That’s true it’s duke and we tend to have injuries but who are you going to get to stay/come saying
“Look we like you, we want you.. you’ll play maybe 8 min a game BUT if we have an injury that role increases”
Transfer Portal
- Thread starter The_Only_Blue
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“Look we like you, we want you.. you’ll play maybe 8 min a game BUT if we have an injury that role increases”
Maybe Stewart and Power were scared off or annoyed that Jon hosted the Syracuse kid. Maybe they were thinking of leaving so Brown was recruited. I think after the Roach/Mitchell defections Jon knew we needed some vets. But 7 transfers is concerning, and I've seen a few headlines to this effect. Best case we could cover our losses in the portal; but the problem is still there.
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9 points, 5 assists, 36% 3-pt. 3 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. Would be great to have someone like that off the bench and give you 15-20 minutes... Aidan Mahaney would be cool, too.
Gillis is 6’6 so I would think SF is where he primarily plays, but I thought Cooper was mostly going to play SF vs PF. Why I am confused about neither Stewart or Power staying at Duke. Maliq Brown has the size and weight to play PF or SF. Maybe Gillis could by the 6th man off the bench, but that would require Cooper moving to PF some. Would love to get Cade Tyson, but he’s leaning towards UNC and the Vols. He is 6’7 and 215 lbs but played SG or SF at Belmont.
The above is the issue that has me worried about the guys that we are all in on. It’s a bunch of SFs and one PF in Brown. Also saw where we are looking at Chucky Hepburn who was Wisconsin’s starting PG for 3 seasons.
Something’s up. This is way too much turnover….ESPECIALLY with Roach leading the headlines. This is very concerning imo. Reminds me of my job lol
Stewart hurts the most for me. I saw flashes of a star. Potential was off the charts.
Roach gave us 4 years , nothing wrong with something new and getting the bag. I’m definitely ok with not running a 3 guard lineup
I’m ok with it too. Im just saying from a concerning perspective about all the turnover.
Seems we’re just a year late, everyone was getting nailed last year including powder blue down the street. I hate the turnover but at the same time I gotta think the staff knows what there doing or at least I hope
They’re just going after, and playing the best players (at the moment) every year ….What I don’t get is the staff preaching about experience and continuing to recruit over players, and not develop the players we got. You’re sacrificing a few more losses during the regular season , but you’re setting your self up in the long run with that experience every year! I guess you can have both now though with the transfer portal available so idk….we will see.
Couldn’t agree more, Brandon Marks seems pretty plugged in, he made a comment yesterday saying if Jon wanted to keep these guys he would so we can take that for that it is. Right now, Brown from Syracuse is want we have wanted, a grown man that plays defense and has experience. Can Stewart become that player? Yep but right now he’s a guy that’s just potential and fouls a lot. It’s clear they want some experience so surround Flagg with. Whether it works, well see
Difference imo is they weren’t young with potential upside like Stewart. Roach wasn’t in the plans and neither was Mitchell with Flagg coming in.
Stewart as 2-3-4 versatility and Uber athleticism was still a kid who could get 20 minutes a night with this team.
Even before the offseason began, I really didn’t have interest in seeing a Roach or Mitchell re-run. We know what they bring. It was inconsistent from both and not competitive at the highest level. But Stewart was a key returnee, imo, and I expressed that early on. Others did as well. He brings unique features to the game and team. Very disappointing.
We’ve lost 10 players! 10! You can’t have a cohesive team when you lose that many in one season.
Jon has to change the way he operates with PT. Really needed to last year. He is lagging behind using the coach K philosophy of going only 6-7 deep. Just won’t work in this era unless it’s mostly veteran stars and you are legit title contenders.
Utah State had 13 new scholarship players this year. They won the MWC title - and they also won a game in the tournament for the first time in over 20 years.
We'll have much more talented players. I think we'll be alright.
Completely agree. Maybe it’s the heavy influence of the culture that K brought of a short bench. Culture and influence put us all in a box that creates hidden biases.
But at some point, Jon has to step back from the immersion in the system and change his philosophy. That would be different if Duke had a reputation of players getting continual increases in time and becoming stars in their soph-senior seasons. But that rarely happens at Duke. Usually you play early you keep those minutes. You don’t, you don’t get much more.
But in fact Stewart absolutely deserved 20 minutes a game.
Jon has to think not so much about just one season or game at a time but the program as a whole. He has to see a bigger picture beyond, “Who am I going to play to help us beat Clemson in this one game?” That one game is not as important as developing players and the program over time (both a season and years).
Completely apples and oranges. First, it’s anecdotal and not statistically demonstrable. Second, of their top 9 players, all but one were upper classmen. They were veteran, mature players who knew the game and had physicality and mental maturity. Not a bunch of raw 18 year olds. Third, they lost to Purdue by what? 50? If that’s the season outcome that makes you content , okay.
Most of Duke’s roster will be freshmen. Not ready for major CBB. And certainly not with the physicality, experience, and mental maturity needed to compete at the highest level.
This is Duke, it’s not about just being “alright.”
I’d bet I’ve read that phrase several hundred times the past decade, “We are Duke, we’ll be alright” but those are hollow words. Because we aren’t. We weren’t last year either. It doesn’t win titles or make the time competitive for a title. We have had one team that was close to competitive for an NCAA run the last 9 years. Some great players. But teams win titles.
You can’t be strongly competitive to win a title with a freshman dominant lineup these days. Even in the past it was a fluke if you did. You need a mix of physically and mentally mature players who know the system and fit with it.
Losing Stewart hurts. To a lesser degree but also Power.
I’ll takeBrown over Stewart if I’m Jon. Give me the proven player with a good basketball IQ over the oozing potential that may never figure it out in time. It’s all about winning now, heck it seems like half the fan base wants Jon out now after an Elite Eight finish.
Brown played a lot -- 30 minutes/game. Gillis averaged 21.
Bottom line is, in this era, you are not just recruiting high school kids during the season. You have to continue to recruit your own players during the year if you want to keep them. And it serves the kid and the program better in the long run if you focus on his development.
That means he needs some legit PT. Especially if he flashes early as Stewart did. And demonstrate with concrete examples that if a kid stays his PT will increase and game will improve and he will have a chance not just to compete for a title but to improve his game to have a shot at the next level.
Until Jon gives that as a focus there will be huge inconsistency over time. Great recruiting classes don’t matter if a) they are OAD, and B) they are hitting the portal after one year.
That means he needs some legit PT. Especially if he flashes early as Stewart did. And demonstrate with concrete examples that if a kid stays his PT will increase and game will improve and he will have a chance not just to compete for a title but to improve his game to have a shot at the next level.
Until Jon gives that as a focus there will be huge inconsistency over time. Great recruiting classes don’t matter if a) they are OAD, and B) they are hitting the portal after one year.
Agreed. Brown has a very good track record, whereas Stewart is clearly lacking in skills and basketball IQ. Plus Stewart's hands are suspect (sometimes looked like he played with oven mitts on).
On what basis? Because of our great track record?
There is a lot of wishful thinking in this board.
Of course Duke will likely have a winning record. But to think we can compete for a title or that new recruits will be really good players or that 5 star freshmen = great players is a wish dream. Not a reality.
Stewart is a kid who proved he belonged on the court and Jon treated it like it was 2005 where a kid has to earn PT and has to wait a year to leave and hope to get a scholarship elsewhere. So he’s not going anywhere. The landscape has changed. Love Jon. Will always because of the player he was and really like his personality. But he is getting the big bucks at a premier program. That comes with the pressure to evolve or you won’t be competitive.
No they aren’t . Every team doesn’t have only two returning players and heavily reliant on freshman . Even if you get three upperclassmen portal players you still have to find away to get the other three freshman on the court or it’s the same situation in 2025 .
When I see post like the 13 new players at Utah. Posters forget that all those players aren’t freshman . They were upperclassmen who have played college ball somewhere.
Duke only has two returning with college experience and five true freshman coming in . You can add portal depth but they will be role players .
Also I’ll add this . It isn’t Scheyer not wanting to keep the players . In some situation some need to think the staff has evaluated every returning player and aren’t committed to meeting the demands of the players . Especially as seeing how the can still leave the following year .
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Duke is close to getting some very good transfers. As Liftee said, it will likely be a net gain for the team. Let it play out.
You don’t think Cooper Flagg will be a great college basketball player next year? Maybe I’m just a “wish dreamer” but I truly think he will be.
Put on your transfer hat...would you go to a team that returns the majority of its roster, that has experience and did well in conference play/the tournament OR would you go to a team that returns 2 from the past years squad and is bringing in a bunch of star freshman...where do you think you would fit in the best and have the best chance to win a title?.....this is the dilemma....the name on the jersey is attractive but is the situation appealing to good transfer players?...when you know they will have choices ( and I'm sure are hearing this argument from other coaches to persuade them to come to their program)
It will be interesting to see if we can seal the deal on the portal players we want. I will say Jon is being assertive in the portal which I like. It's become clear we need to be more active in the portal to remain elite. Marks is a guy who is usually right; he hinted Jon could have brought back some of our guys if he wanted to. I think he is probably trying to surround Flagg with some experienced talent. Mitchell and Roach could have provided that, but they wanted to move on. If we add 3 rotation players in the portal that will be a major win and step forward for Duke. I will feel better if we are able to close the deal on these portal targets. Flagg will get a lot of hype and there will be a lot of pressure on next year's team.
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I hope that isnt true about JS choosing not to bring back players....thats a very slippery slope and would have repercussions in recruiting HS players and transfers...loyalty is one attribute you cannot dismiss just to win in my book
Flagg is considered one of the best recruits in a long while. I don’t know what others have returning but the backcourt players coming back have to be considered a top 5 backcourt. That is an awesome 3 player core.
I get what you are saying and I’m not happy about the look of all transfers but a lot of teams are scrambling right now too because of transfers and graduates. Unc was scrambling last year and have a lot of gaps right now. All it takes is a couple players from the portal to fill roles and some gaps. Then suddenly you go from nothing to a ton of depth or at least an impressive top 7-8 since most teams don’t play more than that.
Exactly!
Several thoughts here.
-In reading some of the posts why do we think that Jon somehow can have any decent amount of control over the current system in college basketball? That if he would just do this instead of that it would be better. It’s like when I go to a rival teams board and someone always throws out a moth-eaten line like: “Duke convinced so and so to come back”, and they say it despite the fact that many other players left from the same team. So you mean to tell me that the staff has mind control over this one good player, even though a whole bunch of others left?
-Of all the guys that left I would like to have seen Stewart and Mark stay. (We’ve already covered Marks shooting issues) Other than being able to dunk, what are Stewart’s skills? Does he have a single post move? Does he have an ability to hit a jumpshot even 15 feet away? Do you think he can even catch the ball well based on what you’ve seen? The word “starter” does not jump out at me when I think of Sean Stewart. Valuable role/bench player who could hopefully develop? Yes. Newsflash to the college basketball teenage players in America, only five can play at a time on the court so someone has to sit in those chairs and wait their turn. I would assume none of these kids played on a “starting 10” in high school. Unless I missed another crazy rule change and we now have 20 players on the court I think it’s still five on five right?
-Duke needs kids to supplement a potential national championship roster. They don’t have to have superstars. Brown from Syracuse would be a great start with what he could bring to the table. If Duke could get him and add someone like Gillis from Purdue and another guard from somewhere that would be significant.
-I’ve whined about the youth too at times but(and I know I’ve shot this dead horse a few times already) returning a lot of players basically got Duke the same result as last year. Same record, 27-9 but instead of winning 3 games in the ACC Tournament they won 3 in the NCAA Tournament.
Duke starts the season with an experienced backcourt. When you have guards that know what the hell they’re doing, the others will come along. Set the age thing aside for a second, Duke just needs some of those freshmen to actually live up to their ranking. That’s it. Okafor, Jones and Winslow walked onto campus and were awesome from day one!
And I don’t know who is evaluating players these days as I just don’t get into the whole recruiting stuff like I used to. Gone are guys like Bob Gibbons and Brick Oettinger who were pretty reliable scouts. Who do you guys trust these days with regards to evaluating high school talent? When I look at some of these HS guys that are called five star players, some of them don’t even look as good as 3 star players on other teams.
-So if Jon can have portal success and shore up this roster with several good players then I guess I’m just gonna borrow NC State’s new Creed: “Why not us”? (In 2024/25) 🤷🏻♂️
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I agree, but I'd argue Foster is not really experienced. He showed signs of being really good, but was very inconsistent and missed the end of the year. Proctor is our only guy with tournament experience, although if we get the Purdue kid that changes quickly. Gillis seems to have some Theo John toughness in him, which I like.
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Foster still had 24/25 games under his belt though before the injury @ Wake and he became much more significant in his role early on when Proctor was hurt for most of December and then taking what seemed like forever to turn the corner when he came back. You factor in that number of games and all those practices he knows enough to know how this works. I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t start the season as a confident player.
I am patient. I will wait to see what transfers come in before I go crazy.
There is definite mutual interest between Brown and Gillis and Duke. We just need to see if they qualify. The BYU guard Hall has us on his list.
Agree on the lack of post-season experience, but Foster played 27 games (15 starts) at 25 minutes/game.
Can't answer. However if we do get him, perhaps we can at least get him up to Foster's 68% clip or Flip's 67% rate this past year. He's already exceeded Mitchell's 62% at the charity stripe. OFC
Indeed. Most of the minutes came middle and later in the year. Looks like he started about half his possible games in his two years at Syracuse. Hopefully he fills a solid role off the bench.
