2023 Men's Basketball Recruiting

[JasonEvans]

Is it next year yet, cause I think it could be fun to watch these kids.

Here’s Jared McCain almost lapping the field in the McDonald’s three-point shooting contest.

https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/35973352

Me like…

[robed deity]

Is it next year yet, cause I think it could be fun to watch these kids.

Here’s Jared McCain almost lapping the field in the McDonald’s three-point shooting contest.

https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/35973352

Me like…

Wow. Methinks this year's mediocre 3 pt shooting will see a big improvement. What a nice stroke.

[scottdude8]

Is it next year yet, cause I think it could be fun to watch these kids.

Here’s Jared McCain almost lapping the field in the McDonald’s three-point shooting contest.

https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/35973352

Me like…

I’ve got a sneaky suspicion we’ll be less anxious about shooting next year.

[CDu]

Yeah, McCain will look real nice playing off the drives by Proctor and Foster.

[DavidBenAkiva]

Sean Stewart won the Dunk Contest!

[DevilHorse]

Duke's Sean Stewart won the McDonald's dunk contest tonight, giving Duke a double in the premier skills contests with Jared McCain winning the 3 point contest.

Frankly, if anything was demonstrated by the dunk contest is to at the very least change the format.
I thought the kids got tired by the 3rd round.
The first dunk by Matas Buzelis was fantastic, novel, smooth, and well executed:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1640515989791195137
But the kid (and 3 of the 4 finalists) couldn't make a dunk at all in the last round.
Stewart won by attrition.
Missing all dunks gets you no lower than a 7 (the basketball participation trophy).

Jared McCain however was a revelation:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1640517652052430848
Won by a ton (27 of 34 possible points).
Now, we'll see how he does with hands in his face but at the very least he's a promising guy to plant in the corner. Hopefully he plays defense.

Larry
DevilHorse

[bshrader]

Duke's Sean Stewart won the McDonald's dunk contest tonight, giving Duke a double in the premier skills contests with Jared McCain winning the 3 point contest.

Frankly, if anything was demonstrated by the dunk contest is to at the very least change the format.
I thought the kids got tired by the 3rd round.
The first dunk by Matas Buzelis was fantastic, novel, smooth, and well executed:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1640515989791195137
But the kid (and 3 of the 4 finalists) couldn't make a dunk at all in the last round.
Stewart won by attrition.
Missing all dunks gets you no lower than a 7 (the basketball participation trophy).

Jared McCain however was a revelation:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1640517652052430848
Won by a ton (27 of 34 possible points).
Now, we'll see how he does with hands in his face but at the very least he's a promising guy to plant in the corner. Hopefully he plays defense.

Larry
DevilHorse

McCain will be more than just a spot up shooter. He can create, as well.

[brevity]

Here is the Jared McCain portion of the JamFest Boys 3-Point Shootout:

[brevity]

And here is the poorly edited highlight video for the JamFest Dunk Contest, won by Sean Stewart:

[MChambers]

Duke's Sean Stewart won the McDonald's dunk contest tonight, giving Duke a double in the premier skills contests with Jared McCain winning the 3 point contest.

Frankly, if anything was demonstrated by the dunk contest is to at the very least change the format.
I thought the kids got tired by the 3rd round.
The first dunk by Matas Buzelis was fantastic, novel, smooth, and well executed:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1640515989791195137
But the kid (and 3 of the 4 finalists) couldn't make a dunk at all in the last round.
Stewart won by attrition.
Missing all dunks gets you no lower than a 7 (the basketball participation trophy).

Jared McCain however was a revelation:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1640517652052430848
Won by a ton (27 of 34 possible points).
Now, we'll see how he does with hands in his face but at the very least he's a promising guy to plant in the corner. Hopefully he plays defense.

Larry
DevilHorse

He did pretty well when one of the balls he shot came bouncing back near him, and he went ahead and shot another as the first ball zipped by, nothing but net. Nice concentration.

[dukelifer]

Is it next year yet, cause I think it could be fun to watch these kids.

Here’s Jared McCain almost lapping the field in the McDonald’s three-point shooting contest.

https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/35973352

Me like…

Joins Collins, Langdon, Battier, James, Duhon, Sulaimon, Reddish, Kelly, Redick and Kennard. Not a bad group of shooters.

[CrazieDUMB]

And here is the poorly edited highlight video for the JamFest Dunk Contest, won by Sean Stewart:

Sportscenter was teasing this all morning, waited to watch it and when the segment finally came up they only showed Bronny James' dunks and the Matas Buzelis dunk.

[DavidBenAkiva]

Sportscenter was teasing this all morning, waited to watch it and when the segment finally came up they only showed Bronny James' dunks and the Matas Buzelis dunk.

That first dunk from Buzelis was pretty good. It's a shame he isn't going to play in college (although I am glad he isn't going to be playing in Chapel Hill).

[kmspeaks]

Notes from The Athletic's Tobias Bass on McDonald's All-American practices:

"Jared McCain is one of the best one-on-one players in the country. The Duke commit made a variety of contested shots and tough finishes around the rim. As the primary ballhandler most of the weekend, he set his teammates up for easy baskets and commanded the offense well.'

[CDu]

Notes from The Athletic's Tobias Bass on McDonald's All-American practices:

"Jared McCain is one of the best one-on-one players in the country. The Duke commit made a variety of contested shots and tough finishes around the rim. As the primary ballhandler most of the weekend, he set his teammates up for easy baskets and commanded the offense well.'

Yeah, we appear to have a plethora of shot creators next year, with Proctor, Foster, and McCain. I also like that both McCain and Foster are well-built guys. Neither looks like he should be overwhelmed by physicality.

[azzefkram]

Yeah, we appear to have a plethora of shot creators next year, with Proctor, Foster, and McCain. I also like that both McCain and Foster are well-built guys. Neither looks like he should be overwhelmed by physicality.

But they are not in their mid-20s; how can they possibly compete?

[JasonEvans]

I have been struck as I read the reports from McD practices and scrimmages that I have not seen a single mention of Mgbako. McCain has been one of the top 5 players and his shot making has been on full display. I've read good stuff about Stewart's motor and he is seen as a tenacious rebounder, but I have not heard boo about MM. In fact, the only thing I have seen at all is him standing there so Stewart could fly over him for that dunk last night.

Anyone hear that MacKenzie might be banged up or something?

[bshrader]

I have been struck as I read the reports from McD practices and scrimmages that I have not seen a single mention of Mgbako. McCain has been one of the top 5 players and his shot making has been on full display. I've read good stuff about Stewart's motor and he is seen as a tenacious rebounder, but I have not heard boo about MM. In fact, the only thing I have seen at all is him standing there so Stewart could fly over him for that dunk last night.

Anyone hear that MacKenzie might be banged up or something?

I have not heard or seen anything to the effect that Mgbako isn't 100%, although he did have that ankle/leg injury several weeks ago.

He's been making some headlines another way, however...

https://balldurham.com/2023/03/27/du...-championship/

[scottdude8]

I have been struck as I read the reports from McD practices and scrimmages that I have not seen a single mention of Mgbako. McCain has been one of the top 5 players and his shot making has been on full display. I've read good stuff about Stewart's motor and he is seen as a tenacious rebounder, but I have not heard boo about MM. In fact, the only thing I have seen at all is him standing there so Stewart could fly over him for that dunk last night.

Anyone hear that MacKenzie might be banged up or something?

The lack of hype about MacKenzie makes me wonder whether expectations for him might need to be tempered. Based on what I had seen/read I was projecting him as a surefire OAD whose ceiling was the type of player we expected Dariq to be this year if healthy. It's also why I thought the speculation that we might look into a transfer at the 5 despite our potential returnees was odd, as Kyle at the 4 would seemingly squeeze MacKenzie out of the starting lineup (assuming Mitchell returns). The combination of all these things implies to me that maybe the staff views MacKenzie as best suited for a sixth man role and/or he may be a two year guy... I think the range on the contributions of all our incoming freshman is much wider than usual given how COVID impacted not only the evaluation of this class, but their development during HS.

[CDu]

I have been struck as I read the reports from McD practices and scrimmages that I have not seen a single mention of Mgbako. McCain has been one of the top 5 players and his shot making has been on full display. I've read good stuff about Stewart's motor and he is seen as a tenacious rebounder, but I have not heard boo about MM. In fact, the only thing I have seen at all is him standing there so Stewart could fly over him for that dunk last night.

Anyone hear that MacKenzie might be banged up or something?

Last thing I read about Mgbako was a 2024 mock(ish) draft by Givony... that didn't include Mgbako. Givony is about as clued in on high school bball as they come, so unless it was a massive brain fart on his part (which is possible), it might be that Mgbako's stock has fallen a bit. It's not like Mgbako was this worldbeater of a prospect. He's not super athletic, and appears to be more of a 6'8" version of a Filipowski-style player, minus some of the ballhandling and passing skills. So it's possible that Mgbako just isn't as exciting a prospect as it seemed a year or more ago.

Hopefully that's not the case, but his 2023 highlights don't show much that make him stand out as an elite prospect. He's definitely bigger, and seems to be a true PF now rather than a tall wing forward.