I will sign up for all of that but I'd even settle for the freshmen to stay for two years.
Great post! To the bold part, it seems the one things fans wanted K to do and now for Jon to do is develop those 2,3,4 year guys. K played his best players the most and it netted him 5 titles, 1200 wins, 100+ NCAA Tournament wins. His way worked and he won a lot because he played his BEST players a lot. It’s a high risk/high reward structure that worked for a high% of the time. Now yes, when one of those stars were injured and a role player wasn’t ready, it looked ugly. But when all of the players were healthy, it was a thing of beauty. I know fans want this (playing deeper rotations, developing deeper bench, etc) but doing that also comes with a lot of losing. Impatient fans will have to be patient while we lose 10-12 games a season, low seed in the NCAA Tournament and possibly bounced in the first few rounds because roles were still undefined heading into the NCAA Tournament or we had a tough path facing several tops seeds. This isn’t the 1980’s. There are more options besides college basketball for basketball players to get to the NBA. If players were sticking around for 4 years, then I would agree to develop those role players but it’s not. It’s the reason why FSU hasn’t been to a Final Four under Leonard Hamilton. He plays 11-12 guys all season and sometimes it looks great when it’s working, but when the pressure is on and no one knows who the GO TO player is, then what do you do? The only coach that won while playing a deeper bench was Roy at UNC because they played a fast break offense which required having fresh bodies. He only won 3 titles (2 of which are not legit) playing that way. He also was able to convince his 5 stars to stay 2-3 years longer than Duke’s OAD because his system would have absolutely collapsed with constant turnover.
I think Jon will let the players play upon situations. Ten deep I don’t think Duke will go but if Duke is up big I think Jon subs . K got to use to in the end relying on talent , IMO and you never saw to many of the OAD ride the pine . Always said Jalen Johnson was K’s breaking point to retirement.
Yeah but that all goes back to kids don’t want to wait their turn . Coleman wanted to start and he is where he’s at now . Sometimes it’s just better. I liked him and Brakesfield but really don’t miss either .
But you’re not surprised the OAD had more leeway, right? The best players usually have more leeway. Sports isn’t socialism; it’s a meritocracy where, yeah, there is a pecking order based on abilities. But I still feel everyone contributes in other ways, but not just in getting more PT as every member of the team is valuable; just not equal.
We did hear the "tired" excuse too much. In addition I also agree too much "leeway" IMO was granted the OAD's at times. I could elaborate but won't at this time.
I said some of the oad's were given too much leeway. Not all. As far as Jon as the replacement? I think that was a no brainer. Not sure what you mean about him having all the tools to be successful. If by that you mean that he played and learned under K at Duke, then he definitely has an advantage, and I agree with you about him having the tools to be successful. Most any coach could win 70% of their games based off of talent, especially the way the game is today. You can't make chicken salad out of chicken s*#^.
I don’t know recruiting seems to be looking good for the next three years and I like Blake’s article when he speaks on Scheyer being a great coach and also bringing his own style on the court. I’m looking forward to Jon coaching as I didn’t really see any other way he wasn’t the next coach at Duke.
I agree with this. I think 9 this year would be great
Lively
Comon man it's the offseason what else are we going to debate?
