Blue Devil Switcharoo

[dachampishere2]

Interesting article. Pretty much you take two players off non-title teams and swap them to change the fortunes of those teams.

https://bustingbrackets.com/2020/03/30/duke-basketball-blue-devil-switcharoo/

who are y’all swapping?

 

[Buzzooka Joe]

EDIT: I read it wrong.. only 1 played from each team.. so I’d just swap RJ & JJ.

I would take JJ & Sheldon (Seniors) from the 05-06 team.. and give them to the 18-19 team for RJ & Cam..

The 18-19 team would have Zion surrounded by an elite shooter (JJ) and Sheldon could focus strictly on interior defense.. would still have a great PG with Tre.. having RJ & Cam gone would also mean Joey wouldn’t have redshirted, so he could have got a lot of open shots (and AOC) if he was on the court with the other 4 players..

PG: Tre Jones
SG: JJ (Senior)
SF: Joey Baker
PF: Zion
C: Sheldon (Senior)

The 05-06 wouldn’t improve as much as the 18-19 team, but they could have RJ take over and have Cam for backup.. also would have a nice supporting cast.. would be a little thin at the post with McRob, Boteang, & Boykin..

G: Dockery (Senior)
G: DeMarcus Nelson (Soph)
G/F: Cam Reddish
G/F: RJ Barrett
C/F: Josh McRoberts (Fresh)

 

[politicsasusual21]

I think you only get 1 player per. I've been thinking about this. This is a tough one to make it equitable.

 

[jwill133]

I'd take Trajan Langdon off the 99 team and throw him on the 2019 team swapping RJ. 2019 lacked shooting, Langdon would have taken us over the top, we would have been unguardable.
The 1999 team was stacked as can be, swap RJ for Langdon and I still think we roll through the season, give me another matchup with UCONN and I like our chances even without Langdon.

I'm trying to turn 0 titles into 2 titles with this switch.

 

[duke198025]

Tre Jones from 18-19 with Frank Jackson from 16-17. 18-19 probably could have used Frank's shooting and RJ ran the offense half the time anyways. 16-17 needed a true floor general and some defense.

 

[dachampishere2]

To objective for me but just for an answer I think the 18-19 team would look like this if I understand this thread correctly.
PG Tre Jones
SG JJ Redick
C Shelden Williams
PF Zion Williamson
SF RJ Barrett
OFC

you can only chose one player from a two teams that didn’t win. Then swap those two players to make the other team better. For example RJ would’ve been perfect for this past years team and Matt Hurt would’ve been perfect playing with Zion.

 

[dachampishere2]

Check out the article for an example

 

[HeLooks2MuchLikeDave]

I'd take Trajan Langdon off the 99 team and throw him on the 2019 team swapping RJ. 2019 lacked shooting, Langdon would have taken us over the top, we would have been unguardable.
The 1999 team was stacked as can be, swap RJ for Langdon and I still think we roll through the season, give me another matchup with UCONN and I like our chances even without Langdon.

I'm trying to turn 0 titles into 2 titles with this switch.

Those are the exact 2 seasons which come to mind

 

[HeLooks2MuchLikeDave]

Interesting article. Pretty much you take two players off non-title teams and swap them to change the fortunes of those teams.

https://bustingbrackets.com/2020/03/30/duke-basketball-blue-devil-switcharoo/

who are y’all swapping?

Is 2020 a "non-title team"? Because I crowned them NCAA champs with J-Rob winning Final Four MOP.

 

[dachampishere2]

Is 2020 a "non-title team"? Because I crowned them NCAA champs with J-Rob winning Final Four MOP.

I guess we can pull a FSU and crown ourselves for this year

 

[DukefanKY]

I'd take Trajan Langdon off the 99 team and throw him on the 2019 team swapping RJ. 2019 lacked shooting, Langdon would have taken us over the top, we would have been unguardable.
The 1999 team was stacked as can be, swap RJ for Langdon and I still think we roll through the season, give me another matchup with UCONN and I like our chances even without Langdon.

I'm trying to turn 0 titles into 2 titles with this switch.

This ^

I think this has the potential for two titles.

 

[DukefanKY]

This is a really interesting thread. There are a wealth of options.

 

[DukefanKY]

I would switch Grant Hill from the 94 team with Cam from last year. The 94 team still won’t win but I think last years team wins every game in the final 4 by double digits

 

[politicsasusual21]

Tre Jones from 18-19 with Frank Jackson from 16-17. 18-19 probably could have used Frank's shooting and RJ ran the offense half the time anyways. 16-17 needed a true floor general.

This was one of my thoughts as well. I'll go with 16-17 Kennard and 18-19 Reddish. The 16 team could have definitely used a long athletic defender, as we were not very good that year and defense was not Kennards strength. Would have had Reddish and Tatum at the forward spots with F. Jackson and Grayson at the guards. Still weak around the rim with only Amile really here but would have been an athletic team. 18-19 needed somebody who could space the floor and another solid ft shooter, which Kennard excelled at. Also was a surprisingly good finisher. Reddish just never seemed to fit in well on that team.

Or Maybe 16-17 Kennard for 17-18 Carter. The 16 team definitely was weak on the inside with just Amile. Carter would have been huge boost here. Would have been F. Jackson, Grayson, Tatum, Amile, Carter with M. Jones and Giles on the bench.

Put Kennard with Duval, Grayson, Bagley and Bolden. You've got an ultra athletic point, 2 killers in Allen and Kennard, a 7 footer who can concentrate on defense and rebounding in Bolden, and the best player in the country with Bagley.

 

[duke198025]

This was one of my thoughts as well. I'll go with 16-17 Kennard and 18-19 Reddish. The 16 team could have definitely used a long athletic defender, as we were not very good that year and defense was not Kennards strength. Would have had Reddish and Tatum at the forward spots with F. Jackson and Grayson at the guards. Still weak around the rim with only Amile really here but would have been an athletic team. 18-19 needed somebody who could space the floor and another solid ft shooter, which Kennard excelled at. Also was a surprisingly good finisher. Reddish just never seemed to fit in well on that team.

Or Maybe 16-17 Kennard for 17-18 Carter. The 16 team definitely was weak on the inside with just Amile. Carter would have been huge boost here. Would have been F. Jackson, Grayson, Tatum, Amile, Carter with M. Jones and Giles on the bench.

Put Kennard with Duval, Grayson, Bagley and Bolden. You've got an ultra athletic point, 2 killers in Allen and Kennard, a 7 footer who can concentrate on defense and rebounding in Bolden, and the best player in the country with Bagley.

I like the kennard / Carter swap idea a lot especially for the 17-18 team which also lacked shooting. Another nice swap would be 15-16 Allen in place of 16-17, 17-18 Allen.

 

[jwill133]

That 2016-2017 team was so freaking talented, but had too many large holes on the roster. No true point guard, no big dominant center, and the Kennard/Allen defensive combo killed us on the wing.

Injuries aside, that team had the talent to win the title, throw a Kyrie Irving or 2002 Jay Williams on that team and goodnight. A 2018 Wendell Carter would have been just fine too.

 

[duke198025]

That 2016-2017 team was so freaking talented, but had too many large holes on the roster. No true point guard, no big dominant center, and the Kennard/Allen defensive combo killed us on the wing.

Injuries aside, that team had the talent to win the title, throw a Kyrie Irving or 2002 Jay Williams on that team and goodnight. A 2018 Wendell Carter would have been just fine too.

A healthy Giles and/or sophomore version of Allen might have been enough. Too bad Duke never had HG him at full strength. Glad he's starting to have some success at the next level.

 

[politicsasusual21]

Yeah but you cant just throw Irving or Jwill on there. Who do you trade to make both teams better?

I think Frank Jackson, though not initially thought of as a point was starting to develop towards the end of the year. The Kennard/Carter swap solves the big man problem. I think Amile and Carter would have been a good front court.

 

[politicsasusual21]

How about 01-02 Duhon for 16-17 Kennard. You let Jwill back on point with Kennard, Dahntay, Dunleavy and Boozer. This team becomes more potent in the back court scoring wise as Duhon wasnt much more than a distributor then. 16-17 team gets their point and a solid defender

 

[Mac9192]

Id like to swap Bagley in 17-18 with Tatum. One big in Carter, with Allen, Duval, Trent and Tatum surrounding him. Bolden as the backup big, I like our chances.

 

[jwill133]

How about 01-02 Duhon for 16-17 Kennard. You let Jwill back on point with Kennard, Dahntay, Dunleavy and Boozer. This team becomes more potent in the back court scoring wise as Duhon wasnt much more than a distributor then. 16-17 team gets their point and a solid defender

That's a great one.
Possibly 2 titles instead of 0. The 2002 Duke team is one of the best college teams ever, title or not, the only team in the Ken-Pom era to be #1 offense and #1 defense.

Duhon would have been the lead ball-handler on the 2017 team, we would have ran the offense through Tatum. Instead of a constant battle between Kennard/Tatum as to who is the "guy." Grayson would go back to his starting role alongside Duhon because he made zero sense alongside Kennard.

 

[Buzzooka Joe]

How about 01-02 Duhon for 16-17 Kennard. You let Jwill back on point with Kennard, Dahntay, Dunleavy and Boozer. This team becomes more potent in the back court scoring wise as Duhon wasnt much more than a distributor then. 16-17 team gets their point and a solid defender

I like that a lot.. we reallly needed a good distributing PG in 16-17... and Luke is SUCH an underrated Blue Devil.. his mid-range jumpers were maybe the best we’ve ever had..

 

[Buzzooka Joe]

I think finding any way to get Zion & JJ on the sam team (with a solid distributing PG) would be an automatic National Championship.. that offense would be unstoppable at the NCAA level.

 

[politicsasusual21]

I think finding any way to get Zion & JJ on the sam team (with a solid distributing PG) would be an automatic National Championship.. that offense would be unstoppable at the NCAA level.

That is a tough one. I think the only way possible would be for freshman JJ in 02-03. The 03-04 team that lost to Uconn had the talent to win it all. It is hard for me to say that Barrett or reddish clearly make that team, or really the 05-06 team either, better. The 04-05 Squad definitely needed a point guard. We tried to fit freshman Nelson into that position, without much success. Unfortunately, you cannot remove tre from the 18-19 team because then you have no point.

That would be Duhon, Ewing, Barrett, Dahntay, Shelden with basically just Shav, Sanders and Dockery off the bench. God, we had a thin bench that year. I have a feeling this would be a good defensive team with shooting being the weakness. Ewing shot 40% that year but duhon still had not found his stroke. Barrett and dahntay on the wings would be a really tough combo.

Then you have Tre, JJ, Reddish, Zion, Bolden with Delaurier, White and O'Connell off the bench. Would be extremely tough to guard all the weapons. I.would feel pretty confident with that squad.