next season

[dukeinla]

just a theory on recruiting this year and next year:

last year the "buzz" was the top rated high school players were going to go to the d league, australia... That, coupled with multiple one and dones leaving each year, may have impacted Coach K's recruiting strategy. It takes a couple of years for the strategy to take effect but next year we can get to see the results. Instead of a freshman driving team next year's team will have sophomore starting guards (roach and stewart), veteran small forwards (Moore and Baker), sophomore big men (Williams and Coleman) AND at least two potential one and done freshman. A much better balanced lineup and built for the future

I cannot glean the following year but next year makes a lot of sense

[CDu]

just a theory on recruiting this year and next year:

last year the "buzz" was the top rated high school players were going to go to the d league, australia... That, coupled with multiple one and dones leaving each year, may have impacted Coach K's recruiting strategy. It takes a couple of years for the strategy to take effect but next year we can get to see the results. Instead of a freshman driving team next year's team will have sophomore starting guards (roach and stewart), veteran small forwards (Moore and Baker), sophomore big men (Williams and Coleman) AND at least two potential one and done freshman. A much better balanced lineup and built for the future

I cannot glean the following year but next year makes a lot of sense

Well, except that our two best players (and possibly our top 4 players) will be freshmen.

We didn’t change our recruiting philosophy. We just had a couple of years where we didn’t land multiple top-10 talents. But we will be back to landing multiple top-10s with the incoming class.

[ClemmonsDevil]

just a theory on recruiting this year and next year:

last year the "buzz" was the top rated high school players were going to go to the d league, australia... That, coupled with multiple one and dones leaving each year, may have impacted Coach K's recruiting strategy. It takes a couple of years for the strategy to take effect but next year we can get to see the results. Instead of a freshman driving team next year's team will have sophomore starting guards (roach and stewart), veteran small forwards (Moore and Baker), sophomore big men (Williams and Coleman) AND at least two potential one and done freshman. A much better balanced lineup and built for the future

I cannot glean the following year but next year makes a lot of sense

I think Duke is going to be excellent next year. I think Williams can run like a gazelle and has good hands. Works hard and is going to be legit stud when he polishes his post moves. Roach and Steward are going to be excellent and I like Moore to grow as well. Add in the freshmen and I see a fantastic team.

[Steven43]

I think Duke is going to be excellent next year. I think Williams can run like a gazelle and has good hands. Works hard and is going to be legit stud when he polishes his post moves. Roach and Steward are going to be excellent and I like Moore to grow as well. Add in the freshmen and I see a fantastic team.

I’m with you 100% on this. Duke has to occasionally have a down year, relatively speaking. It’s darn near impossible to have a highly successful season every single year when your very best players continually leave early for the NBA draft.

A lot of college basketball fans think it should be easy for Coach K to simply plug in super frosh every year to replace the ones who inevitably left early for the draft. But it’s not. It’s constant upheaval and chaos. I don’t care how talented or heralded the new guys are, there is a MAJOR learning curve going from high school to Duke University.

As all of you know, basketball is a team sport, and the teams that succeed at the highest level need experience, familiarity, and cohesiveness. None of those things can occur in a short period of time. It’s simply not possible.

Instead of people criticizing Coach K and saying “His teams should get to the Final Four every year. All he has to do is roll the balls out there and his supremely talented players should be able to dominate.” Well, I’m here to say that’s total b.s.

On the contrary, I think K has done a remarkable job keeping Duke at or near the top of the sport while suffering massive defections year after year after year. Can you imagine the mental strain he’s under having to basically start over every single season? I believe it’s much easier to coach when your guys are staying all four years of college, giving you constant continuity.

Anyway, just my two cents.

P.S. I can’t wait for the rematch with UNC!!

[scottdude8]

While I think it’s still WAY too early to think about next season, I agree with the prevailing wisdom that next years squad has the potential to be fantastic if roster turnover and player development goes largely as expected. I’m especially excited to see what type of players Williams and Coleman become in Duke uniforms.

But there’s still a lot of basketball to go THIS year.

[ClemmonsDevil]

While I think it’s still WAY too early to think about next season, I agree with the prevailing wisdom that next years squad has the potential to be fantastic if roster turnover and player development goes largely as expected. I’m especially excited to see what type of players Williams and Coleman become in Duke uniforms.

But there’s still a lot of basketball to go THIS year.

Agreed. I am not down on or upset by this year's team. I am loving having hoops to watch.

[TKG]

Which revenue sport is this thread addressing?

[wavedukefan70s]

We have a pretty good team.the pandemic wreaked havoc on development in the offsesson .
We are off by a couple of months .
We will get better .will it be enough to be a contender no. We will have sone fun watching though.

[SouthernDukie]

While I think it’s still WAY too early to think about next season

Sadly, I believe this is a record early start to a thread about “next season”. Speaks volumes - unfortunately.

I for one am still focused on this year. While I continue to predict a .500 ACC record, I do at least hold out hope that we are capable of getting on a roll and winning the ACC Tournament.

[arnie]

Which revenue sport is this thread addressing?

HaHa. After last night I thought “can’t wait till football season starts”, then thought the better of it.

[kAzE]

My (likely) unpopular opinion for next year is that we need to get in on the grad transfer market for a point guard or combo guard. I could see Jeremy Roach greatly improving in his second year, but I believe we need insurance in case that doesn't happen. We'll be losing Goldwire, so unless we plan on playing Michael Savarino rotation minutes, I think getting another veteran guard could pay off.

[dm9e24]

Our two OAD's from last year went in to 2nd round. Not even one of the top 30 players in the draft. Ten years ago they are in uniforms last night. OAD's have changed. K has done a remarkable job considering he pretty much has a different roster every October with one year to bring it all together. This year's freshman class has one OAD, who doesn't come close to matching the 2nd round numbers and consistency that Vernon gave us last year. Will never know how this team would have done in a normal year.
That being said, I don't see us being .500 in February 2022.

[cbarry]

That being said, I don't see us being .500 in February 2022.

As down as I am on this year’s team, I think we will definitely be above .500 at this time next year.
That is, if the freshmen are as good as advertised...

Do you really think our record will be worse in ‘22 than we are now?

[DukieTiger]

While I think it’s still WAY too early to think about next season, I agree with the prevailing wisdom that next years squad has the potential to be fantastic if roster turnover and player development goes largely as expected. I’m especially excited to see what type of players Williams and Coleman become in Duke uniforms.

But there’s still a lot of basketball to go THIS year.

Player development would have to exceed my expectations for next year's team to be as good as we're hoping, to be honest. But, let's hope that a lot of that development happens this season!

[scottdude8]

My (likely) unpopular opinion for next year is that we need to get in on the grad transfer market for a point guard or combo guard. I could see Jeremy Roach greatly improving in his second year, but I believe we need insurance in case that doesn't happen. We'll be losing Goldwire, so unless we plan on playing Michael Savarino rotation minutes, I think getting another veteran guard could pay off.

Technically JG could return because of the NCAAs extra year of eligibility because of COVID. No guarantee of that obviously but it isn’t a given that JG is gone...

[UrinalCake]

We didn’t change our recruiting philosophy. We just had a couple of years where we didn’t land multiple top-10 talents. But we will be back to landing multiple top-10s with the incoming class.

This year we unsuccessfully recruited Cunningham, Kuminga, Brandon Boston, Ziaire Williams, Kessler who was at one point a top-10 player, and Hunter Dickinson (not sure how serious that recruitment ever got). Last season we offered Nico Mannion, Brian Antoine, Scotty Lewis, Isaiah Stewart, and Josiah James. So yeah, we haven’t stopped recruiting OAD’s.

[dukeinla]

While I think it’s still WAY too early to think about next season, I agree with the prevailing wisdom that next years squad has the potential to be fantastic if roster turnover and player development goes largely as expected. I’m especially excited to see what type of players Williams and Coleman become in Duke uniforms.

But there’s still a lot of basketball to go THIS year.

I am not giving up on this year's team- I was talking more about the recruiting philosophy. Go Duke

[troach42]

For those of you thinking about next year's lineup being a little older and more mature with Roach and Steward in the backcourt for a second year, I'd ask you this - what makes you think either (or both) of those two will be back next year? Haven't we already seen over the past 5+ years that it doesn't matter how effective you are during the season, or whether you are guaranteed a spot in the first round, kids (generally) leave early when they plan to leave early. And you'd have to believe that both Roach and Steward came into this season with the realistic expectation of this being their only year at Duke. Not saying that they're leaving, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if at least one of them did.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

For those of you thinking about next year's lineup being a little older and more mature with Roach and Steward in the backcourt for a second year, I'd ask you this - what makes you think either (or both) of those two will be back next year? Haven't we already seen over the past 5+ years that it doesn't matter how effective you are during the season, or whether you are guaranteed a spot in the first round, kids (generally) leave early when they plan to leave early. And you'd have to believe that both Roach and Steward came into this season with the realistic expectation of this being their only year at Duke. Not saying that they're leaving, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if at least one of them did.

I see what you are saying, but given where this team is and how the two of them have performed in big games thus far - I don't see them getting selected.

[CDu]

For those of you thinking about next year's lineup being a little older and more mature with Roach and Steward in the backcourt for a second year, I'd ask you this - what makes you think either (or both) of those two will be back next year? Haven't we already seen over the past 5+ years that it doesn't matter how effective you are during the season, or whether you are guaranteed a spot in the first round, kids (generally) leave early when they plan to leave early. And you'd have to believe that both Roach and Steward came into this season with the realistic expectation of this being their only year at Duke. Not saying that they're leaving, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if at least one of them did.

Nothing would surprise me, but I'd expect at least Roach to be back. Steward feels more iffy, if only because he's shot it a bit better from the perimeter. Neither kid came in with one-and-done type of hype, so while I can't say for sure their mindset it would be surprising if they did think of themselves as likely one-and-dones. If I had to guess, both will be back. But I wouldn't be completely shocked if any player leaves.