
Jamal Boykin
Olek Czyz (are you not entertained?!)

[CameronBornAndBred]

I'm not sure McCaffrey would have made my list. He was a fairly regular starter (25mpg) on the 1991 title team.

I'd add Elliot Williams to the list. I'm sure some will add Ojeleye, Gbinije, and Murphy, though I'm pretty agnostic on them. I personally feel like Zoubek got just the right amount of minutes over his first three years. Once he figured it out as a senior, he played a lot.

So Elliot Williams leads the list for me. After that, maybe Pocius. Then maybe Dawkins (especially this year, probably in place of some of Thornton's minutes). But beyond that I think Coach K has gotten the right guys on the floor.

Agreeing with a bunch of this. The original EWill. He had obvious reasons to leave, but I would have loved to have seen him in a second year at Duke.
Taking away the maybes, I would have loved to have seen Marty and Andre given the floor more.
To answer the naysayers, I would have liked to have seen both Olek and Alex given a shot. Maybe they would have fallen flat, maybe not.
Beyond that? Nobody left to pick but Patrick Davidson. He wouldn't have even left bodies on the floor on his way to a championship if he were given the minutes, he would have eaten them whole on his way down the court. Not even Karl Hess would have blown his whistle; he may not be a good ref, but he's not dumb.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Not on my list, but don't you HAVE to include MP3? We all know on this board that if coach had only allowed him to spread his wings this year at 35 mins per game, he would have led Duke to an undefeated season, led the nation in scoring, and piloted the team's charter flights.

[MCFinARL]

Eric Boateng (sp?)
Jamal Boykin
Olek Czyz (are you not entertained?!)

I loved Jamal Boykin, who was one of the most enthusiastic players ever, and would certainly have loved to see more of him on the court for that reason, though I'm not sure it would necessarily have improved the team's play.

My (very unscientific) recollection of Eric Boateng is that he always looked a little lost when he got on the court. Of course, that could be a vicious circle; more time=less lost.

[johnb]

I can think of a bunch of guys I wish we'd seen none of--at least their freshman years. By redshirting some our guys who had minimal freshman impact, they might have gotten an extra year of burn, and a graduate degree.

[jimsumner]

RE: Marty Pocius

A brief list of guys who played ahead of Pocius at the 2/3.

J.J. Redick
Sean Dockery (senior, when MP was a frosh)
DeMarcus Nelson
Jon Scheyer
Gerald Henderson
Nolan Smith

Which one of these guys would one want to sit in order for Pocius to have played more?

Duke lost Redick, Dockery and Lee Melchionni after 2006, Pocius' freshman season. He had every chance to win a starting spot in 2007 but Scheyer and Henderson simply beat him out. It's a meritocracy and Pocius simply wasn't as good as his competition.

[Billy Dat]

It's hard to pinpoint how to accomplish it, but I wish the staff could have cracked the code on how to unleash "Frequent Flier Miles" more effectively. He is an NBA rim protector, maybe there was a way to go really big with he, Mason and Kelly that we never quite figured out because he was, seemingly unable to execute the strategy and avoid foul trouble.

[MCFinARL]

It's hard to pinpoint how to accomplish it, but I wish the staff could have cracked the code on how to unleash "Frequent Flier Miles" more effectively. He is an NBA rim protector, maybe there was a way to go really big with he, Mason and Kelly that we never quite figured out because he was, seemingly unable to execute the strategy and avoid foul trouble.

Yes--seeing Miles develop into an effective NBA player and remembering frequent claims that Miles really tore it up in practice, it is too bad that he didn't have a bigger impact in college. As always, hard to know how much was the coaching plan and how much was Miles himself.

[MarkD83]

Kyrie

I am assuming this is because of his injury rather than leaving for the NBA. If it is due to leaving for the NBA then we can add...

Elton Brand - 2 yr
Corey Maggette - 1 yr
William Avery - 2 yr
Jason Williams - 3 yr
Mike Dunleavy - 3 yr
Carlos Boozer - 3 yr
Luol Deng - 1 yr
Shavlik Randolph - 3 yr
Josh McRoberts - 2 yrs
Gerald Henderson - 3 yrs
Kyrie Irving - 1/3 yr
Austin Rivers - 1 yr
Jabari Parker - 1 yr
Rodney Hood - 1 yr

There was another reason for putting together this list. Since 1999, 14 players have gone to the NBA before using their eligibility (please check if I missed someone). Which is ~ 1 player per year. If you recruit the top players losing ~ 1 per year to the NBA should be expected. Some years more than 1 player left early : 1999, 2002 (I believe) and this year.

And now for my "lost boys". The players in bold won a National Championship, made it to the final four or won an ACC Championship (Josh 2006, Gerald 2009). So my regrets are for the last four players. I wish they had stayed around to win a championship.