Originally Posted by
COYS
Agreed. Nine years ago at this time Calipari had started his first season at UK with his super class of Cousins and Wall. UNC had a title to defend and had won the Harrison Barnes sweepstakes. Meanwhile, Duke hadn't been to a Final Four in five years and had lost out on a string of high-profile recruits, including Pattrick Patterson, Greg Monroe, Kenny Boynton and others.
Originally Posted by
lotusland
I feel like COYS is being coy and leaving out the money-line that Duke won the Natty that year with nary a lottery pick and a bevy of 4-year upper-classmen(my personal favorite Duke team of all-time).
In addition to missing on Wall, Duke also lost EWill to transfer and G to the NBA from the prior year. All of those players would have made Duke more talented overall but would they have been better? Either Wall or G would definitely have started most likely pushing Singler back to the 4 spot and thereby changing the nature of that championship team. But that team had experience and tenacity and they defended well. I would not trade Scheyer at PG for multiple Freshman John Walls on that team.
Originally Posted by
Steven43
This.
I think if Duke had multiple John Walls, G Henderson and EWill in 2010, they would have won the title twice. Coach K is good with talent. As much as 2010 was one of my favourite teams, if not my favourite, I would generally prefer more talent vs. less talent, even if it isn’t the perfect fit.
“Those two kids, they’re champions,” Krzyzewski said of his senior leaders. “They’re trying to teach the other kids how to become that, and it’s a long road to become that.”