Revisiting Sky's hypothetical question

BuckinElkin!!

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Just for fun again, about 2 months later.

Of all of Dukes freshman this past season, if we could have one and only one back for 2016 to pair with the current remaining roster, who would you choose?

Two months ago I said Tyus.

I still say Tyus.....
 

chov1125

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Oct 15, 2008
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I am not sure if this was the exact thread, but I said Justise would be our most important player by season's end. I strongly believe we could make a case for any of the Okafor/Winslow/Jones trio. Okafor was an all-american and the stats sheets only begin to tell the story as he made everyone else better by opening up wide open looks for his teamates. Tyus ran the offense and was our most clutch player. Justise was the do-it-all guy that was our best defender, possibly best rebounder and most electric guy in the open court. Justise is the player who progressed the most throughout the year and his shot, which was average at best early in the year, became consistently reliable down the stretch.

Next year, when examining our, roster, the first thing that alarms us as fans is the lack of a true 1. However we also don't really know what our team may need next year because the roster is going to look much different. Maybe going into the tournament we are going to wish we had the back to the basket all american post player or maybe we are going to wish we had the do it all stat filler who could protect the rim and make defenders look like high schoolers in the open court. It is a very difficult hypothetical at this point because not only are we not done on the recruiting trail, but we also will have a ton of new faces who may or may not be contributors as frosh. I am happy saying that each of the 3 likely departing frosh all brought something special to the program and I am going to miss them all equally.
 

dbav

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I previously said Tyus and I'm probably still leaning that way, but Justise is starting to catch up in my opinion. He has such a unique skill set and was tremendously important in the final stages of the season and the tournament.

Tyus is my favorite player of the freshmen, but Justise has that athleticism and skillset that most cannot match.
 

chov1125

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Originally posted by 2 skerz 3:
Jah and it's not close imo!
Take away Tyus and Justise and I do not think we have our 5th championship. To me, in the very least, that makes it close!
 

skysdad

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At the time I said Tyus would be more important to next years team than any of this years freshman. OFC
 

aah555

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I don't really get the insistence on relitigating this issue over and over again. We clearly don't win the title without all of them contributing in the manner they did. Moving forward, obviously Jah and, to a lesser extent, Winslow are the most irreplaceable b/c their contributions are so unique at the college level --- with Jah being one of the only people in modern college bball who can consistently demand doubles and Winslow b/c of his versatility as a defender and explosiveness in transition / clutch shot making (no individual player was more important to our emergence as a strong defensive squad than Justise). Tyus is definitely one of the most clutch players I've ever seen in a Duke uniform, but the difference between him and a lot of great duke guards is not as great as the difference between Okafor / Winslow and the typical Duke players at those positions. We're all hoping Tyus returns b/c he's the only one who's even remotely even giving a a second of thought to staying, but my guess is the difference between Tyus and Thornton / Grayson Allen, for instance, is not as great as the difference will be between Okafor and Marshall Plumlee / Chase Jeter.
 

LetsGoDuke301

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To be honest, without 1 of the 4 freshman, Duke doesn't win the championship.

But as far as the question. Tyus.
 

gottagonow

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Tyus is great but the big ones like Jah only come along every few years so I'll say Jah all day.