Agreed but it might be back to the old defensively. Jones is good at the point of attack but he won't have Zion behind him which changes everything.
Tre Jones returning to Duke
- Thread starter TheDude1
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Agreed but it might be back to the old defensively. Jones is good at the point of attack but he won't have Zion behind him which changes everything.
We're recruiting Trendon Watford, but he doesn't have an offer as of yet. Obviously we're waiting to hear on Matthew Hurt first. We're not getting both guys. Also, it's likely that RJ Hampton reclassifies. But I'm not sure it's likely he comes here with Tre Jones coming back. I think Hampton might sign with Memphis.
Anthony Harris was being recruited by us last fall - and he recently de-committed from Va Tech. But he kind of duplicates what Boogie Ellis already offers us. I wouldn't mind getting a 4-year big like Tristan Enaruna (Rivals #105 player), because realistically we wouldn't have any bigs returning in 2021; DeLaurier, Bolden, and White will be seniors - Carey will be a OAD. So yeah, getting a 4-year big would be very advantageous (low 4-star recruit or high 3-star recruit).
We'll at least have two solid defenders in Jones and Wendell Moore. But yes, defense could be suspect. DeLaurier and Bolden are decent, but not sure they'll see at lot of minutes with Carey down low.
I think that Jones alone means Duke won't be as bad defensively as they have been prior to this year. He really only got burned in one game this year. It was a big one, but still.
UK fan can always find what he thinks is a negative. He will have Cary and Javin and maybe Bolden.
Lol
That's fair. Jones is good on the lead ball handler. I think what really helped was him knowing he had Zion behind him to erase mistakes. That was what made UK's defense really good when we had an elite rim protector. Let's you be more aggressive because you know you have someone behind you that will make it difficult.
The only other player I know of is Kira Lewis, the Alabama transfer. But I expect him to sit out next year. Please advise if I'm missing someone.
You're definitely right about having Zion there. On the flip side, Zion also benefited from Tre's pressure. But man, the previous years we had zero effort in stopping players from penetrating the paint leaving the bigs stuck with having to choose between defending their guy or picking up the guy who just blew by our guards. That led to so many dunks/layups. Then they tried to hide that by playing zone which left us vulnerable to giving up rebounds despite having two 6'10" guys down low and obviously getting killed deep. That is why I saw losing to Kansas last year as a blessing in disguise. Although you want the chance to win the game, I think Duke would have been embarrassed UNLV style against Nova in the FF last year.
But yeah, I think having a player like Jones and even when needed, Goldwire, will allow The bigs to defend their natural position. That does not mean that I believe Duke will be some defensive juggernaut next year. I just think they'll be better than in previous years before this team.
I used to think that same thing, to be honest. I thought no way could our zone do anything to stop Nova. But, there are two things that lead me to believe we'd have a fighting chance. First, the zone was employed after the first loss to UNC in Chapel Hill. We outrebounded UNC the other two games. Clemson (-1) and Syracuse (-3 in the Sweet 16) were the only two games where a team had a positive margin against us. So, we won 10 of the 13 rebounding contests where we employed a zone 100% of the time. Villanova, FWIW, was not a big team - and not an especially great rebounding team. We were #6 in the country in rebounding margin, and Nova was #71.
Also, we had 8 losses on the season. And all 8 of those losses we were within striking distance in the final minutes. Easily could have won any of those 8 games. I have a hard time imaging a team with so much talent losing by 20+ points.
Our boosters need to offer him so much money that he'd actually be taking a pay cut to leave Duke.
Maybe it is just my negativity towards the way the past few teams played defense. This year's team saved me from completely giving up hope on the OADs. They had their faults, but effort was not one of them all you can do is ask these kids to give it everything they got and if they lose, it won't be because they didn't try.
They could team up with Nike and keep him for 3 more years.
The freshmen definitely had heart. Fun team to watch. Just wish we had 1 or 2 reliable shooters to relieve some of the pressure from all the double-teams for Zion and RJ.
As long as Tre wears a Duke uniform, he will be the starting point guard, it doesn't matter who else K brings in.
He should stay in Durham another year.
I thought that was already the case
Naw, freshmen year you can get a pretty good deal since you're only competing against other schools for his services. Second year is when you really have to pony up, with the NBA knocking at the door.
No clue if this is who he is talking about but apparently the staff is trying to lock up a 2019 prospect with the initials CS...
Cassius Stanley? Didn't even know we were recruiting him lol. I thought he was Pac-12 bound. I'll take him, though.
That would be recruiting over Boogie. And we know how upset everyone gets when Krzyzewski recruits over players. But really though, Duke isn't even on his list. How likely is it? Would be another shooter and a multi year player.
K knows Joey Baker will be transferring after he selfishly burned his redshirt year. Gotta find a replacement for him.
Don't know or understand it honestly. K is going to have to play a 9 man rotation minimum (which I doubt) or someone is leaving/transferring that we haven't been made aware of yet.
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