'All he needed was the opportunity': Freshman Mark Williams carving out key role for Blue Devils.
The Emergence of Mark Williams
- Thread starter LeaderofDaPack
- Start date
It was great to see him play well over the weekend, and I really think if he can continue to improve it will be a key to this team's success. I just think, like many other teams across the country, that Duke really missed having a dozen pre-conference games for our freshman to get used to the speed and physicality of D1 college basketball. I think (hope) we will see continued improvement from all our freshman as the season goes on.
He should've been playing more.
I love K but I sometimes just cannot comprehend his minutes distribution.
Like with Robinson last year. Did he suddenly just figure out how to play? Hell no, you could tell he could play in the limited minutes he got before then. My friends and I discussed it often. He should've been playing more.
I love K but I sometimes just cannot comprehend his minutes distribution.
Like with Robinson last year. Did he suddenly just figure out how to play? Hell no, you could tell he could play in the limited minutes he got before then. My friends and I discussed it often. He should've been playing more.
You want more PT, you gotta bring it in practice. Standard operating procedure under K.
Lets see if it's more than a one game thing before we put him up there with the great ones...baker had a good game once too
Not to defend Coach K, because he doesn't need me to defend him, but Williams is still very green and I'm sure K doesn't want to put too much pressure on him. Lots of freshmen have been brought along slowly until halfway through the season: Grayson and Elliot Williams come to mind.
Williams does have a little edge to him which I like… I think that as his confidence continues to grow & when he realizes he can play on this level without getting in foul trouble he’s going to become an important piece… I like him around the rim.....he’s not hesitant.
Him and Banchero should give us a strong frontline next year (assuming Hurt leaves)
the emergence was going well, not sure why we saw a disappearance in the second half today
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Even with his limitations in strength and physicality and footwork, he had a stretch of great shot blocking. If he keeps progressing and K develops him and gives him PT, he could really become a force by the time he is a junior.
the trouble is K is bringing in high profile freshmen next year, sure to garner 30-35 mpg. While Williams gets 5 minute, if the patterns if past years are an indication.
(People want to defend K on minutes by some theory about practice, but that is not the story and further should not preclude getting at least a healthy 10 mpg. It has been a recurring pattern where bench player X as a good game or two, then is inserted the next game, makes a mistake or two, and sits on the bench the rest of the way. And the next game it’s two minutes of garbage time if he’s lucky.). Don’t get me wrong, I love Coach K and think he’s a great human being and became increasingly passionate about Duke because of his teams in the early 80s. But this is an area where I think he has some flaws and it’s pretty demonstrable overtime. But particularly so over the past two decades. There were many teams in the 80s and 90s where eight or nine players averaged 10 minutes or more a game. The bench got a lot shorter in the 2000s.
the trouble is K is bringing in high profile freshmen next year, sure to garner 30-35 mpg. While Williams gets 5 minute, if the patterns if past years are an indication.
(People want to defend K on minutes by some theory about practice, but that is not the story and further should not preclude getting at least a healthy 10 mpg. It has been a recurring pattern where bench player X as a good game or two, then is inserted the next game, makes a mistake or two, and sits on the bench the rest of the way. And the next game it’s two minutes of garbage time if he’s lucky.). Don’t get me wrong, I love Coach K and think he’s a great human being and became increasingly passionate about Duke because of his teams in the early 80s. But this is an area where I think he has some flaws and it’s pretty demonstrable overtime. But particularly so over the past two decades. There were many teams in the 80s and 90s where eight or nine players averaged 10 minutes or more a game. The bench got a lot shorter in the 2000s.
If he leaves I might have to give up on college hoops for a while