“All That Talent . . .

[Random UK Fan]

and no championship.” Has that argument been mothballed by opposing fans? Is it passé now that it no longer applies to just UK? Is there such a thing as being “The King of OAD Recruiting”? If so, does any head coach want that title? What’s old is new again . . . the era of upperclassmen.

Welcome to the topsy turvey world of the OAD, Duke fans. No dig.

 

[AWilli6995]

1 Duke fan doesn't think so but he's a little misguided.

 

[Mtterrell]

With 3 (maybe 4) first round picks in your starting 5 you should never lose. Duke looked worn out the last few games. Seems like a lot of their freshmen hit the wall. Scoring was still there, but they looked a few steps behind defensively.

 

[Random UK Fan]

1 Duke fan doesn't think so but he's a little misguided.

Any hints?

 

[AWilli6995]

Any hints?

You know who it is, he has a slight obsession with UNC.

 

[Afamu]

With 3 (maybe 4) first round picks in your starting 5 you should never lose. Duke looked worn out the last few games. Seems like a lot of their freshmen hit the wall. Scoring was still there, but they looked a few steps behind defensively.

Says who?

 

[Random UK Fan]

You know who it is, he has a slight obsession with UNC.

 

[IUfanBorden]

Duke, for the talent they had, had a fatal flaw: Shooting. When hitting three's at high rate----they were unbeatable. When hitting at a decent clip---damn near unbeatable. Shooting it meh? Beatable. On a night where nothing fell? Very beatable.

As for Cal and "K" having all this talent, and not winning titles, being a mark on their coaching? Naaaaah. Its hard to get a FF....Much less winning the damn thing. Had Duke came out today, hit 14 three's, and ran MSU off the floor? We would be talking about how great "K" is, and how he coached this team to the FF. That's somewhat true---But not completely true. When shots fall, coaches look really, really good. Look at UK today vs Auburn. Herro was a no show. If he plays at the level he is capable of---UK probably wins. That's the beast of this tournament....There is no next day. Next week. You have an off game----You can lose. Especially in the Elite 8. Its not like these coaches are losing to scrub teams. Auburn is very good. So is MSU. I mean MSU was picked by quite a few to win the damn thing.

Anyways......Both probably get the label of "losing" with all this talent. Which I think is silly. Now, if these dudes were coming back as Soph's and Juniors, and they were falling short---Ok. But we are talking about teams led predominantly by freshman.

BTW---- I'll take their "failures" down here in Bloomington.

 

[LetsGoDuke301]

With 3 (maybe 4) first round picks in your starting 5 you should never lose. Duke looked worn out the last few games. Seems like a lot of their freshmen hit the wall. Scoring was still there, but they looked a few steps behind defensively.

Duke had 4 really good players. One or two incredible players. No bench scoring, poor FT shooting team and a streaky but bad 3 point shooting team. They battled through their faults fairly well, but in the tournament it only takes one game for one or more of those things to bite you.

Winning the championship is a hard thing to do even with talent. You should never lose is a pretty uneducated thing to say when only one team finishes the year with a win.

 

[IUfanBorden]

Duke had 4 really good players. One or two incredible players. No bench scoring, poor FT shooting team and a streaky but bad 3 point shooting team. They battled through their faults fairly well, but in the tournament it only takes one game for one or more of those things to bite you.

Winning the championship is a hard thing to do even with talent. You should never lose is a pretty uneducated thing to say when only one team finishes the year with a win.

Yeah, this....Zion covered up a lot of Duke flaws. People got caught up in that, "perfect storm game"----beating UK by 34. That game showed what Duke could do, when shooting three's at a high rate. It was "fools gold". Still, even with those issues, Duke was still a very capable title team. THing is----So is MSU. MOF, with Langford, I think they would have been a 1 seed, and this game doesn't happen until next week.

 

[Spacegrass]

Flame away OP I won't stop ya.

 

[jhmossy]

Duke only has 2 Final Fours since 2004. Granted, both of those led to championships. But I was surprised that it's only 2 Final Fours.

 

[Noahtogo24]

I'm not greedy, I would take an elite eight in a sec ...

 

[LetsGoDuke301]

Duke only has 2 Final Fours since 2004. Granted, both of those led to championships. But I was surprised that it's only 2 Final Fours.

Yeah. There is no denying that outside of those two championships, Duke really hasn't had that much postseason success over the past 15 years. They have also had some pretty embarrassing failures in that time period. The OAD era has led to more hype than success and that hasn't helped.

Another POV is depending on how you judge success, you could argue that two championships in that time period trumps the failures.

I am somewhere in the middle.

 

[Random UK Fan]

Yeah. There is no denying that outside of those two championships, Duke really hasn't had that much postseason success over the past 15 years. They have also had some pretty embarrassing failures in that time period. The OAD era has led to more hype than success and that hasn't helped.

Another POV is depending on how you judge success, you could argue that two championships in that time period trumps the failures.

I am somewhere in the middle.

Yeah, it gets tiresome. It was exciting at first, but color me a little over the team full of OADs. I think the right ratio is having one or two OADs mixed with juniors and seniors.

 

[Noahtogo24]

Yeah, it gets tiresome. It was exciting at first, but color me a little over the team full of OADs. I think the right ratio is having one or two OADs mixed with juniors and seniors.

The difficult thing- transfers- if a kid is not a star or key player after his first or second season, good chance someone transfers out- however, grad transfers have helped as well- any recent teams with a grad transfer who helped win a natty??

 

[coryfly]

Yeah, it gets tiresome. It was exciting at first, but color me a little over the team full of OADs. I think the right ratio is having one or two OADs mixed with juniors and seniors.

I agree, though that is basically what UNC had this year and even if they wouldn't have fallen ill would have lost to Auburn. Sometimes a team just gets hot and plays well in a tournament like this.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind bagging on Duke when they are preseason #1 three straight years and the Heels win a title in one of those years. However, I'm not sure there is one recipe. The tournament takes talent, coaching, experience, etc... but it also takes a lot of luck most years.

 

[Noahtogo24]

Crazy to think all the final four teams, ALL, could have easily lost their elite eight game- it takes some luck obviously as well to win a Natty..

 

[Blue_White_KY]

I am so over the 1 and done. Completely over it. Have been for the last 4 years. If it meant losing Calipari to end the OAD then I would be ok with that. I don’t think Cal is going to win another title at UK. When he was hired, we (UK fans) all thought he was going to win.... more than the 1. He has just come up short, constantly.

The players come through, have their 1 season, move on to make millions while the fan base and program basically get nothing. Hang final four banner, it’s somewhat easier to swallow. Hang a title banner and then by all means, whole damn team should go make their millions. Seems like a fair deal. But that deal has only happened once. We, the fans and the school have come out with the short end of the stick way to often with this deal.

I’d take a title every 9-12 years with a final four or two thrown in there than the current Calipari has had. 1 title and a few final fours and 3-4 other Elite 8’s. Titles Trump it all.

 

[Quavarius]

Duke only has 2 Final Fours since 2004. Granted, both of those led to championships. But I was surprised that it's only 2 Final Fours.

That whole “NCAA sets Duke up” conspiracy is dead, huh?

 

[coryfly]

Duke only has 2 Final Fours since 2004. Granted, both of those led to championships. But I was surprised that it's only 2 Final Fours.

That whole “NCAA sets Duke up” conspiracy is dead, huh?

Not that I subscribe to that (I do not) but how would their performance prove whether or not they were ‘set up’.

 

[Big_Blue79]

Duke, for the talent they had, had a fatal flaw: Shooting. When hitting three's at high rate----they were unbeatable. When hitting at a decent clip---damn near unbeatable. Shooting it meh? Beatable. On a night where nothing fell? Very beatable.

As for Cal and "K" having all this talent, and not winning titles, being a mark on their coaching? Naaaaah. Its hard to get a FF....Much less winning the damn thing. Had Duke came out today, hit 14 three's, and ran MSU off the floor? We would be talking about how great "K" is, and how he coached this team to the FF. That's somewhat true---But not completely true. When shots fall, coaches look really, really good. Look at UK today vs Auburn. Herro was a no show. If he plays at the level he is capable of---UK probably wins. That's the beast of this tournament....There is no next day. Next week. You have an off game----You can lose. Especially in the Elite 8. Its not like these coaches are losing to scrub teams. Auburn is very good. So is MSU. I mean MSU was picked by quite a few to win the damn thing.

Anyways......Both probably get the label of "losing" with all this talent. Which I think is silly. Now, if these dudes were coming back as Soph's and Juniors, and they were falling short---Ok. But we are talking about teams led predominantly by freshman.

BTW---- I'll take their "failures" down here in Bloomington.

Great post.

 

[oldsports_]

Or 3 since 01.................
. 3 titles too!

 

[ThePhog08]

Duke had 4 really good players. One or two incredible players. No bench scoring, poor FT shooting team and a streaky but bad 3 point shooting team. They battled through their faults fairly well, but in the tournament it only takes one game for one or more of those things to bite you.

Winning the championship is a hard thing to do even with talent. You should never lose is a pretty uneducated thing to say when only one team finishes the year with a win.

You must be including DeLaurier because Jones was a flat out bust.

 

[sound slave]

I am so over the 1 and done. Completely over it. Have been for the last 4 years. If it meant losing Calipari to end the OAD then I would be ok with that. .

Coach Cal would be OK w/o one and done. He'd still be in on the top available talent which would keep Kentucky running.

 

[LetsGoDuke301]

You must be including DeLaurier because Jones was a flat out bust.

Well, I have a hard time calling him a bust. His defense alone is enough to consider him a good player. I also don't know if he was every really touted highly enough to be called a bust. But if you want to call it like that, go right ahead.

 

[RR30]

Duke had a generational player, another really good player and fvck all after that. Tre Jones was a disappointment. He was an absolute liability on offense. Reddish was a complete bust. Some poor GM will be fired for picking him in the top 5 too. Javin is a decent depth guy. Bolden has sucked for 3 years.
K screwed up by not recruiting better bench guys. Especially ones that could shoot.

 

[AWilli6995]

I can’t remember a Duke team that sucked behind the 3 pt line and FT’s. K has always been one that will play his starters 35-38 min a game and when tournament time rolls around it all catches up to them. Reddish is disappointment but he will get drafted high just because his ceiling is high I do like Tre Jones as a pro. He’s an elite defender right now and in time I think he will be a good shooter

 

[ExitFlagger]

Coach Cal would be OK w/o one and done. He'd still be in on the top available talent which would keep Kentucky running.

But (and I’m not saying this to troll Kentucky fans), but when has he had great success without at least one superstar that can offensively carry the team?

 

[502cats]

With 3 (maybe 4) first round picks in your starting 5 you should never lose. Duke looked worn out the last few games. Seems like a lot of their freshmen hit the wall. Scoring was still there, but they looked a few steps behind defensively.

Not only first round draft picks but 3 draft picks in the top 10 or even 5.

 

[502cats]

But (and I’m not saying this to troll Kentucky fans), but when has he had great success without at least one superstar that can offensively carry the team?

What other coach can you say that about?

 

[ThePhog08]

Well, I have a hard time calling him a bust. His defense alone is enough to consider him a good player. I also don't know if he was every really touted highly enough to be called a bust. But if you want to call it like that, go right ahead.

He was at one point Rivals #9 overall player projected 1rst round pick. Ranked higher out of HS with every service higher than Devon Dotson, Coby White, Ashton Hagans , Darius Garland... and all of them are better. Dude was not good

 

[LetsGoDuke301]

He was at one point Rivals #9 overall player projected 1rst round pick. Ranked higher out of HS with every service higher than Devon Dotson, Coby White, Ashton Hagans , Darius Garland... and all of them are better. Dude was not good

#9 overall? Not calling you a liar, just surprised by that. It's whatever. He stopped by for a year, maybe Duke can find a PG that plays defense and scores on offense to stop by next year.

 

[ThePhog08]

#9 overall? Not calling you a liar, just surprised by that. It's whatever. He stopped by for a year, maybe Duke can find a PG that plays defense and scores on offense to stop by next year.

Before the last update rivals had him at 9.

 

[RR30]

#9 overall? Not calling you a liar, just surprised by that. It's whatever. He stopped by for a year, maybe Duke can find a PG that plays defense and scores on offense to stop by next year.

Was probably overrated due to family pedigree. I thought he looked like shit when I saw him before the year, he looked real good early then completely fell apart late for you guys offensively. The point guard class was just complete shit. According to the composite the rankings were-
1. Hagans (LOL)
2. Garland
3. Jones
4. Dotson
5. Quickley

That's awful. Garland was a stud but he got hurt early so meh. 6-10 on that list (Nembhard, Quinerly, Williams, Lewis, Ramey) were much better overall.

 

[ThePhog08]

Was probably overrated due to family pedigree. I thought he looked like shit when I saw him before the year, he looked real good early then completely fell apart late for you guys offensively. The point guard class was just complete shit. According to the composite the rankings were-
1. Hagans (LOL)
2. Garland
3. Jones
4. Dotson
5. Quickley

That's awful. Garland was a stud but he got hurt early so meh. 6-10 on that list (Nembhard, Quinerly, Williams, Lewis, Ramey) were much better overall.

Dotson was a stud

 

[Noahtogo24]

Is Quickley going to start next year? Local kid here from Maryland...

 

[coryfly]

Dang, White wasn’t even too 10.

 

[LetsGoDuke301]

Dang, White wasn’t even too 10.

Kids get overlooked. He would have been great for Duke this year. I saw where Little has already declared, is it assumed that White will as well?

 

[Mac9192]

Duke had a generational player, another really good player and fvck all after that. Tre Jones was a disappointment. He was an absolute liability on offense. Reddish was a complete bust. Some poor GM will be fired for picking him in the top 5 too. Javin is a decent depth guy. Bolden has sucked for 3 years.
K screwed up by not recruiting better bench guys. Especially ones that could shoot.

Tell us how you really feel. As a Duke fan I agree with what you said, but our best shooter, O'Connell, I don't think he got on the court enough. Not sure what Baker can do. He burned his redshirt to say he burned his redshirt.