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For those craving some college basketball in early August

I get all the ACC games via various channels. The "ACC Network" is covered in my area by two TV stations, one in Bowling Green and one in Nashville. It is just like the old SEC Network with affiliated stations.
Only a digital version of the network is out. There isn’t an actual ACC Network “channel” yet.
 
He's probably talking about the current ACC Network that is owned and operated by Raycom, not the one ESPN is launching.
The old SEC Network and the current ACC Network operate just like CBS, Fox, NBC and ABC have operated for the last 65 years. One central feed and affiliate stations carrying the programming.

The SEC Network is a cable/sat channel and is a "network" in name only.
 
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The old SEC Network and the current ACC Network operate just like CBS, Fox, NBC and ABC have operated for the last 65 years. One central feed and affiliate stations carrying the programming.

The SEC Network is a cable/sat channel and is a "network" in name only.
Yep, and I couldn't stand when UK games were picked up by a Raycom affiliate. Low-quality garbage.
 
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Yep, and I couldn't stand when UK games were picked up by a Raycom affiliate. Low-quality garbage.
Yes sir.

I have been through all the TV wars. I have been going through a lot of papers upstairs to limit the crap that my wife and I have collected for 52 years. Last week I found an old phone card index box and it had the phone number for Mike Kanarick (sp). He was the director for the UK Network and often for the SEC Network. I would call him for the satellite coordinates. Mike was a special person for putting up with me. He treated me just like I was the largest TV station on the network. When I went on road games, I started getting to the games early so I could look up Mike to let him know how I appreciated him. One Florida game I help drag cables out to the truck.
 
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Just as I said I would, watching Duke play against Ryerson right now. I really like Zion's athleticism. My biggest takeaways for him over the past few months have been:

- How in shape is he? Look, it's absurd that he's as heavy as he is with the kind of graceful, fluid athleticism that he has, but that does not by any stretch mean that he's playing at his ideal weight, it doesn't make his stronger, and it can bring up serious injury and conditioning concerns. I'm looking forward to maybe catching a glimpse of that.

- How effective can his back-to-the-basket game be? He's terrific at making layups, but with his lack of jump-shooting, people are going to back off and dare him to shoot or back them down. When he backs somebody down, how able is he going to be to score in that way? Especially while often having a height deficiency in the post. Watching him on the All-American circuit, it seemed like he had issues scoring in the low post over length, so I'm curious to see how he does in this way.

Aside from that, I'm curious about Duke's depth and shooting ability.
 
Just as I said I would, watching Duke play against Ryerson right now. I really like Zion's athleticism. My biggest takeaways for him over the past few months have been:

- How in shape is he? Look, it's absurd that he's as heavy as he is with the kind of graceful, fluid athleticism that he has, but that does not by any stretch mean that he's playing at his ideal weight, it doesn't make his stronger, and it can bring up serious injury and conditioning concerns. I'm looking forward to maybe catching a glimpse of that.

- How effective can his back-to-the-basket game be? He's terrific at making layups, but with his lack of jump-shooting, people are going to back off and dare him to shoot or back them down. When he backs somebody down, how able is he going to be to score in that way? Especially while often having a height deficiency in the post. Watching him on the All-American circuit, it seemed like he had issues scoring in the low post over length, so I'm curious to see how he does in this way.

Aside from that, I'm curious about Duke's depth and shooting ability.
I just tuned in a few minutes ago. So far have seen Duke miss like 5 FTs in a row and Zion throw down a sick putback dunk. A little surprised it's nearly halftime and Barrett and Williamson are the only ones scoring.
 
I just tuned in a few minutes ago. So far have seen Duke miss like 5 FTs in a row and Zion throw down a sick putback dunk. A little surprised it's nearly halftime and Barrett and Williamson are the only ones scoring.
Reddish, Jones, and O'Connell are out with injuries. Playing walk on Justin Robinson and 3 star backup point guard... They're not exactly lighting up the nets.
 
Halftime takeaway: Duke looks like they'll be playing with absolutely zero depth on this trip. No player outside of Zion has impressed me in this game, although admittedly, the bar for being impressed is much higher for Barrett than it is for say Bolden or Goldwire for example. Barrett has been super erratic, and he hasn't made good decisions at all.

Zion is shooting really well. He has a hell of a future if he can make that a regular thing, but based on his sub 60% free throw percentage, and his 25% 3 point percentage in high school, plus the very wonky mechanics, I feel like asking for much consistency out of his shot is going to be too much to ask for at this stage. Really, at any point in college. They're not even trying to guard him out there, and they shouldn't. Set yourself up for a close-out against him, but don't leave that side of the court completely open. Dwight Howard can make 3's with nobody on the same half of the court as him.

Duke needs to short up fast breaks on both ends of the floor. They turn it over way too much when they play quickly, and they've been fairly atrocious stopping the ball in transition.

Hopefully for Duke's sake, Tre Jones isn't out until January as is the rumor in some places (not sure how much I buy into it, but plenty of people know about Duke more than I do). They DO NOT have a good point guard aside from him. Barrett has some ball skills, but if he is the primary facilitator, Duke can't be an elite team.
 
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Not sure if you were watching. He jumped from a couple of feet past the 3 point line and laid it in every time.

No I haven’t been watching. I just know his practice jumpshot he barely even jumped
 
No I haven’t been watching. I just know his practice jumpshot he barely even jumped

Oh, you're being serious.

No, dude gets no lift on his jumper, ironically enough. It's like a wonky version of Karl-Anthony Towns's jumper.
 
Jack White is ironically the prototypical white dude. Looks like he drives down the 405, reaching into his large burlap sack of 100 dollar bills and throwing them out of the back of a Mercedes-Benz convertible.
 
Jack White is ironically the prototypical white dude. Looks like he drives down the 405, reaching into his large burlap sack of 100 dollar bills and throwing them out of the back of a Mercedes-Benz convertible.
He's Australian though so he's harder than a coffin nail.
 
Jack White is ironically the prototypical white dude. Looks like he drives down the 405, reaching into his large burlap sack of 100 dollar bills and throwing them out of the back of a Mercedes-Benz convertible.
I doubt K and gang spent that much on a role player. SmokinSmile
 
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I think they would with Jones, Reddish, and O'Connell.... but right now it's Zion and Barrett v. 5.

I mean, how bad can Duke's bench be, though? And even a starter like Bolden. Dude looks atrocious right now.

There's not much of a reason that Duke's bench can't step in and blow out Ryerson, because even the 3 star types deep on Duke's bench have much better size and athleticism than 95% of that Ryerson roster.
 
I mean, how bad can Duke's bench be, though? And even a starter like Bolden. Dude looks atrocious right now.

There's not much of a reason that Duke's bench can't step in and blow out Ryerson, because even the 3 star types deep on Duke's bench have much better size and athleticism than 95% of that Ryerson roster.
Obviously, Bolden is who we thought he was....even 3 years later. I have seen people hype up DeLaurier since before last season too, and there's just not much there that I can see.
 
Obviously, Bolden is who we thought he was....even 3 years later. I have seen people hype up DeLaurier since before last season too, and there's just not much there that I can see.

I thought Bolden would be much better than he is. I didn't buy the hype that he was Jahlil Okafor redux, but dude has been the absolute biggest bust. When Williamson and Barrett have to score 80% of your team's points against a high D-2/low D-1 caliber team, there's something off about that.
Given, it's August, there are a couple of guys out (one may be out for quite some time), but that's not something I would be thrilled about.
 
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94-feet with RJ Barrett:
Bilas: What's the most bizarre bitmoji Coach K has sent you via text message?
RJ: I dunno, it was like one with a heart. He said he loved me, it was like Valentine's Day or something. So that was funny.
RollLaugh
giphy.gif
 
I'm not sure how Duke doesn't have 80 points against this team right now. Ryerson is very, very bad.
Very very bad?!! They played for a Canadian National championship two years in a row, but they lost both of those games and two or three Ryerson players played on team Toronto
 
Very very bad?!! They played for a Canadian National championship two years in a row, but they lost both of those games and two or three Ryerson players played on team Toronto

They did, which in comparison to most D1 NCAA schools, is very average. Yes, 3 of those players were good enough to play on Team Toronto, along with some other high major D-1 athletes, and Andrew Nicholson (who spent 6 years in the NBA, and averaged 22 and 9 this past season for a high level team in China), but that team lost by 36 to UK, and it could have been a lot worse because UK called the dogs off with about 5 minutes to go.
 
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I am super interested in seeing Zion against other college bigs. He's such a polarizing player and will be all year I bet. He's gonna catch a lot of dudes on put back dunks this year I'd bet.
 
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