I would guarantee him a starting gig if I were Jon even over the two 5 stars. You know what you're getting with this guy as opposed to a question mark with incoming freshman.
Transfer Portal
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I would guarantee him a starting gig if I were Jon even over the two 5 stars. You know what you're getting with this guy as opposed to a question mark with incoming freshman.
Yeah I’m not sure what to expect from Khaman and Ngongba needs a ton of conditioning but this is one of those guys you can have in the paint while your guards over pressure the crap out of the other team on the perimeter. Doesn’t seem to foul a lot relative to his stats. You couldn’t switch 1-5 with him out there it looks like which Duke loves to do and his conditioning/mpg in the CAA isn’t great but he plays really hard. Sadly he would have been the perfect counter to someone like DJ Burns
Duke Iron program and Mr William Stephens... get him to where he needs to be. GET ALLof them where they need to be. Big physical guards who make plays and defends... Height helps but physicality can be unguarded, and a blanket on the defensive side.
College basketball seems to have gotten a lot more physical, and like it or not the refs are allowing it. Guys like Banchero, Keels, Winslow, Okafor, AJ were big bodies. Even Marshall Plumlee was a huge body you could put on people.
No way this happens. Khaman is absolutely starting. If Duke brings in a veteran big, he is going to be a role player which is why Duke tends to not do well in the portal. That and their parameters around transferring credits.
Other than a good point guard, Duke has got to have a couple veteran guys that can play. Just being ok won’t cut it. No one like Ryan Young, and I like him.
I also don’t want Mark Mitchell anymore. I want Stewart, and hope he works on his game. His upside is much higher than Mitchell’s.
Anything other than that, we might get to the Elite 8, if we’re lucky.
I also don’t want Mark Mitchell anymore. I want Stewart, and hope he works on his game. His upside is much higher than Mitchell’s.
Anything other than that, we might get to the Elite 8, if we’re lucky.
I'm sure this is correct, but until Jon fixes this mindset Duke gets bounced by older and more physical teams.
Did y’all see ballo in the portal? That’s who we need . He’ll toughen up malauch
No question it wasn't a fluke that our most recent final four team had big bodies on the team, even if they were young. We played two physical teams on the way to the final four and handled the physicality with our size. That's why I'm not sold going with a young lineup next year and why we need Mitchell, with a fixed shot of course.
Unless we get more guys back than we think we need to get 2 portal guys who are physical and can play. Otherwise it's round of 32/sweet 16/elite eight and Cooper's off to the draft. Seems like we're always good but not quite good enough. The last 9 years we have had good teams, but not dominant teams so there is little room for error. Teams can load up with vets through the portal. If you get the best guys, but only get them the first 1-2 years are they really the best guys? Nothing wrong with young talented teams but you need balance. The Banchero team came close with Williams, Roach and Moore. That team should have won it all. You need guys who are not going to shrink from the big moment. Sometimes I wonder if some of our OADs are more concerned with playing time/draft status than winning.
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It's been obvious to me since the one and done era started that we will never know what we have until the season progresses. Yet, we are always relevant and "in the mix". I like being the only school that always has a chance to win it every single year. That is a tribute to our coaching staff with Coach K and now with Coach S. Kentucky and UCLA, which have the most illustrious histories in college basketball, seem to have disappeared from the top level in recent years while Duke has sustained its success.
Until now, there has not been one school that has dominated every year for the past 10 years or so. Let's see if Hurley can sustain this level of success. If not, UCon goes back to the group of teams that are "in the mix".
Until now, there has not been one school that has dominated every year for the past 10 years or so. Let's see if Hurley can sustain this level of success. If not, UCon goes back to the group of teams that are "in the mix".
I get what everyone is saying but the players like Ballo and the Drexel transfer aren’t going to a school to come off the bench . Duke can either recruit one to two OAD’s and play the portal or go for the best available talent in high school . They aren’t getting both .
Agree. What we can hope for though is a couple of the kids coming in are on more than a one year plan at Duke. There's nothing wrong with getting Flaag or Maluach. I don't think many coaches would turn them down. But multiple guys need to stick around. The portal is made harder when we have six high rated kids coming in, and we all know that come January/February, only 7-8 guys will see meaningful minutes.
The catch in all this is the kids that do come back need to play a fair amount during the season. Let's say Foster, Stewart, and Power return. Just how confident are we in them? We're fairly confident in Foster, but it's more hope/prayer on the other two than evidence.
Cannot shoot… That’s just the bottom line on him as a player. Think about all the 4-men that Duke has been blessed with and their great shooting that made them a big matchup problem. Battier, Singler, Tatum, Winslow, Parker, Hill, etc. etc.
Tricky when you have players that the other teams can completely sag off from.
I wish him the best truly.
But you won’t convince me this isnt a positive…
Between Dad, whatever was going on behind the scenes, and his inability to shoot even a little leaving us Five vs. Four….you can’t play that way in todays landscape.
But you won’t convince me this isnt a positive…
Between Dad, whatever was going on behind the scenes, and his inability to shoot even a little leaving us Five vs. Four….you can’t play that way in todays landscape.
You need more than Stewart I would think. I can see him having to play some 5 if Ngongba is not 100%. Hopefully he has a healthy summer and gets back up to speed. But still that is two freshmen handling the 5. I guess they could go with a small lineup with Flagg at the 4, I would prefer he play at the SF spot though personally.
If Stewart stays, I think he will start at the 4. He came off the bench this season, and I don't think he comes back to do that again. I also think we get at least one player from the portal, my guess is someone who can really help.
I’d love to get Tobe Awaka from Tennessee who just entered the portal, but apparently, St John’s is offering him a massive NIL deal. That dude is tough as they get and can play PF or Center.
If we keep Proctor, Foster, Stewart, Blakes, and Power, that's 11 guys. Schutt could stay, as well. Not sure there's an enormous need for a transfer, to be honest.
You really only play 8 guys significant minutes. A quality backup ballhandler would be nice. An insurance big, perhaps. But, you can't expect a high-level big to transfer here when he has to compete with two 5-stars - and Stewart can steal minutes at the 5, as well.
Starters
Proctor
Foster
Flagg
Stewart
Maluach
Bench
Guard- Blakes
Wings- Evans (possible starter), Harris, Knueppel
Forward- Power
Big- Ngongba
You really only play 8 guys significant minutes. A quality backup ballhandler would be nice. An insurance big, perhaps. But, you can't expect a high-level big to transfer here when he has to compete with two 5-stars - and Stewart can steal minutes at the 5, as well.
Starters
Proctor
Foster
Flagg
Stewart
Maluach
Bench
Guard- Blakes
Wings- Evans (possible starter), Harris, Knueppel
Forward- Power
Big- Ngongba
I prefer another guard out of the portal for Blakes. For me, he's like Mitchell out there. Plays hard with good defense but teams can just lag off him because he has no outside shot. Made a couple of bone head plays as a junior last year. I just haven't seen enough of improvement through the years.
Every time he touched the ball I thought the world was gonna end
Winslow was not a shooter. He was tough. Mitchell wants to start at the 3/SF. Flagg changed those plans.
Duke has tooooo many scoring options at the SF spot next year . You start moving Evan, Harris or Knup to the two and that is a tall line up . If Mitchell wanted to play the SF which he does don’t think he starts there over Flagg .
They are looking at them again. Whether they come to Duke is another story .
Not surprised at all. It's not 100% that Stewart stays, even though I think he does. But, both weren't going to be on next season's team.
He posted year 1
with plenty of Duke pics. He’s staying. You don’t post that if you’re leaving. He’s 100% stayingWinslow shot 41% from three, teams didn’t leave him alone on the perimeter and dare him. Whether Mitchell wants to start the 1, 2 3 or 4, he cannot shoot!!
Yeah not sure why jam said he couldn’t shoot. I remember he was a good shooter.
Coaches literally said they’d prefer to sag off Mitchell numerous times. Nobody ever sagged off of Winslow!
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Winslow was a fine shooter at Duke. Wish we had more like him