Yeah but we’ve seen that story plenty of times. It’s easier said than done to just bring in a bunch of newcomers and have them all gel perfectly to be a top 5-10 team. Just ask UK and Duke.
Top ten for next season
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Yeah but we’ve seen that story plenty of times. It’s easier said than done to just bring in a bunch of newcomers and have them all gel perfectly to be a top 5-10 team. Just ask UK and Duke.
Good thing Marquette believed it.
Regarding the rest.
Auburn fans are wanting to ride the momentum. I suppose their fanbase is thinking Top 15...
Agreed. The pieces are certainly there now and we have a coach with a proven record of developing players and getting the most out of them, but ultimately time will tell. A lot can happen with injuries, transfers, team cohesiveness etc between now and then.
Now Texas looks like a Top 10 team.
Some things to work out.
Disu
Bishop
Allen
Cunningham
Febres
Ramey
Andrew Jones
Askew
As of now that is a great 8 man rotation
Some things to work out.
Disu
Bishop
Allen
Cunningham
Febres
Ramey
Andrew Jones
Askew
As of now that is a great 8 man rotation
Too bad you had such a downgrade in coaching. I mean we all know:
Shaka >>>>>>>>>>>>> Beard
Michigan still top 10, quiet on our roster front. Transfer market hasn’t affected us yet. Will at some point though, probably next year.
John Watson gave Duke a crystal ball pick in the latest Patrick Baldwin sweepstakes. I tend to think Milwaukee is still the favorite. If we're able to land Baldwin, I'm straight deucing myself. Would make us the mot talented team in the country, by far, with Baldwin on the team.
2019 all over again....will be interesting to see how K blows this one
Actually that Jonathon Givony dude said Collins wasn’t that far off from Chet who is the number 1 recruit. He’s lottery pick good.
He'll probably announce this is his last season, and he'll have a season long kiss-my-ass tour, which will ultimately distract from the team. I do find it interesting/concerning that K hasn't extended a single scholarship offer to anyone in the 2022 class.
Not completely sold that Baldwin is coming here, but Duke's incoming recruits are certainly recruiting him hard.
How are any of them going to get their stats up with Mark Williams scoring 25 a game?
It's all good. If we happen to hold back one or two of these guys, they can always come back the following season. I mean, they should be fine. They're already set for life.
The upside of a kiss my ass tour is that you have to believe the refs will take a tire iron to whoever’s knees needed to secure K a championship send off.
Haha that's probably true. And I'll gladly take a championship anyway we can get it.
Michigan, Texas on rise in Way-Too-Early Top 25 college basketball rankings for 2021-22
Comings and goings in the transfer portal have shaken up the Top 25 for next season in a signifiicant way.
Not saying we'd have the best team. Just think we'd have the most talent. If we get Baldwin, there's a very real chance that we'll have 4 lottery picks. Keels and Moore might have decent shots at squeezing into the latter part of the 1st round, too. I think Gonzaga and Michigan could reasonably have 2-3 first rounders.
You could say Duke didn't have the best team in 2019, but probably had the most talent. Same might be true in 2022. Obviously this is all contingent upon Baldwin committing to Duke.
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What’s up with judging talent by NBA upside? Luka Garza was one of the most talented players in the country. Franz Wagner isn’t a more talented college player just because he fits the NBA model better.
This is true. But, it's hard to quantify talent on the aggregate, especially when there are a few unknown variables. The freshmen are somewhat unknown variables; no one really knows how impactful they'll be until we see them share the court with 9 other D1 players (i.e. Hunter Dickinson, or perhaps a few years ago with Trae Young). And even then, the beginning of the season often doesn't mirror the end of the season. Brandon Ingram averaged less than 11 ppg in his first 7 games; averaged around 19 a game in his final 29 contests. Kentucky is another example; they've had several young teams that really turned it on late (2011 & 2014).
So, even with Baldwin, it's hard for me to really say how good this Duke team could be. Our floor might only be in the 6-15 range. With his presence, it's hard for me to believe anyone has a higher ceiling. Can't remember who it was, but I recall a prominent college basketball pundit a few years back that mentioned you should never pick a team to win it all if they don't have NBA talent on the roster. I think he said he always made sure he picked a team that had at least 2 first rounders. That seemed like a reasonable claim - and I think there's some correlation to that.
We were the best team in 2019 though no? Duke was the #1 Overall Seed and beat eventual national champs UVA twice.
The best team doesn't win in a single elimination format as we've seen countless times.
You mean Wagner isn't a better player right now than Garza even though he might be more talented?
Talent has to do with a combo of skillset, physical attributes and NBA upside. There's definitely a projection element involved with it. If NBA scouts think that in 5 years, Wagner better fits the mold of a prototypical NBA small forward and can defend that position at a high level, he'll be drafted higher than someone like Garza who projects more as a backup 5 in the NBA.
But lets be clear, the top 5 incoming HS recruits have a track record of being All-American type players generally during their one year in college.
There's always a few experienced guys who've been around in college for a while and bloomed late who are on the same level like Malcolm Brogdon, Josh Hart, Brice Johnson, Denzel Valentine, Luka Garza, etc. etc.
If you replayed the 2019 tournament 10 times, it's likely you'd end up with 3-6 different winners. I thought we had as a good as shot as anyone. But, we had deficiencies in our game, namely perimeter shooting and half court sets.
I do believe UVA and Duke were the two best teams (If the tournament was played 10 times, Duke/UVA may have combined to win 5 of them). It'd be interesting to see how a third matchup would have played out. In the first contest, Zion and RJ went in complete ISO mode, and it mostly worked well. They had 57 of the 71 points; but we only had 6 assists on 26 made field goals. Ball movement was taken out of the game plan. In the second matchup, UVA really clamped down on defending the interior. Fortunately, we made 13 of our 21 three point attempts. That was quite unexpected. So while we beat UVA twice, it's hard for me to say we'd be overwhelming favorites in a third matchup. Slight favorites, but the game could easily swing either direction.
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I don’t think Wagner was a more talented college player than Garza. Garza was the national player of the year for a reason, whether or not his talent projects to NBA or not.
I won't lie. I was pretty happy that Duke lost to Michigan State in the Elite 8. And I was pretty happy that Michigan State lost to Texas Tech in the Final Four. Those are two teams that UVA has consistently struggled with. While it would have been extra sweet to beat either of those teams for the natty, I am not as confident in that happening.
That Tech game was one of the most painful as a fan for us. Tech is a hell of a defensive team no doubt, but we we’re missing a lot of good looks that we got and we’re hitting all year. 31% from the field and 29% from 3. I really thought we had a shot to win it all.
That MSU Elite 8 game was pretty painful from the Duke perspective. So many little things adding up. RJ took over the final 3 possessions of the game, and only managed a single point. WTH we would defer to him over the NPOY 3 consecutive times is beyond me. We had 0 transition points in the entire game. As it was, you guys were +10 in the turnover category. That was huge. The 13-0 run to close the first half was also pretty substantial. We were certainly beatable, as we barely survived UCF and Virginia Tech. Just wish we could have maximized our opportunities a little better.
Y'all should have lost in the second round to UCF. A couple... Interesting foul calls and UCF missing a 2 incher at the buzzer was all she wrote. Duke peaked game one that year and never hit those highs again.
Trashton Hagans shaving points against Auburn saved you. Would have been a better final four game (though seeing auburn fans butt hurt still is funny).
You’re length definitely bothered us, I don’t think anyone besides Tillman shot efficiently, but yeah, us limiting turnovers won us the game. We’re a turnover prone team, and you don’t beat you guys that year by taking the same number of shots as them.
I’m sure a painful memory for you guys, but boy, seeing a guy that walked on for us truly develop into a great player his senior year and send us to the Final Four with a shot over the #1 pick will always be one of my favorite CBB moments.
You could say there are several interesting foul calls in seemingly every game. Tacko Fall was a force down low. But, he just as easily could have fouled out much, much earlier. He got away with a few fouls, IMO. We were up by 7 points with 7 minutes. The complexion of the game would have been significantly different if he weren't playing down the home stretch.
The second Barrett got fouled and went to the line with a chance to tie I said “game over.” K somehow repeatedly thinking Barrett was a clutch player still haunts me.
The best part was RJ's reaction when he made the second attempt that he was intentionally trying to miss LOL. I laughed so hard at that.
Yep. And we just as easily could have lost to FSU because Barrett missed a free throw in the closing seconds; FSU fumbled the rebound a bit, we got the ball out of bounds, and ended up winning on a Reddish 3-pointer.
I want to say Barrett missed 7 shots in the final minute of the Gonzaga game. Meanwhile, Zion made incredibly clutch plays in the final minute against UNC and UCF. Ball went into the wrong hands against MSU, unfortunately.
No the best is when they needed to foul but still had 3 fouls to give
Lots of talk about Nolan Hickman committing to Gonzaga. With the likes of Andrew Nembhard, Rasir Bolton, and Hunter Sallis in the backcourt, I don't think Hickman would start. But, Few could sell to him that he's likely to be the primary ballhandler in 2023.
Ya, this looks more and more likely. IDK how much he will play next year, he would probably end up being the 4th best guard but maybe the second best point guard on the team. But would be a huge get and really help the 2023 squad.
Any news on Timme? If he returns, which I suspect he will, you guys have a very solid case for being preseason #1.
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