Bolden and jeter
- Thread starter kyler2456
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... is a uniquely tall human being who is coming of age under the tutelage of the greatest coach in basketball history.
Actually bolden was good the second half against Miami. It's stupid that he is not playing at all. You don't want to waste a talented big
Jeter hasn't dressed for three or four games. He'll be out a while.
We might not know the whole story. Besides, llaying decent for 20 minutes won't get you guaranteed minutes for the whole season.
I am NOT speculating anything, but am curious, does Bolden leave after this year, and if not, does he transfer? Too early to tell?
Due to the style Notre Dame plays, Bolden wasn't needed tonight.
Best believe he will be needed down the stretch though.
Best believe he will be needed down the stretch though.
No I agree with that. But in my opinion for this team to reach its ultimate goal we need bolden and giles to be good players. Against the better teams with size and athletics this small lineup is not going to win 6 games in March and April. Bolden was our best defender against the pick and roll when he played against Miami. Against carolina next week we will need our bigs.
Bolden was completely disengaged on the bench next to an ecstatic Luke and Amile.
He had surgery on his lower back, I believe it was for a herniated disc, I'm not sure how much longer he's exprectee to be out.
I've never seen this injury in a college athlete (I'm sure it happens). This season has been brutal. I hate it for these young guys to get robbed like this. We could get a 5th year out of Chase I guess.
I've wondered the same, but transferring to set him back a couple more years. That's a long fall for a guy who was projected as a 1 and done player and a first rounder. It's best that he proves his worth at Duke and I hope that happens soon. I always questioned his body language and just tried to overlook it, but it was terrible tonight when he was on the bench.
I just don't understand the zero pt time for Bolden. We're going to need big man depth to make a run in the tournament. He needs experience. Unless he's being punished for his attitude.
Agreed that's why we need them. Then we will need to protect Jefferson and giles from foul trouble against teams that will try to pound us down low. It just makes no sense to not play him
ND spent almost in the entire game last night with Colson as their only "big." The game wasn't set up well for Bolden. I was a little surprised at 0 minutes, but he wasn't going to get many in a game where Amile and Giles never played at the same time.
Unless there is more to it than what we know.
Right. And let's not pretend Marques was this stud on the boards in the few minutes he was getting. UNC will likely beat us on the glass, but I can accept that as long we're not dominated like last season at CIS. They're the best rebounding team in the country for a reason.
In addition, as has been pointed out multiple times in this thread....ND is a small basketball team. That allowed Duke to play their most effective lineups last night.
Guy played great vs. Miami and we haven't hardly seen him since...I'm guessing there is more to this....
It was just one instance that happened to catch my eye after both Luke and Amile had fouled out and were locking arms. I know that after the WF win, the whole team was going crazy and hyped up - I'd just like to see more of that intensity amongst everyone.
Clearly something is up that we don't know about.
It has zero to do with "matchups" - Bolden, when he plays hard and smart, is a matchup problem himself. He has great length to block shots, can offensive rebound, adds an athletic, tall figure as a dish option on drives; etc. Vrankovic doesn't add anything different or better (unless he is more developed).
Just because a team is "small" doesn't mean you use small lineups. There's no reason to think Duke has to matchup against other teams. Fans should realize that those teams have to match up against us; and Bolden creates problems. So, there's no basis. If that were Okafor, he'd have been on the court - even if at times Duke would go small, Okafor would still create his own matchup problem.
It makes no sense that he'd sit the bench three games after having his best outing of the year in a big win against Miami. His game against NCSU was not great but Duke lost that because they could not handle Dennis Smith. That's not reason enough to give him 3 minutes and 0 minutes. Assuming everything is okay off the court.
He really needs to get his head on straight. Could be he's not happy because of his expectations. Expectations always lead to frustration. The injury did not help but clearly K and the staff are not interested in developing him in game time (they rarely are).
Bolden said soon after he signed with Duke that he trusted K to do the right thing by him and I suspect that meant he felt he had not just an opportunity to play but also to be developed as a player and ready for the NBA. I suspect he thought he'd become at least a mid-round pick this year.
Whether he transfers or not - or whether that is good for him or not, is hard to say. I think he will if he doesn't feel he'll be drafted this year because he likely sees the big guy from Georgia coming in and doesn't want to become the next Chase Jeter (not that there's anything wrong with that but if he has his head primarily in the NBA, which most big, top rated, high school players do, then he's not going to be happy).
If he's not going to be a sure 1st round pick (and not get a guaranteed deal this year) he may decide he'll be best suited to start again fresh at a school he can get minutes and develop and show the NBA his talent. And then expect to be drafted in 2-3 years.
It has zero to do with "matchups" - Bolden, when he plays hard and smart, is a matchup problem himself. He has great length to block shots, can offensive rebound, adds an athletic, tall figure as a dish option on drives; etc. Vrankovic doesn't add anything different or better (unless he is more developed).
Just because a team is "small" doesn't mean you use small lineups. There's no reason to think Duke has to matchup against other teams. Fans should realize that those teams have to match up against us; and Bolden creates problems. So, there's no basis. If that were Okafor, he'd have been on the court - even if at times Duke would go small, Okafor would still create his own matchup problem.
It makes no sense that he'd sit the bench three games after having his best outing of the year in a big win against Miami. His game against NCSU was not great but Duke lost that because they could not handle Dennis Smith. That's not reason enough to give him 3 minutes and 0 minutes. Assuming everything is okay off the court.
He really needs to get his head on straight. Could be he's not happy because of his expectations. Expectations always lead to frustration. The injury did not help but clearly K and the staff are not interested in developing him in game time (they rarely are).
Bolden said soon after he signed with Duke that he trusted K to do the right thing by him and I suspect that meant he felt he had not just an opportunity to play but also to be developed as a player and ready for the NBA. I suspect he thought he'd become at least a mid-round pick this year.
Whether he transfers or not - or whether that is good for him or not, is hard to say. I think he will if he doesn't feel he'll be drafted this year because he likely sees the big guy from Georgia coming in and doesn't want to become the next Chase Jeter (not that there's anything wrong with that but if he has his head primarily in the NBA, which most big, top rated, high school players do, then he's not going to be happy).
If he's not going to be a sure 1st round pick (and not get a guaranteed deal this year) he may decide he'll be best suited to start again fresh at a school he can get minutes and develop and show the NBA his talent. And then expect to be drafted in 2-3 years.
Actually it was obvious within the first 4 minutes of the game that Bolden wasn't going to play. ND plays differently than most teams, and us going small with Tatum at the 4 was the best way to matchup with them ON THEIR HOME COURT.
Say we go big with Bolden and then ND exploits us with back to back threes and an 8-0 run...then what??
We controlled last nights game from start to finish and never needed to enter panic mode.
Bolden isn't transferring and I still believe he's going to be big for us during the stretch run. Now whether he goes pro or stays a second year, well I'm not gonna make that prediction, because I'm always wrong.
I understand the argument for matchups sake. But what does Vrank do where he isn't the same matchup concern? I know he only played 2 minutes. But I'd think those 2 would go to Bolden before Vrank. That's what I don't understand.
It wasn't exclusively about matching up with ND, and letting them dictate terms. The reality is you could make a very compelling argument that Duke's best lineup is with Tatum at the 4. Duke was doing exactly what Duke wanted to do, not what ND made them do.
Here's the problem, though....we weren't using a small(er) lineup to match up to Notre Dame. We were using a small(er) lineup because that's our best lineup, too. Right now, our best five to put on the floor is Grayson, Luke, Matt, Jayson and Amile. Frank and Harry are the next best two. I still think it's possible Bolden can become solid within the rotation, but save the Miami game he hasn't been very efficient defensively or on the glass.
saw that one as well....he seems subdued alot, just may be his personality...but he was def cheering and clapping....in the wake game there is a still photo of look taking a 3pt and ole bolden is up throwing up the 3 sign
I'm curious as to why many posters seem to think Bolden is the answer over Jeter or Big V? I get it that he was highly rated out of high school however he has done nothing different then any other big on Dukes roster. If anything his only separation would be that he's the most disengaged big on the bench.
Coach K has never used a deep rotation, always preferring to go with who he thinks is most productive. You very seldom see more than 8 play. So with Grayson, Luke, Amile, Jayson, and Matt as first 5, and with Harry and Frank seeing time, that doesn't leave much room unless foul trouble becomes an issue. That's just the way he does things. I haven't always agreed with that, especially deep in the tournament when he has to go to a guy that has played very little. Then again I haven't won over 1,000 games & 5 National titles
Jeter is out and Vrank wasn't the one getting rave reviews in the preseason. I know it's been a while now, but there was a good bit of buzz around Marques prior to his injury.
I think he got a little nervous after the injury and tried to play as safe as possible so he would get injured again.. It has hurt his draft stock and it has hurt us. I could be wrong, I have no inside information. He could be just uncomfortable out there, and not ready. I just think otherwise. He looked pretty good at C2C when I saw him in person. I think he played harder that night in a scrimmage than at any point this season.
For most fans, me included felt that coming into the season Bolden would be a key piece on this team. To this point he hasn't, therefore there is a lot to be desired. With Bolden not living up to the hype thus far, many feel that Duke isn't maximizing its full potential. IMO for this team to make a deep run we need to find that 8th guy that we can rely on constistently. The last two games we have seen how fouls can rack up in a hurry.
Because bolden actually played better in one half pick and roll defense than the rest of our bigs have combined for the whole season.
The thing is I don't think the small lineup is our best lineup against better teams. Because this team weaknesses are highlighted with that lineup. I still believe for this team to reach its ceiling bolden or giles will have to be the starting center . This team will need bolden size against teams that play though the post. Even last night Amile and Kennard fouled out. Why not get bolden 10 mins or so to save foul trouble. I think our margin for error is smaller with that small lineup.