That will most certainly be one narrative that plays out in the Land of Delusion also known as Rupp Rafters.
Duke Class is
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That will most certainly be one narrative that plays out in the Land of Delusion also known as Rupp Rafters.
That, and calling Krzyzewski shady, while simultaneously being coached by a coach who even Kentucky fans, prior to his ascension to coaching at UK, thought was shady.
It's hilarious. Effing priceless. It's one of the more epic meltdowns I can remember.
I went over there to peruse. Holy cow. There is an entire thread on how Bolden knew he was coming here months ago and OUR STAFF told him to string Calicheat along so he would miss out on other recruits. Wow...just wow.
Hell maybe it was bolden that was on the grassy knoll that day! What do you think Sky... UK fans have a case!
unx STILL moreso. LMAO....
It's like the fanbase sate having a competition on who can say the most asinine statement!
What role did the Duke staff play in keeping Roy from missing on recruits? Especially this one...
Sacha Killeya-Jones commits to Kentucky Wildcats
The Virginia Episcopal School senior -- who is from Chapel Hill, North Carolina -- cited the opportunity to play for Hall of Fame coach John Calipari as a factor in his decision.
"I look at what Coach Calipari has done with players like myself, and I see the way he prepares them for the next level and it's impressive," Killeya-Jones said. "He is a really genuine person who is a demanding coach. I felt very comfortable with him and trust him."
http://espn.go.com/recruiting/baske...sacha-killeya-jones-commits-kentucky-wildcats
So Cal goes into Roy's living room , takes the kid back to UK with 'im and tracks the carpet on his way out. Lulz. Duke's staff have anything to do with that? And look at those comments about the way Cal preps guys for the NBA. If you're a unx fan , that's gotta hurt. Big time.
Their upperclassmen might be experienced 5 stars but our 5 star freshmen are head and shoulders above their 4 star freshmen and then when you add our talented 4 star upperclassmen into the mix then there's noway that UNCheat will be better than us next year lolunx STILL moreso. LMAO....
More lowlights from RR, paraphrased:
"I wish him well. But I hope he dies a horrific death by being burned alive while leaches drain him of his Duke blue blood!"
"He lacks integrity. He's not good enough to play for Cal."
"We're okay pushing out Lee! No! Wait! We're sorry! Please come back Karl-Anthony Lee!"
"Conspiracy!!!"
"I hope Krzyzewski gets herpes"
"Cal needs to be dirtier when it comes to recruiting!"
"I wish him well. But I hope he dies a horrific death by being burned alive while leaches drain him of his Duke blue blood!"
"He lacks integrity. He's not good enough to play for Cal."
"We're okay pushing out Lee! No! Wait! We're sorry! Please come back Karl-Anthony Lee!"
"Conspiracy!!!"
"I hope Krzyzewski gets herpes"
"Cal needs to be dirtier when it comes to recruiting!"
Dirty huh..... Hmmm I think I remember a time wher Cal coached Puerto Rico in international ball, if I'm not mistaken he left off Al Horford, an All Star caliber NBA player and instead took on a junior in High school... I believe his name was Karl Anthony Towns... And this was before he made a decision as to where to go to college.... Dirty like that?
The advantage 2017 Duke has over 2015 Kentucky is quality experience, grad-student Amile Jefferson, senior Matt Jones and a junior Grayson Allen who may well be pre-season national player of the year. Kentucky didn't have that kind of upper-class talent.
That said, there is no such thing as a lock, even for the Final Four. A 2002 Duke team with Jason Williams, Mike Dunleavy, Carlos Boozer, Dahntay Jones, Chris Duhon and Daniel Ewing and a 2011 Duke team with Kyrie Irving, Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith, Seth Curry, Mason Plumlee, Miles Plumlee, Ryan Kelly and Andre Dawkins couldn't make it past the Sweet Sixteen.
When you get into March Madness, it's a crapshoot.
Let's enjoy the ride.
That said, there is no such thing as a lock, even for the Final Four. A 2002 Duke team with Jason Williams, Mike Dunleavy, Carlos Boozer, Dahntay Jones, Chris Duhon and Daniel Ewing and a 2011 Duke team with Kyrie Irving, Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith, Seth Curry, Mason Plumlee, Miles Plumlee, Ryan Kelly and Andre Dawkins couldn't make it past the Sweet Sixteen.
When you get into March Madness, it's a crapshoot.
Let's enjoy the ride.
Man the cupboard is flowing over! I can't wait to see these kids play but there is something about Frank Jackson. I got a great feeling about that kid.
Dukes amazingly talented teams that got beat early all struggled on D some. Defense will determine if this team will be dominant or not.
That's why some bars close down when UK basketball is in town. No one likes Big Blue Nation. It's a traveling horde of trash.
WOW and I thought some of the other threads I had read on RR were full of delusional posts but dang that thread takes the gold, silver and bronze medals all at once lol
I saw all of that go down, let it go man, let it go.
This is a tremendous pick up for Duke. I thought for sure he was UK bound with Mathhews being forced out.....
I'm really looking to see how this class gels with each other and with the veterans. We basically got depth at all 5 positions.
I'm really anxious to see what Javin and Bolden can give us. It seems like Giles, Tatum, and Jackson are the more predictable commodities, so I'm really interested to see how Bolden and DeLaurier fit in.
Add that to Jefferson, Jeter, Jones, Allen, and Kennard, and I simply cannot wait for the season to start.
I'm really anxious to see what Javin and Bolden can give us. It seems like Giles, Tatum, and Jackson are the more predictable commodities, so I'm really interested to see how Bolden and DeLaurier fit in.
Add that to Jefferson, Jeter, Jones, Allen, and Kennard, and I simply cannot wait for the season to start.
What excites me about Bolden the most is he probably has the most defensive potential at the center position since maybe Shelden Williams. I've said it before, next season is how well the team meshes and plays D, he will definitely help on D.
Most times when I hear "lock" I get quezzy. Duke doesn't need a bigger target on its back.
It seems lately that the better our lock the shakier we start. This is especially true with players not lasting for 4 years. These kids -- especially freshman -- come in with stratospheric expectations get a proverbial "punch in the nose" and seem dazed and confused.
I think a championship is part luck, part skill. You can compensate one for the other, but not entirely replace it.
The only time that I thought we were a lock, acted like we were a lock, and delivered was in 1992. I think that was directly related to Laettner and Davis and their collective confidence.
Happy to Bolden.....very happy!
Lock? Let's just say that I'm not seeing the Laettner / Davis -- "So people talk the talk. At Duke we walk the walk" mojo.
It seems lately that the better our lock the shakier we start. This is especially true with players not lasting for 4 years. These kids -- especially freshman -- come in with stratospheric expectations get a proverbial "punch in the nose" and seem dazed and confused.
I think a championship is part luck, part skill. You can compensate one for the other, but not entirely replace it.
The only time that I thought we were a lock, acted like we were a lock, and delivered was in 1992. I think that was directly related to Laettner and Davis and their collective confidence.
Happy to Bolden.....very happy!
Lock? Let's just say that I'm not seeing the Laettner / Davis -- "So people talk the talk. At Duke we walk the walk" mojo.
Kentucky would have been a lot better off last year if they played Ulis and Booker around 30 minutes and let the Harrison twins ride the pine.
Jim, a couple thoughts on those two teams you listed. the 2002 team had a pretty big flaw. They could be prone to rebounding issues and interior defensive problems due to a lack of post-depth. With Battier gone, Dunleavy essentially shifted positions defensively. On the defensive end he had to guard people that Battier used to have to and he was banged around quite a bit in the paint at times against bigger and stronger players. This also created mismatches on the offensive end when the other teams power forward had to guard Dunleavy. Maryland hammered Duke in College Park. The combo of Baxter/Wilcox was a bad matchup for Duke. In the Indiana game we saw Duke get killed on the glass.
The 2011 team had Kyrie Irving, but only for 11 games. He missed the entire ACC season. Think about that, he NEVER played in an ACC Basketball game. In retrospect, I think it was a mistake to let him play in the NCAA Tournament.
Regarding the reactions to Bolden. This is my first post since the decision. I'm a little disappointed in some of the Kentucky reaction mainly because I've posted over at RR for a long, long time. However, how did Duke fans react to Harrison Barnes? admit it, we all felt played. The guy once sat behind the Duke bench wearing a Duke sweatshirt. Everything indicated he was Duke's. And he waits until the day of Duke's season opener which was on a Friday to pull that SKYPE BS. We all swore it was intentional and that Roy had a hand in it. So to be fair, it works both ways. My main issue with some things I've read from BBN involves the other family members. Don't attack the Mom over it. Geez, and besides, does anyone really believe that he only chose Duke because of the Mother? I just don't believe that. Now in terms of the decision dragging out so long it certainly is a bit odd. Their accusation is that the Duke staff made him do it so Cal wouldn't offer Allen so he would then ultimately lose two players. That's a very big leap in my opinion. Duke wasn't in on Allen so why would they care? and also, why would they want Bolden to push this thing out so long and so close to summer school which is on the horizon soon?
As for Duke. It's an amazing class but what will separate Duke next year will be who is returning. Allen will be a pre-season AA pick, Kennard is back, Amile Jefferson is back, Matt Jones is back, Chase Jeter is back. That's a lot of ACC experience and that gives Duke a significant edge over Kentucky imo. especially if Briscoe doesn't return.
Don't sleep on Kansas either, they're gonna be excellent next year. Duke though should without a doubt start off as the Pre-season # 1 team in the country.
Will 2 of Amile, Bolden, and Jeter ever be on the floor together?
They all lack a reliable jump shot so I am worried about floor spacing. Obviously it would look like a pretty solid defensive unit but I wonder if we get bogged down. Giles looks like he would slot in nicely aside any of them but when he isn't in do we go small with 4 guards/wings or big with essentially 2 centers on the floor together?
They all lack a reliable jump shot so I am worried about floor spacing. Obviously it would look like a pretty solid defensive unit but I wonder if we get bogged down. Giles looks like he would slot in nicely aside any of them but when he isn't in do we go small with 4 guards/wings or big with essentially 2 centers on the floor together?
I would like to see a lineup of Bolden-Giles-DeLaurier-Tatum-Jackson on the floor just because that would amuse me. Let's start them at UNCheat.
In that case they would two bigs on the floor predominantly for rebounding and blocking shots, much like 2010. The difference is if Amile and Bolden were out there, both could certainly look for their own offense. Amile could also run pick-and-roll
I don't have a problem with ripping their guy for the same thing we defend our own guy for, as long as we're honest about the partisanship. If we add to it that "we never do that," or pretend we're being objective, then we're being hypocrites.
Good question about the Barnes reaction. I don't remember its being too, too bad, but how it went down w/ the Skyping and all was the source of some criticism, for sure. I would imagine they might remember it differently at THR, as the Duke fans who went there afterward probably represented the few trolls we have in our fanbase.
I generally don't thing it's good form to rip kids for making a collegiate decision -- and, frankly, I don't really remember Barnes being subjected to that kind of vitriol. While admittedly that may have partly had to do with the fact that Barnes predate the real rise of social media like twitter, I just don't remember Duke fans behaving like UK fans did yesterday. For instance, even I was pretty surprised to even see one UK "reporter" / blogger was out there making jokes about how Bolden still breastfeeds.
Further, notwithstanding what UK fans were saying about Bolden leading them on and hurting their recruiting -- which is a bit preposterous considering that they already 2 commits from 5* bigs in this class, I do think the Barnes situation was a bit unusual b/c he's really one of the few top prospects that really blindsided the Duke program with his decision. Typically, when K fully commits to one kid in a recruiting cycle (i.e., makes him the sole target at a position and stops recruiting others), he doesn't do so arbitrarily. He does so based on, among other things, information that would cause him to think that the kid will ultimately sign with Duke. In Barnes's case, whatever K heard from Barnes clearly gave him the impression that Duke was in great shape to sign him and, for awhile, Barnes had done things that would suggest he was leaning towards Duke -- whether it be visiting Duke more frequently, scheduling Duke for the last in-home, etc. (which became a controversy when Barnes "reneged" on the alleged "promise"). Considering K's 35 yr. trackrecord in recruiting, the fact that K so badly misread Barnes suggests to me that it wasn't just K making a mistake. While I don't think UNC was behind any deception, as Barnes has continued to show in his NBA career, he's a pretty cold, calculating, shrewd, and stoic guy who -- even as a teenager -- basically hides his inner thoughts and feelings behind a pleasant facade. While the Barnes stuff is all water under the bridge at this point, I do think there was some point in the process where Barnes figured out that he could improve his future NBA "brand" (ala his idol Jordan) by playing up a major Duke v. UNC recruiting battle that would get national attention; and, in turn, failed to level with the Duke program after the tide had shifted against us in that recruitment. In other words, unlike most highly-regarded D1 prospects -- who are frankly just indecisive, uncommunicative, and mercurial -- my suspicion is that Barnes did intentionally mislead Duke a bit towards the end of the process for his own advantage.
Further, notwithstanding what UK fans were saying about Bolden leading them on and hurting their recruiting -- which is a bit preposterous considering that they already 2 commits from 5* bigs in this class, I do think the Barnes situation was a bit unusual b/c he's really one of the few top prospects that really blindsided the Duke program with his decision. Typically, when K fully commits to one kid in a recruiting cycle (i.e., makes him the sole target at a position and stops recruiting others), he doesn't do so arbitrarily. He does so based on, among other things, information that would cause him to think that the kid will ultimately sign with Duke. In Barnes's case, whatever K heard from Barnes clearly gave him the impression that Duke was in great shape to sign him and, for awhile, Barnes had done things that would suggest he was leaning towards Duke -- whether it be visiting Duke more frequently, scheduling Duke for the last in-home, etc. (which became a controversy when Barnes "reneged" on the alleged "promise"). Considering K's 35 yr. trackrecord in recruiting, the fact that K so badly misread Barnes suggests to me that it wasn't just K making a mistake. While I don't think UNC was behind any deception, as Barnes has continued to show in his NBA career, he's a pretty cold, calculating, shrewd, and stoic guy who -- even as a teenager -- basically hides his inner thoughts and feelings behind a pleasant facade. While the Barnes stuff is all water under the bridge at this point, I do think there was some point in the process where Barnes figured out that he could improve his future NBA "brand" (ala his idol Jordan) by playing up a major Duke v. UNC recruiting battle that would get national attention; and, in turn, failed to level with the Duke program after the tide had shifted against us in that recruitment. In other words, unlike most highly-regarded D1 prospects -- who are frankly just indecisive, uncommunicative, and mercurial -- my suspicion is that Barnes did intentionally mislead Duke a bit towards the end of the process for his own advantage.
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Duke was not a great rebounding team in 2002. But Duke wasn't terrible, either. Duke was +1.1 rpg in 2001, +1.0 in 2002. Boozer averaged 8.7 rpg in 2002, Dunleavy averaged 7.2 (That was what Mark Alarie averaged in his best season).
Everyone seems to remember the second Duke-Maryland game, won by Maryland 87-73. Maryland outrebounded Duke 47-44, while Dunleavy had 15 points and 12 rebounds. Chris Wilcox had 23 points and 11 rebounds. So, advantage Wilcox but Jr. had his moments.
But few seem to remember the earlier match, the one in Cameron, the one Duke won 99-78. Maryland outrebounded Duke 43-33 this time but Duke found more than a few ways to compensate. Dunleavy had 21 and 9. Wilcox scored 14.
So, Duke outscored Maryland by seven in the combined games. I absolutely think Duke could have prevailed in a rubber match, in the Final Four.
Alas, it never happened. The IU loss is one of the most perplexing and disappointing in K's tenure, IMO. There's no way to spin this other than a Duke team losing in the Sweet Sixteen to a lesser-talented team that simply outworked Duke. IU consistently outmuscled Duke for rebounds, out-hustled Duke for loose balls.
Grrr.
2011? Duke had to play Irving. Just had to. He was the number one pick in the draft for crying out loud, he was healthy and it all meshed in the first two games of the NCAAs.
Who knew Nolan would unravel against Arizona? Duke just had to take that chance. IMO.
I actually attended that 99-78 game. Could we have beaten Maryland? Absolutely. Do I think we were better than Maryland? Eh. It was pretty close. I think Maryland was a better overall team that year; whereas we were the flashier team with better headliner talent. As we saw against IU, I think the biggest problem with that Duke team was it just didn't have the grit / scrappiness that the previous year's team had -- and that showed in close games. After non-conference, I think we were an atrocious 0-4 in games decided by less than 5 points -- but nonetheless managed to finish with only 4 losses because, on nights we played well, we could pretty much run any team out of the building. In the end of the day, I think that was really the difference. In close games in 00-01, guys like Battier and James would make a key tip-in, block a shot, snag a key rebound, etc. that could win a game -- whereas in 01-02, we didn't really have anyone who would make the key dirty work plays that make the difference between winning and losing. While every championship team needs elite talent, you do also need some guys who are willing and ready to scrap it up when things get tight -- and I just don't think that 01-02 team had that.
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Jim people remember the second Duke Maryland game because it was near the end of the regular season. Maryland was trending upward in winning the regular season while Duke was not. I knew that Duke team had issues when they had Virginia blown out in Charlottesville and then lost the game in what was a stunning collapse to UVA. (Shades of Indiana!). Yes I know Duke won the ACC Tourney. Because Maryland choked as they usually did in that event but who won it all and who didn't? And who beat UCONN, Kentucky and Kansas to win it all?
Why should someone's draft stock matter as to whether they should play or not? It was March and the kid had not played since December. I'm sure you are aware that there are those who believed Kyries return threw the established chemistry off. For whatever reason Nolan was bad in that Arizona game.
Why should someone's draft stock matter as to whether they should play or not? It was March and the kid had not played since December. I'm sure you are aware that there are those who believed Kyries return threw the established chemistry off. For whatever reason Nolan was bad in that Arizona game.
Irving's draft stock indicates that he was an elite talent and you just cannot leave an elite talent on the bench.
Arizona wasn't his first game back. He had a couple of tune-ups.
I'm not sure Duke beats Michigan in the round of 32 without Irving. Imagine Duke sitting out Irving and losing that game. We'd be second-guessing K to the Oort Cloud and back.
There was absolutely no chance that Duke was going to hold out Irving once he got healthy.
It could have been a chemistry issue. Or perhaps Nolan just picked a bad night to have the worst game of his career.
But hindsight, 20/20 and all that. Go back to March 2011 and I don't think we would find many people advocating keeping Irving out. Playing him was the right call. IMO.
Arizona wasn't his first game back. He had a couple of tune-ups.
I'm not sure Duke beats Michigan in the round of 32 without Irving. Imagine Duke sitting out Irving and losing that game. We'd be second-guessing K to the Oort Cloud and back.
There was absolutely no chance that Duke was going to hold out Irving once he got healthy.
It could have been a chemistry issue. Or perhaps Nolan just picked a bad night to have the worst game of his career.
But hindsight, 20/20 and all that. Go back to March 2011 and I don't think we would find many people advocating keeping Irving out. Playing him was the right call. IMO.