Totally agree. I feel that K has softened over the last 5 years or so. He allows things that he wouldn't have allowed back in the day. IMO he has softened to try and land more 1 and done types. If you get a chance to listen to Jay Williams talk about how K talked to him when he was a player, I have a hard time seeing K talking to Tatum or other freshmen these days that same way. Is it because he knows they won't be around very long? Who knows. But things have changed.
I don't really feel K has softened. He's changed, but to change isn't a bad thing. What I mean by that is sometimes you adapt to changing landscapes. College basketball, and basketball, in general, has changed. Players and kids have changed, too. I'm 39 years old. My parenting techniques are different than the one's my parents used on me. In the grand scheme of things, they're a lot alike and the aim is ultimately the same, but it's approached in a different manner.
My wife and I have talked a lot about this recently. I can't imagine Cal or Izzo or Tony Bennett putting up with hero ball. I honestly don't think they ever would have pushed for someone like Tatum, his ball-stopping tendencies were very well known.
Our 2015 team must have been a dream to coach because it didn't need much more than tweaks...
Cal recruited Jayson. Michigan St. and Virginia recruit more regionally....on top of that, from age 15 Jayson was considered a strong Duke lean. UK was probably the only of three who would 'waste' resources (or could afford to) to see if they could steer Jayson to their camp.
The 2015 season wasn't a 'dream' for K. It ended well and ultimately that's the goal, but it wasn't without its difficulties. It took quite a bit to reach the pinnacle.
Let's start with Quinn Cook....following 2014 many posters here wanted him gone, and even internally there were discussions about where Duke went from a disappointing season. It took him having multiple 'coming to Jesus' meetings with the staff to get back into their good graces. Thankfully, he stepped up and turned himself into one of the best leaders we've ever seen at Duke.
Then, fast forward to just prior to Christmas break. A roster with only 10 scholarship players, already a challenge, became less when Semi Ojeleye made the decision to transfer. Now we had nine scholarship players.
Conference plays starts. We get out of the gate at 2-0, then proceed to be blown out in Raleigh and get our tails kicked in by Miami
at home. Suddenly we're 2-2, damaged goods and can't defend our own shadow. We recover against Louisville for a huge win that was defined as season-changing. But that was hardly the truth.
After a convincing win over Pittsburgh, we go to MSG to play St. John's as K went for win number 1,000. We play like garbage for about 30 minutes, turn things around just in time and leave with a big win....a win that some saw was again redefining. Everything is ok now.
Wait, no, it's not. Then, in South Bend vs. Notre Dame happened. Jerian Grant slices us up for something like 25 and 12, we make 50% of our free throws as a team (missing three front end's in the second half), Jahlil goes 2-for-7 at the line and there's a team dust up in the locker room that we'd come to learn of the following day.
The following day....Rasheed Sulaimon is dismissed from the team. For the fist time in 36 years at Duke, Coach K dismisses a player. The shock is heard nationally and the reaction on this very board was, well, devastating to say the least. Now Duke is down to eight scholarship players with a full two months to play.
But now it gets better, right? Nope. A day after Rasheed is dismissed, in fact, hours after he's dismissed, we come to learn about some potential sexual assault accusations being thrown out there by the Duke Chronicle. This causes local and national media to go after K saying he dismissed Rasheed because this was about to be leaked out and he did it to save face.
So, pardon me, if I don't feel that 2015 was a peach or even a 'dream' for Coach K. You're basing that off one thing and one thing only....we won the national championship. Yes, I understand that's the ultimate goal, but a lot of sh*t happened for that team to reach those heights.....and at every turn mentioned above, posters here were never saying this was a dream, and I can sure as hell assure you the staff wasn't, either.
Now, what that team did was band together. Two days after Rasheed was dismissed we went into Charlottesville to take on the second-ranked, 19-0 Cavaliers with the mantra that "eight was enough." Somehow, despite it looking doubtful going in, we played one of the more inspired games I've ever ---
EVER!!! --- seen a Duke team play. We trailed most of the night and then Tyus went Stones on the bit and it was over.
I'm not suggesting this team is going to do anything like that. Hell, I'd predict something a lot different right now and it wouldn't make me sound very positive, but I gave the 2015 team very little chance that night in Virginia, and overall, my mood for the season wasn't rosy, either. I wasn't the only one.
Just remember....almost everything in that timeline above was happening right now, at this point in the season, in January. Bottom line....in January of 2015 it was the furthest thing from a 'dream' it could possibly be.
Maybe us fans should get benched too.
