Welcome to Duke Darian Mensah !

Skydog said:
#1 portal player vs #40 for Mensah? Either ESPN or 247 are way the f off with their evaluations! Btw On3 has Maalik as the 66th best portal player. Are they picking these #’s out of a hat?!
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Yes! They are, more or less, picking numbers out of a hat, and the portal rankings are largely clickbait.

I contributed quite frequently to a very long Transfer Portal thread for basketball a few months ago, and I never once brought up these rankings. I understand why they exist -- with so many players out there, how can you know who's really good? -- but they are of extremely limited value.
 
brevity said:
Yes! They are, more or less, picking numbers out of a hat, and the portal rankings are largely clickbait.

I contributed quite frequently to a very long Transfer Portal thread for basketball a few months ago, and I never once brought up these rankings. I understand why they exist -- with so many players out there, how can you know who's really good? -- but they are of extremely limited value.
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one good way to assess how good the portal guys are is to see who is wooing them. College coaches know a lot more than the fan sites do. Fortunately Manny got Mensah before he could go elsewhere...the Wake receiver we nabbed, Fields, had a nice list of suitors.
As such, I don't care much about rankings per se...
 
rocketeli said:
Funny you should say that as I was just thinking the other day "why wouldn't the Big 10 want Duke?" Duke is a big brand, great in basketball, excellent in a lot of none revenue sports, and no worse or less resourced in football than many of their current members. I mean Maryland? Let's do it. The current ACC seems pretty meaningless to me at least these days, in terms of tradition, or rivalries or basketball fervor . I guess there's the cheats, but if the price of joining the Big 10 was having them tag along, I guess I'd allow it.
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I'm with you. I have lost all loyalty to the ACC. It doesn't exist anymore as far as I'm concerned.
 
Tulane-Army rebroadcast on ESPNU right now foe those who want to see a bit of Darian.

Spoiler:
Spoiler!
 
crote said:
Portal evaluations are all over the place, with far less consensus between the services than with high school recruits. ESPN has Mensah as the top player overall currently in the portal; 247 has him down in the 40s. Given that Murphy is gone and Mensah has already committed, it sure looks like this is a result Manny was planning for and wanted. From the outside, this doesn't look like a situation where Duke was scrambling for a replacement after being unable to retain Murphy.
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it does have that feel I agree. On another note, while I was never a big Murphy fan.....you can't leave on a higher note than his final play as a Blue Devil.....
 
budwom said:
one good way to assess how good the portal guys are is to see who is wooing them. College coaches know a lot more than the fan sites do. Fortunately Manny got Mensah before he could go elsewhere...the Wake receiver we nabbed, Fields, had a nice list of suitors.
As such, I don't care much about rankings per se...
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Fields looks like a nice pickup - bigger kid (6-3, 202) who can hopefully provide a lot of Pancol gave us this past year. Our 2 returning guys who saw a lot of action, Sahmir Hagans and Que'Sean Brown, are solid but somewhat duplicative as small, quick and shifty players who can turn a short pass into a long gain. Not sure what we have among recruits and other underclassmen, but it seems like we could use another starter caliber WR from the portal.
 
Indoor66 said:
I'm with you. I have lost all loyalty to the ACC. It doesn't exist anymore as far as I'm concerned.
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it's weird / sad how the ACC went from having the most conference pride among the major conferences - the "A-C-C" chant, to my memory, was the first and most used conference chant for years....to being what it is now. I think the asinine and obscene and absurd hatred of K and Duke basketball was the driver in this (then size and demographic short comings kicked in). I have spent enough time in SEC circles and never seen the same level of hatred towards UK hoops or Bama football that we lived with in basketball with Duke / K hatred.
 
luvdahops said:
Fields looks like a nice pickup - bigger kid (6-3, 202) who can hopefully provide a lot of Pancol gave us this past year. Our 2 returning guys who saw a lot of action, Sahmir Hagans and Que'Sean Brown, are solid but somewhat duplicative as small, quick and shifty players who can turn a short pass into a long gain. Not sure what we have among recruits and other underclassmen, but it seems like we could use another starter caliber WR from the portal.
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Has Horatio Fields committed to Duke? I keep reading things on this board that suggest that but can find no independent confirmation.
 
HereBeforeCoachK said:
it's weird / sad how the ACC went from having the most conference pride among the major conferences - the "A-C-C" chant, to my memory, was the first and most used conference chant for years....to being what it is now. I think the asinine and obscene and absurd hatred of K and Duke basketball was the driver in this (then size and demographic short comings kicked in). I have spent enough time in SEC circles and never seen the same level of hatred towards UK hoops or Bama football that we lived with in basketball with Duke / K hatred.
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Couldn't beat him. Wouldn't join him.. Jealous sore losers.
 
HereBeforeCoachK said:
it's weird / sad how the ACC went from having the most conference pride among the major conferences - the "A-C-C" chant, to my memory, was the first and most used conference chant for years....to being what it is now. I think the asinine and obscene and absurd hatred of K and Duke basketball was the driver in this (then size and demographic short comings kicked in). I have spent enough time in SEC circles and never seen the same level of hatred towards UK hoops or Bama football that we lived with in basketball with Duke / K hatred.
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Go on Pack Pride, let alone IC.
 
Welcome, Darian! I love that he cited Duke's academics as a major factor in his decision. That gives plausibility to the "unpack your bags" idea. He has three years of eligibility left. Of course, these days we probably shouldn't assume more than one year of anybody.

I agree that the transfer portal rankings are a bit silly. If there's a single number regarding Mensah, it's 9.5. That's his yards per attempt last season, which was absolutely elite. It's hard not to be excited about that.

Highlight reels always show you what you want to see. I like the touch he's able to put on throws, and he seems to have a decent amount of mobility, even if he isn't a big runner.

 
Dr. Maturin said:
Welcome, Darian! I love that he cited Duke's academics as a major factor in his decision. That gives plausibility to the "unpack your bags" idea. He has three years of eligibility left. Of course, these days we probably shouldn't assume more than one year of anybody.

I agree that the transfer portal rankings are a bit silly. If there's a single number regarding Mensah, it's 9.5. That's his yards per attempt last season, which was absolutely elite. It's hard not to be excited about that.

Highlight reels always show you what you want to see. I like the touch he's able to put on throws, and he seems to have a decent amount of mobility, even if he isn't a big runner.

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Understood that these are highlights, but at the very least he sure appears to be much more mobile than Maalik - thanks for sharing.
 
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