Welcome to Duke, Dame Sarr!!

kidA said:
Neither was Coward
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That's not entirely true. Coward was on the NBA radar a year ago. He just wasn't on "Duke fan" radar. With Sarr, there was just SOOOOOO little info prior to a few months ago. Because he had played so very little.
 
kidA said:
Neither was Coward
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That's not true at all. Maybe not people on this board but Coward was on LOTS of basketball people's radar. He tested the NBA waters a year ago. Sarr was a very fringe prospect known only for his Europe U18 play before he blew up in his last 6 games at Barcelona.

Edit: CDU beat me to it!
 
CDu said:
That's not entirely true. Coward was on the NBA radar a year ago. He just wasn't on "Duke fan" radar.
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Don’t wanna start an argument, but… I’m not sure that’s accurate. He was in the portal and not getting much love, and it was kind of a surprise when we got him, in a “who is this guy?” sort of away. So in that sense you are right that he was not on “Duke fan“ radar. But I sort of feel if the NBA knew who he was, other college coaches would have as well and he would’ve been higher ranked in the portal availability lists. regardless, as the last ESPN mock draft has coward at 30, I’m still holding out hope we get both and then can do a side-by-side comparison rather than making suppositions from afar. I also thought there was a chance Zion and Cooper might come back, so…
Go Duke!! 9f!
 
kidA said:
Don’t wanna start an argument, but… I’m not sure that’s accurate. He was in the portal and not getting much love, and it was kind of a surprise when we got him, in a “who is this guy?” sort of away. So in that sense you are right that he was not on “Duke fan“ radar. But I sort of feel if the NBA knew who he was, other college coaches would have as well and he would’ve been higher ranked in the portal availability lists. regardless, as the last ESPN mock draft has coward at 30, I’m still holding out hope we get both and then can do a side-by-side comparison rather than making suppositions from afar. I also thought there was a chance Zion and Cooper might come back, so…
Go Duke!! 9f!
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He followed his coach from Eastern Washington to Washington State. That's why he wasn't a bigger name in the portal last year.
 
CDu said:
This is about where I am as well. Coward felt much safer as a "plug and play" guy. Sarr is a substantial wildcard. We could definitely wind up looking back on his 2025-26 season at Duke and say, "how did that guy fly so far under the radar?" But we could also wind up looking back and saying, "man was that guy overrated."

Like you said, we're riding a VERY small sample of game footage from him. Yes, all but one of those games were against adults. But it's a small sample, and a relatively small role within that small sample.

I think he's really talented. But I'm not sure the degree to which that will translate right away in college basketball. It could be "really well", or it could be "struggles like a typical recruit in the 15 to 30 range in the rankings often does as a freshman."
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What's interesting to me is that CJS seems to have prioritized Sarr over available wings like Darrion Williams, Jamir Watkins and Desmond Claude, all of whom, with the possible exception of Claude, would have been penciled in as starters and impact players on next year's Duke team.
 
kidA said:
Don’t wanna start an argument, but… I’m not sure that’s accurate. He was in the portal and not getting much love, and it was kind of a surprise when we got him, in a “who is this guy?” sort of away. So in that sense you are right that he was not on “Duke fan“ radar. But I sort of feel if the NBA knew who he was, other college coaches would have as well and he would’ve been higher ranked in the portal availability lists. regardless, as the last ESPN mock draft has coward at 30, I’m still holding out hope we get both and then can do a side-by-side comparison rather than making suppositions from afar. I also thought there was a chance Zion and Cooper might come back, so…
Go Duke!! 9f!
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He was top-15 in the transfer portal rankings. That's probably STILL an underestimate relative to how those guys would get drafted if all entered and stayed in the draft. But he definitely wasn't an unknown on the recruiting circuit. He was just an unknown for fans at Duke.
 
luvdahops said:
What's interesting to me is that CJS seems to have prioritized Sarr over available wings like Darrion Williams, Jamir Watkins and Desmond Claude, all of whom, with the possible exception of Claude, would have been penciled in as starters and impact players on next year's Duke team.
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I think Sarr is a more talented perimeter shooting prospect than any of those guys. And Scheyer does seem to value that skill set. Williams and Watkins are almost certainly going to be better players overall than Sarr next year, but they aren't great shooters (especially not Watkins and Claude.

It's also a two-way street in recruiting. No idea, for whatever reason, if those guys were realistic candidates for Duke or not.
 
CDu said:
I think Sarr is a more talented perimeter shooting prospect than any of those guys. And Scheyer does seem to value that skill set. Williams and Watkins are almost certainly going to be better players overall than Sarr next year, but they aren't great shooters (especially not Watkins and Claude.

It's also a two-way street in recruiting. No idea, for whatever reason, if those guys were realistic candidates for Duke or not.
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There's also locker room fit. We don't talk about it much because we don't know these kids personalities, character, work ethic, ... But we know it's a huge deal for Jon in who he chooses to pursue.
 
I can see arguments both ways, but Sarr has definitely played and practiced against better players than Coward has....Barcelona has a ton of experienced players...
 
CDu said:
This is about where I am as well. Coward felt much safer as a "plug and play" guy. Sarr is a substantial wildcard. We could definitely wind up looking back on his 2025-26 season at Duke and say, "how did that guy fly so far under the radar?" But we could also wind up looking back and saying, "man was that guy overrated."

Like you said, we're riding a VERY small sample of game footage from him. Yes, all but one of those games were against adults. But it's a small sample, and a relatively small role within that small sample.

I think he's really talented. But I'm not sure the degree to which that will translate right away in college basketball. It could be "really well", or it could be "struggles like a typical recruit in the 15 to 30 range in the rankings often does as a freshman."
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Agree. I think bringing in Sarr constitutes Jon basically "taking a swing." It's a very uncertain proposition. Could hit big, or not.

The fact that we have as many unknowns with our roster as we do is why we are not generally viewed to be in the group of teams expected to be at the very top next year. That group includes Florida UConn, Purdue, St. John's, and Houston. Maybe another team or two. Those teams have uncertainties too, of course, but not as many as we do. It's why we're projected in the second group, not the first.
 
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