07-08 basketball roster

[markbdevil]

GODUKE.com has the roster with pictures. Looks like Nike has been playing with the jerseys again, but at least there is no black on the home whites.

http://www.goduke.com/SportSelect.db...45&SPSID=22727

[TheDuke11]

kinda looks like a black border there on the letters. I cant see though.

[Lord Ash]

Uh, wasn't Taylor King 6'8 in high school?

[msdukie]

These Uniforms are terrible (as expected). There is still black on them (though it appears less), but they are generic Nike template jerseys (like the blue ones have been since 04-05 - count all of the other Nike schools who wear this design). Duke had classic uniforms and should be above this.

But I've been ranting about this for 3 years....


Something needs to be done.

If, someday, Ted Roof loses his job, he's shown that Duke should hire him to oversee all varsity athletics uniforms.

[Uncle Drew]

Apparently the average Duke fan doesn't like balck on player jerseys. I love the black and royal blue together, in fact 3 of the Duke jerseys I own are black and blue. And I liked the Duke football helmets that were black with blue lettering. I guess black may not be an official school color. But combined with other colors it sets them off IMO. Of course anything beats sissy looking light blue. UNC jerseys look like a smurf vomited on them.

[DevilAlumna]

At least we're not going for the uniform style that OSU, Arizona, and Florida "debuted" in the last NCAA tourney (http://www.systemofdress.com/). Those things were awful.


As for the GoDuke.com roster, I love the pics of the guys in their suits! They really all clean up quite nicely. Henderson looks especially suave. : )

[captmojo]

Of course anything beats sissy looking light blue. UNC jerseys look like a smurf vomited on them.

Vomit is not exactly the substance I was thinking of.

[Carlos]

Taylor King was 6-7 in HS, Lord Ash. So he's only shrunk one inch which is still critical since he may end up playing center for us at some point this season.

[JasonEvans]

Taylor King was 6-7 in HS, Lord Ash. So he's only shrunk one inch which is still critical since he may end up playing center for us at some point this season.

I tend to think one of Zoubek, Singler, or Thomas will be on the floor at all times. Still, as Robert Brickey and Chris Carrawell can tell you, there is a lot more that goes into playing post D than just size. Taylor King supposedly playedd excellent post D in several significant AAU tournaments against some of the better post-man competition in the country last year. I feel pretty good about him in the post on D if that is what K puts out there.

--Jason "Mcclure... I forgot him... he too can play some pretty good post D for a smaller guy" Evans

[Shammrog]

I tend to think one of Zoubek, Singler, or Thomas will be on the floor at all times. Still, as Robert Brickey and Chris Carrawell can tell you, there is a lot more that goes into playing post D than just size. Taylor King supposedly playedd excellent post D in several significant AAU tournaments against some of the better post-man competition in the country last year. I feel pretty good about him in the post on D if that is what K puts out there.

--Jason "Mcclure... I forgot him... he too can play some pretty good post D for a smaller guy" Evans

We still seem to be almost all 'tweeners. K knows his bidness, but we have been running "team clone" for a couple years now.

AND - if DeMarcus is 6'4", then I am Jennifer Aniston. Maybe 6'2". In shoes.

[mapei]

Which begs the question, "why is there so much blatant misrepresentation of players' heights?" Do teams actually think they will scare their opponents more or impress poll-voters? Everyone seems to do it, but why?

[arnie]

Don't think we want Taylor King as a freshman playing post defense. Brickey and Carrawell were very quick leapers with great footwork which allowed them to play that position at times. King is apparently relatively slow - I don't see any comparison.

Lance and/or Zoubek have to step up big this year, or we will be ACC-mediocre again.

[VaDukie]

Don't think we want Taylor King as a freshman playing post defense. Brickey and Carrawell were very quick leapers with great footwork which allowed them to play that position at times. King is apparently relatively slow - I don't see any comparison.

Lance and/or Zoubek have to step up big this year, or we will be ACC-mediocre again.

I think you're overwhelmingly pessimistic for a few reasons:

1. In terms of depth and overall talent, we have the best backcourt in the ACC.
2. The rest of the conference will be taking a big step back this season.
3. We lost 3 games by 2 points last season playing the toughest schedule in the ACC while dealing with injuries to numerous players - Paulus, McClure, Henderson, and whatever caused Marty do have offseason surgery.
4. Our freshmen heavy team will have a year of experience.
5. We're bringing in the best recruiting class by far.
6. While we don't have the depth or ability in the post that we like, I don't think anyone else in the ACC really does either. Outside of T, are there many players in the ACC you can think of that Lance, Kyle, Dave, and maybe Taylor are incapable of guarding in the post? Let's face it, there aren't many premier post players in the league capable of beating us. This may hurt us more in the tournament, but I think our frontcourt weakness is no the fatal flaw some see it to be.

Will we be a dominant team? I don't think so, but ACC mediocrity is a big stretch. 2nd or 3rd place in conference and a 2-4 seed looks pretty solid.

[throatybeard]

But I've been ranting about this for 3 years....

Newbie...

[SilkyJ]

Newbie...

haha, potd.

what concerns me the most is the fact that scheyer has not gained a pound since last year, at least on paper, and I don't think there is any misrepresentation going on. I posted about this earlier in the summer and cited the nba "combine" results as well as nba.com listings for our former players...I'll go looking for it later, but those of you who think we misrepresent are mistaken.

[Wander]

6. While we don't have the depth or ability in the post that we like, I don't think anyone else in the ACC really does either.

Maryland's and Clemson's look better. UNC's and NC State's look MUCH better.

Outside of T, are there many players in the ACC you can think of that Lance, Kyle, Dave, and maybe Taylor are incapable of guarding in the post?

I'm guessing that Zoubek, Thomas, and McClure will be good enough at defense and rebounding. The issue is more about our own interior scoring. Our backcourt looks like one of the best in the country to me, but it'd be nice if we were at least adequate in scoring inside to keep defenses honest so that we can use that backcourt to its max.

[ACCBBallFan]

Maryland's and Clemson's look better. UNC's and NC State's look MUCH better.

MD lost Ibkewe and Bowers. The Terps have Gist who is comparably sized and Osby and Dupree who are unproven.

Clemson's Mays and Booker are not giants either. Kyle and Lance should be able to match up with them atheltically, and Zoubs is bigger.

UNC obviously has Tyler plus Deon-Alex for size as does NC State with McCauley-Costner-Hickson.

GA Tech should have Dickey back by time they play Duke and has a lot of athletes/size in Aminu, Faye, Peacok, Lawal, Sheehan.

Maimi has a lot of size but they are not all that good. Ditto UVA and BC.

FSU has a promising 7 footer in Solomon Alabi and another recruit Julian Vaughn who is deemed a soft player plus Echefu who is comparably sized.

Unfortunately for Duke, the teams they play twice are the bigger sized ones: UNC, NC St, Miami, UVA and MD,

but lack of height/weight will not be a major problem in ACC, but could catch up with Duke in NCAAs, though these guys will have a full season under their belts by then.

[Carlos]

6. While we don't have the depth or ability in the post that we like, I don't think anyone else in the ACC really does either. Outside of T, are there many players in the ACC you can think of that Lance, Kyle, Dave, and maybe Taylor are incapable of guarding in the post? Let's face it, there aren't many premier post players in the league capable of beating us. This may hurt us more in the tournament, but I think our frontcourt weakness is no the fatal flaw some see it to be.

Incapable of guarding in the post sets the bar pretty high. But struggle to guard in the post is a whole other thing. In that regard I think we'll struggle to guard:

Clemson: James Mays at 6-9/230 and Trevor Booker at 6-7/240
GaTech: Ra'Sean Dickey (6-10/250), Gani Lawal (6-8/216), Jeremis Smith (6-8/236) - I'm assuming Dickey will be back for the spring semester
Maryland - James Gist (6-8/223)
UNC - The Mule (6-9/245), Alex Stepheson (6-9/235), Deon Thompson (6-8/240)
NC State - Ben McCauley (6-10/238), Brandon Costner (6-9/238), JJ Hickson (6-9/242)

That's 5 out of 11 opponents who have frontcourt players who Duke will have a very difficult time guarding. Zoubek has the size to hang with any of the guys on that list above but he is most definitely slower than any of the guys listed. Thomas, Singler, McClure, and King are all undersized against every guy listed with the possible exception of Lawal and Gist (but he's an athletic freak).

IMO, every guy on that list would step in and start for Duke at the center spot this year (again, with the possible exception of Lawal).

[riverside6]

Incapable of guarding in the post sets the bar pretty high. But struggle to guard in the post is a whole other thing. In that regard I think we'll struggle to guard:

Clemson: James Mays at 6-9/230 and Trevor Booker at 6-7/240
GaTech: Ra'Sean Dickey (6-10/250), Gani Lawal (6-8/216), Jeremis Smith (6-8/236) - I'm assuming Dickey will be back for the spring semester
Maryland - James Gist (6-8/223)
UNC - The Mule (6-9/245), Alex Stepheson (6-9/235), Deon Thompson (6-8/240)
NC State - Ben McCauley (6-10/238), Brandon Costner (6-9/238), JJ Hickson (6-9/242)

That's 5 out of 11 opponents who have frontcourt players who Duke will have a very difficult time guarding. Zoubek has the size to hang with any of the guys on that list above but he is most definitely slower than any of the guys listed. Thomas, Singler, McClure, and King are all undersized against every guy listed with the possible exception of Lawal and Gist (but he's an athletic freak).

IMO, every guy on that list would step in and start for Duke at the center spot this year (again, with the possible exception of Lawal).

Completely agree with Carlos. This is exactly why Duke would be better off picking up the pace and pressing more.

That being said, keep in mind that Duke's halfcourt defense is all about taking other teams out of their halfcourt offense and forcing them to break their defender down one-on-one (Queue Paulus defensive liability conversation). As a result, its possible that the post defense conversation isn't as big of a deal. On the other hand defensive rebounding could be a severe weakness of Duke.

[FewFAC]

This team had better hope it shoots the lights out in its 4-guard sets and doesn't turn the ball over.