Someone already said it, and I agree....Baker will have an O'Connell type year at a mid-major. I never blame a kid for leaving because he wants to play. That's why he burned the red shirt in the Zion year.....only to get a handful of minutes.
Story on Trevor Keels/final scholarship
- Thread starter ConorONeill
- Start date
Baker needs to go somewhere where he will start. He never looked comfortable playing in short spurts. It happened to me in high school. Not that I was anywhere near as good (or tall) as Joey, but I could shoot. I started my junior year, then came on the team late due to another sport conflict. I was pressing, and my coach took me out and told me that. I never knew if I was going to play, and I never found a rhythm. Joey always seemed to be either hesitant or pressed too much.
Baker never looked comfortable starting the few times he did. I don’t know what he will do wherever he goes, but I’d temper expectations.
Jonathan Givony reporting that Keels is a "projected first round pick." We better lock up Green because Keels is likely gone.
The latest from Green is he's waiting it out. There cannot be any reason for this other than he's waiting on Keels. I don't hear that Green is visiting anywhere else.
Keels has a first round guarantee . This is also a reason I believe he’s not doing the five on five scrimmages. Keels being at the draft lottery should have put any questions about him coming back to rest
Yes and I assume Keels has told Jon he's likely gone. 75 percent, 80 percent, 90 percent. He needs to tell Jon this. Green on campus already suggests he has. Can't fault a guy for going in the late first round. As long as we get one of Keels or Green we are fine. Jon is doing the right thing supporting Keels, but he wasn't born yesterday either so he is preparing a backup plan. I was impressed that Green already visited.
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I really like Trevor but can't blame him for chasing is dream. I am not sold on Green being an exact replacement. From looking at his stats, he has his horrid shooting games. I assume Dariq will play some 2 unless Blakes or Schutt are ready.
Just once I'd like a recruit to say "it has always been my dream to attend Duke for 8 months." 
A good decision by Baker, I think. Four years and a diploma at any university is plenty. He will meet so many new people at his next destination. Everything will be fresh. He has plenty of talent to help a mid-major win the conference title
Agreed but I do think Green is waiting on it being official. I think that even if/when Green commits, Duke will have 2 scholarships left. I haven't come across anyone else being mentioned but I could see the staff looking at bringing in one more player even if Green comes on board.
Another shooter? How about Baldwin to replace Baker. Hey man we might as well load up. Other teams are.
yes sir! First game of my senior year, I made a 17 footer and the coach called a timeout. He asked me if it was the shot we really wanted. I was a wonderful smart aleck and said YES SIR!. I don't think that he liked the sir. Never knew what he wanted the rest of the year. I took lots of layups that were blocked
I had the honor of being blocked by Michael Porter, who was a McDonald's all american in the mid 80's and played for St. John's. I was going for a lay up and he jumped up and pinned it to the top of the square. Embarrassing.
Green will be a great player for us next year. You know, IF he comes.
Standouts from the 5 on 5 scrimmages at the combine yest. include Scottie Pippen Jr, Andrew Nembhard from Gonzaga and the 2 NC State players. This was mainly guys projected in the second round to undrafted. Keels has chosen not to participate, which could indicate he is happy with his late first/early second round status and is staying in. I would be pretty shocked at this point if Keels comes back, but anything is possible.
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I was a bench player in high school, good shooter, not much of an athlete. Finally got into a game, put up a shot as soon as I got the ball, swished it. The coach takes me out, tells me we were supposed to be holding the ball to keep the lead. I didn't take another shot the entire season. I have an unbreakable record for field goal %.
I never understood this logic. There is no bad shot that goes in. I could see if you missed it. Even if you hold the ball you can turn it over. You should have told your coach that's why he's stuck coaching high school haha.
Speaking of good shooting, I didn't know big Mark had handles and an outside shot like this 😳😳😳😳
Kenny Lofton Jr. also balled out in the scrimmages. If he stays in someone will probably use a later second round pick on him.
Read his high school scouting report. He tended to stay on the perimeter to much . Mark can play I hope Charlotte doesn’t mess up the 13 or 15 pick. With Mason their Mark can excel .
Mathew Mayer from Baylor withdrawing from the draft. We did just lose Baker... I really hope he doesn't go to North Carolina. This guy's a baller. I'd even take him over Green. Put him at the 3.
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You should have wind milled him. He’d have never known what himI had the honor of being blocked by Michael Porter, who was a McDonald's all american in the mid 80's and played for St. John's. I was going for a lay up and he jumped up and pinned it to the top of the square. Embarrassing.
AJ Green will be 23 in late September. Duke needs a starter with that kind of experience. K would say "he's old." OFC
When I was in high school I wasn't questioning authority so much. Now, a different story...
Anyhow, considering my lackluster basketball playing career, I have my field goal percentage to brag about, much like MPIII's 3 pt percentage.
Green would give us an experienced backcourt. I still think we need another transfer shooter at the 2 or 3, as Baker left and Keels is probably staying in. If we got Green it wouldn't be a starter type guy. A 75ish guy like Schutt can't complain about being recruited over, esp as a freshman. If we just get Green we'd be a solid top 10 team imo, a 2 or 3 seed. We could be a one seed but there are a lot of question marks and new guys. With Green our talent would be similar to last year, maybe slightly younger with less guys with Duke experience.
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I don't remember Porter. Looks like he went to junior college and only played one year at St John's. He had good stats. St John's only went 17-12 against a very tough Big East scheduleI had the honor of being blocked by Michael Porter, who was a McDonald's all american in the mid 80's and played for St. John's. I was going for a lay up and he jumped up and pinned it to the top of the square. Embarrassing.
Good lord how many players do y’all want? Getting green is supposed to be that experienced sg most fans wanted now you want another shooting guard or small forward to go with Green? Are we even trying to see what any of the others players coming in are going to do or are we going to continue to add players to a roster full of them? There is only five players allowed on the court at a time . No one don’t even know if Reeves is red shirting . Baker leaving signals he was worried about playing time any other transfer outside of Green or a sg is going to wonder about the same thing .
He played with Boo Harvey and Jason Williams. Malik Sealy might have come in the year after. I was at St. John's in the late 80's/early 90's. They made the tournament and lost to Duke. (I was a fan of both teams, it was confusing) That might have been a year or two after Porter left. He played one year, averaged around 14ppg, then dropped out of school in the spring and went undrafted. A shame, he was good. Porter could jump out of the gym and had a nice mid range shot. Henderson reminded me of him. SJU had a lot of talent back then.
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If Catchings is a good defender he could get minutes. He looks pretty well built. If we get Green, him, Young, Cathings and Roach are some good experienced guys.
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I think people are underestimating Schutt. Beautiful form, supposedly a tenacious worker. Kids with those traits find a way to play.
I played pickup with Matt Brust many times when I lived in Durham. Dean Smith didn't really want to offer him a scholarship, but Brust wanted to follow his brother at UNC. He turned out to be much better than Coach Smith realized and he transferred to St John's over Christmas break of his freshman year. Very heavily recruited for football, but he preferred basketball. I heard that Jayson Williams ( the St John's Center) hated Brust and they had a couple of really bad fights
That's funny. My roomate freshman year almost got in a fight with him. He was a big guy, but Brust was huge. He was an all american in football in high school. We played Brust's school in high school, they were in our league, but I was on JV. He was a beast. (I only saw him play basketball) He blocked our guy's shot and had both his elbows on the backboard. I had never seen that before. I heard he's a stock broker in Conn. now. He played in the NBA a few years but didn't last.
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I had no idea that he played in the NBA. We always guarded each other. I was older and strong. He was strong, but nice probably because I came to the gym in my suit. He didn't push me like he did players his own age. From what I heard, Dean Smith told him that he should transfer to a school where he could play immediately. I was really surprised to see him at big guard for St. John's . I never saw him dribble the ball in pickup games
Brust ended up being a decent 3 point shooter. In high school he played inside. My freshman year of high school we had 2 nationally ranked teams in our league. Brust's school and Amityville, who had Shelton Jones, a McDonalds AA who also played for St. John's. Our coach played stall ball against Amityville and Amityville won like 18 to 12. I think Jones was mad because it messed with his scoring average.
