2017 Basketball Recruiting Thread

[CajunDevil]

I don't understand. Are you suggesting that not playing the guys at the end of the bench during the regular season is why South Carolina blew us out in the second half of our tournament game against them? Or are you suggesting that it happened because the guys in our starting lineup played too many minutes during the season? Or is there a third explanation?

I really want to know, how many minutes would Antonio Vrankovic have had to play, on average, to have avoided our second half meltdown against SC?

Wow... some first-team all-message board snark there.

A palpable third explanation is that by expanding the bench early in the year, Duke would've been a potentially better team by having players who could come in and help grab a much needed rebound vs. USC or played hard-nosed D on Thornwell. However, by not playing Vrank or White or DeLaurier earlier in year reduced K's options in that particular situation.

[SilkyJ]

Wow... some first-team all-message board snark there.

A palpable third explanation is that by expanding the bench early in the year, Duke would've been a potentially better team by having players who could come in and help grab a much needed rebound vs. USC or played hard-nosed D on Thornwell. However, by not playing Vrank or White or DeLaurier earlier in year reduced K's options in that particular situation.

I agree with Kedsy here. I mean come on guys--those guys (Vrank, Javin, Jack, or Chase) were not the answer to saving our season. You're making the argument that guys who couldn't get more than garbage time were going to be our saviors? You're looking in the wrong spot--that's looking for a band-aid to fix a bullet wound. If those guys were good enough to guard Thornwell or play important minutes in the tourney, they would have received opptys to play earlier in the year. Let's face it, they just weren't good enough to be out there.

Now, if you want to look somewhere, look at players who DO have the talent to be out there. IMO, the player K should have been playing more earlier in the year was Harry. He was the #1 recruit in his class--THE NUMBER ONE RECRUIT. Our ceiling was much higher with him as a major contributor instead of the 11mpg he averaged. Did he have rust to shake off? For sure. But even despite that rust he was a very good rebounder, and showed flashes of being an excellent rebounder. The guy averaged 13 reb per 40 mins, and 4 o-rebs per 40 mins. He could protect the rim--he averaged 1.7 blocks per 40, and in his last 5 games he averaged over 4 blocks/40!

He definitely struggled to find his timing and positioning on defense, but if K has played him 20mpg in January and February he might have found that timing and been able to deliver in March.

[CajunDevil]

Well, I don't think we lost to South Carolina because we didn't expand our bench, per se, but I certainly think we would've been a better team had we developed our bench more. And, the whole "not good enough or they would've been playing" arguement rings hollow when inferior players at other schools are making contributions but our subs can't even get on the floor. It's a huge pet peeve of quite a few Duke fans, me included, and has resulted in Duke not realizing their potential some years. As for Harry, there were games he would pick up 3 fouls in a minute, and his PNR defense was atrocious for most of the year which restricted his minutes.

[jv001]

I agree with Kedsy here. I mean come on guys--those guys (Vrank, Javin, Jack, or Chase) were not the answer to saving our season. You're making the argument that guys who couldn't get more than garbage time were going to be our saviors? You're looking in the wrong spot--that's looking for a band-aid to fix a bullet wound. If those guys were good enough to guard Thornwell or play important minutes in the tourney, they would have received opptys to play earlier in the year. Let's face it, they just weren't good enough to be out there.

Now, if you want to look somewhere, look at players who DO have the talent to be out there. IMO, the player K should have been playing more earlier in the year was Harry. He was the #1 recruit in his class--THE NUMBER ONE RECRUIT. Our ceiling was much higher with him as a major contributor instead of the 11mpg he averaged. Did he have rust to shake off? For sure. But even despite that rust he was a very good rebounder, and showed flashes of being an excellent rebounder. The guy averaged 13 reb per 40 mins, and 4 o-rebs per 40 mins. He could protect the rim--he averaged 1.7 blocks per 40, and in his last 5 games he averaged over 4 blocks/40!

He definitely struggled to find his timing and positioning on defense, but if K has played him 20mpg in January and February he might have found that timing and been able to deliver in March.

My opinion and certainly not fact was Coach K didn't want Harry playing heavy minutes and getting worn out. Which might have led to another injury. I think Coach K, Harry and his parents were worried about this happening. That would have been $$$$$$$$$ taken away from the family and negative publicity for Duke and Coach K. Just my feelings on this subject. GoDuke!

[Saratoga2]

I don't understand. Are you suggesting that not playing the guys at the end of the bench during the regular season is why South Carolina blew us out in the second half of our tournament game against them? Or are you suggesting that it happened because the guys in our starting lineup played too many minutes during the season? Or is there a third explanation?

I really want to know, how many minutes would Antonio Vrankovic have had to play, on average, to have avoided our second half meltdown against SC?

Even coach K commented on that after the SC game, saying the he needed to expand the rotation for the coming season. I believe that the meltdown involved a tired team that were out hustled by an aggressive team. Our defense disappeared. SC showed in later games they were very talented so it wasn't a shock to be beaten but it was a shock to give up 65 points in a half. What the SC coach (Frank Martin) said at the half is that they had to take the ball in against Duke and it paid off and also opened the outside shot for them.

We needed an aggressive, althletic guy out there to help in the second half and didn't have one that had been developed. Javin had possibilities so perhaps this coming season coach K will follow his own advice and go with a deeper rotation.

[UNCfan]

From an outsiders perspective, playing more players may have been the correct play to allow guys to heal and other guys to develop.

On the other hand, looking at the schedule and scores, you guys didn't blow anyone out. Your coach had to ride your best players to win those close games or you would've been a much lower seed in the tournament.


just my thoughts.

[sagegrouse]

From an outsiders perspective, playing more players may have been the correct play to allow guys to heal and other guys to develop.

On the other hand, looking at the schedule and scores, you guys didn't blow anyone out. Your coach had to ride your best players to win those close games or you would've been a much lower seed in the tournament.


just my thoughts.

My take on the subject: in a world with higher roster turnover thatn previously, two things seem like a correcvt r5esponse:

(1) Recruit more players each year -- which we have done.

(2) Play a deeper rotation, so that the loss of OAD's and transfers is not so devastating.

I suppose the "play Harry more" move helps, in that, on an inexperienced team, it may be better to give more people playing time to increase the options on the the team. But Harry was always a OAD, so playing him more doesn't build a cadre of experienced players for the next season.

[Troublemaker]

Let's divert this potential thread hijack out of the 2017 Recruiting thread and into the mega offseason thread.

Note: I don't mind hijacking threads all that much, but some people do and since we're expecting to hear announcements this week from Duval and Knox, I imagine a lot of people could be checking this thread and finding themselves disappointed that they're reading posts about Coach K's rotation, which is well-trodden ground, as you know.

[DukieInBrasil]

Well, I don't think we lost to South Carolina because we didn't expand our bench, per se, but I certainly think we would've been a better team had we developed our bench more. And, the whole "not good enough or they would've been playing" arguement rings hollow when inferior players at other schools are making contributions but our subs can't even get on the floor. It's a huge pet peeve of quite a few Duke fans, me included, and has resulted in Duke not realizing their potential some years. As for Harry, there were games he would pick up 3 fouls in a minute, and his PNR defense was atrocious for most of the year which restricted his minutes.

your answer makes more sense than silky's.

[revmel53]

Has Coach K ever said he would be expanding minutes for more players after any other season? I stay frustrated at the fact that we don't substitute more often, and play more guys.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Has Coach K ever said he would be expanding minutes for more players after any other season? I stay frustrated at the fact that we don't substitute more often, and play more guys.

Try the "long offseason" thread. Being discussed at length.

[NYBri]

Sigh.

Came here to read about the 2017 recruiting and found a thread about minutes and expanded rotations...which is what every other thread is about, it seems.

Can we get back to recruiting?

[kAzE]

Hmm I was under the impression that Duval was going to announce by the end of April. I'm guessing he will announce sometime this week. All the recent articles I've seen seem to indicate a decision is coming soon.

At the risk of looking foolish, I'll say I'd be shocked if he doesn't pick Duke. Even from a totally objective standpoint, there's no better situation for him. Period. He's almost a lock to start and play 30+ minutes a game on a top 10 team, with every single game nationally televised. If you want to be a OAD point guard, this is a golden opportunity.

[53n206]

Let us not "harrison" this thread. (Lack of caps intentional.)

[Billy Dat]

@BlueDevilNation
Both Trevon Duval and Kevin Knox @DatGuy_Trey @kevin_knox23 announcements will likely go down this week or in a word, soon.

[AtlDuke72]

Has Coach K ever said he would be expanding minutes for more players after any other season? I stay frustrated at the fact that we don't substitute more often, and play more guys.

Depending on your frustration level you should probably find another team to follow. I think that there is zero chance that Coach K is going to take the advice of all of the coaches on DBR and change the same pattern he has followed his whole career. For some reason, Coach K thinks it is better to just keep his better players on the court working together. The Devils could have had some success through the years if only Coach K had gotten all this advice years ago.

[lotusland]

Depending on your frustration level you should probably find another team to follow. I think that there is zero chance that Coach K is going to take the advice of all of the coaches on DBR and change the same pattern he has followed his whole career. For some reason, Coach K thinks it is better to just keep his better players on the court working together. The Devils could have had some success through the years if only Coach K had gotten all this advice years ago.

All we DBR coaches can do is provide the necessary advice. It's up to K to follow through on it. You can lead a horse to water...

[DavidBenAkiva]

Trevon Duval released a blog for USA Today High School Sports on his upcoming decision:

"Of course I still have my decision to get out of the way and I should be making that pretty soon.

I won’t lie I just want to get this thing over with.

At this point I don’t even really care about how I let everyone know, but my dad keeps telling me that it should be memorable and something that no one has ever done.

Basically it’ll be remembered and the way I announce should reflect me as a person and everything that I’ve been through to this point.

This is such a big decision!

I’ve cut down talks with the coaches a lot at this point too; there’s not much they can say to convince me now, but I still talk to them to let them know that I haven’t completely cut them off.

I haven’t been talking to the media because it’s stressful enough and then you’ve got guys asking the same questions over and over. It’s nothing personal, I just needed to clear my mind and answering the same questions just doesn’t help me do that.

Like I said, the decision is coming soon so stay tuned!"

Thanks, Trevon's dad! He doesn't answer to the inquiring minds of DBR, of course, and I'm sure he wants what's best for his son. Oh well. Duval then went on to talk about prom and a song he likes. At any rate, we should know his latest decision soon.

[Troublemaker]

There's a new recruiting target on the radar: Jordan Goldwire. Based on his list of offers (Eastern Kentucky, Coastal Carolina, Hofstra, etc), Goldwire is a 4-year PG, i.e. do not panic and think this means anything about Duval or the 2018 targets like Tre Jones or Darius Garland (who project to be 2-3 year players).

I haven't dug into him enough to figure out whether he's more Andre Buckner or Tyler Thornton yet.

Goldwire has already been Crystal Ball'ed to Duke by the 247 guys.


Andrew Slater‏ @ASlater247 54m54 minutes ago
PG Jordan Goldwire'17 @j_gold11 of @NorcrossHoops & @teamunitedhoops is on a visit to #Duke http://247sports.com/player/jordan-goldwire-93766 …

[Olympic Fan]

While we're waiting on Duval, Knox and maybe Bamba, there is some other news ...

Virginia just got its second 2017 commitment, Italian native Francesco Badocchi. He's a 6-8 forward, nicknamed "The Human Pogo Strick"

Badocchi is a raw athlete. He played three semesters at a prep school in Kansas and never played AAU ball. He put up just so-so numbers (15 ppg, 7 rpb) Hence, he's pretty unknown.

He picked Virginia over Illinois. His only other offers were mid-majors -- East Tennessee, Miami (Ohio) and Missouri-Kansas City