easing into the transfer by converting from a Blue Devil to a Blue Jay...good luck to him.
easing into the transfer by converting from a Blue Devil to a Blue Jay...good luck to him.
Now that Alex has chosen a destination, I can give you my secret information on Alex O'Connell. K, in trying to persuade Alex to stay, offered up the chance of being considered as a team captain. Then K went on -- "Of course, you would have to get a 'big-boy' haircut right away." O'Connell entered the transfer portal the very next day.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
Interesting choice in going to Creighton. They will be truly elite next year with pretty much everyone back from this year... but most of those guys are current juniors who will be gone when AOC plays in 2 years. Still, they have a few pretty good youngsters (Marcus Zegarowski and Christian Bishop, especially) who will still be there to team up with AOC. Creighton looks like a club that should be a consistent top 25 team for the next few years.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Clearly he wants court time, and a chance to display his basketball talents. Not so much to show his academic degree. The year out may help a lot with regard to his skills. Best to him, and thanks.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
“Can’t wait to show what I’m truly capable of,” O’Connell tweeted.
Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/...#storylink=cpy
Kyle gets BUCKETS!
https://youtu.be/NJWPASQZqLc
ESPN's Jeff Borzello is reporting that AOC could still graduate this summer and be eligible right away at Creighton. If so, he would be joining what will certainly be a national title contender and possibly a preseason top 5 team. They may be ranked ahead of Duke.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
In the latest wayyyyyyy tooooo early Bracketology, Lunardi has Creighton as a one seed. That was before AOC's announcement.
So with a team that is projected to be that good, it will be interesting to see how and if AOC's minutes change.
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...l/bracketology
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
Before today I didn't read much of this thread. I HATE that we lost AOC. He always seemed to be on the verge of breaking out. I actually thought that K had too quick a hook with him sometimes. There have been some players that seem to end up playing to not make mistakes to stay on the court vs just relaxing and playing their game. Always thought AOC was one of those guys and I wish K would have just sucked it up and played him huge minutes for a while to see what would happen. (Note the previous sentence is probably a good reason I'm not a professional or amateur hoops coach).
I hope Alex and graduate early and play next year.
Also, since most of this thread is about baseball, the "14" in my username comes from my favorite player growing up as a Reds fan. I bet you can figure that out.
Sagegrouse, Evidently we have the same inside source. Rats, I thought he confided only in me. Some consolation in that he/she didn't share with you a key piece of the conversation: When K brought up the 'big-boy' haircut thing, OAC was rocked, taken aback. How could K ask for such a thing? So, OAC came back strong: "I will do that if I can verify, first hand, that your jet black hair is natural, no coloring. Fair is fair." Source says that K didn't say a word, but gave OAC such a withering look that they both knew it was time to go.
Amazing, sometimes, how history pivots on seemingly trivial matters.
“I love it. Coach, when we came here, we had a three-hour meeting about the core values. If you really represent the core values, it means diving on the floor, sacrificing your body for your teammates, no matter how much you’re up by or how much you’re down by, always playing hard.” -- Zion
I want to know who on next year's team inherits The Shrug. I first noticed The Shrug by Luke Kennard when he'd lose his man on defense, the guy would score, and he'd give us The Shrug.
AOC proved to be a worthy successor. He shrugged well and often.
I like both guys, and hope AOC prospers (and improves) as Kennard has. But The Shrug has to go somewhere...to whom? Probably a freshman. Defense isn't easy.
His ability to graduate this summer depends heavily on him being able to find a place to take classes this summer - I'm not sure what all of the schools are doing about that. I believe Duke cancelled its first summer session. After three full years at Duke, I'm assuming Alex can take his credits at any school from which Duke would accept them and they would count towards a Duke degree. But it could get tricky for him if no schools are open - he seems like a smart kid and his dad is a Duke alum so I'm sure he has thought this all out.
I wish him the best of luck. Omaha is a long way from Durham/Atlanta - he needs to buy a big parka for the winter. Hopefully they will feed him some Omaha steaks and fatten him up some.
Duke is also EXTREMELY stingy about transfer credit. They don't like people taking courses elsewhere and getting Duke credit except for study abroad...Even students transferring in from like Ivies have said Duke goes through each course one-by-one. This is based on 15 years ago information but I doubt it has changed.
Does everyone realize that Duke is scheduled to play in the Battle 4 Atlantis this November/ Thanksgiving and Creighton is also in the field ??