Mackenzie Mgbako

[hart2chesson]

Besides, we have had several really good teams, including national champs, without game-changing bigs. So, I am with you Shey. OFC

I am encouraged and actually intrigued with the current roster w/o another big. I think we get better outside shooting, and spread the floor more:

Flip, Mitch, 'Rese, Foster, McCain (Don't forget Schutt/Blakes).

Challenge comes on Defense against bigger teams, but I see Reeves developing to the point of supplanting some of Young's minutes, and more of a traditional lineup over time.

OFC

 

[jamsession3]

I am encouraged and actually intrigued with the current roster w/o another big. I think we get better outside shooting, and spread the floor more:

Flip, Mitch, 'Rese, Foster, McCain (Don't forget Schutt/Blakes).

Challenge comes on Defense against bigger teams, but I see Reeves developing to the point of supplanting some of Young's minutes, and more of a traditional lineup over time.

OFC

Hart you're right. The shooting will determine everything moving forward. Spreading the floor should be the target for next year.

 

[christophero]

Are we suddenly going to become a good shooting team? Because we weren't last year.

 

[DanTheDukeFan1982II]

Are we suddenly going to become a good shooting team? Because we weren't last year.

I think we will definitely be a better shooting team next year. Defensively, we will see, if we don’t bring in a 5, then we’re gonna need to be a more uptempo high scoring team. For a Duke team: we played pretty slow last year.

-Proctor projects as a good shooter. His 32% 3 pt shooting was due to a horrid first 2 months. Remember, he should have been playing High School games during that time.
-Mitchell isn’t a good shooter. He shot 35% from 3 last year but that seemed fluky. He did hit some big shots. If he can be consistent on the wide open threes, that’s good enough.
-Flip shot 28% from 3 last season..yikes. However, his form is great, and he definitely isn’t afraid to put them up there. I’m willing to bet he’s around 35% this year.
-McCain would be an upgrade in 3 point shooting if Roach doesn’t come back.

We need to bring in a 5. I believe the thing this team will do best is rebound. Flip at the 4 is a monster on the glass. Same with Mitchell at the 3. Move them up to the 5 and 4 and there goes our rebounding advantage.

 

[Duke937]

For all the successful teams that didn’t have a dominant 5 and we’re still successful, Duke has had a lot of really really good teams that were just a piece away from being even better. I can recall years where we didn’t have a true PG that hurt, or they really lacked on shooting, or they didn’t rebound well. I think next years team is going to be really really good. I would just hate to waste it with having a weak link, and get bounced in the second weekend of the tournament.

 

[pisgah101]

Guard play is the most important thing in March and we have that.. let’s let the rest of it play out

 

[christophero]

I'd feel better with Roach back. Proctor is good but then its 2 freshman and Blakes and Schutt. So minus Roach that is a relatively inexperienced backcourt. We will be good but to be final four good I think we either need a transfer big or Roach back. We will see. Blakes will be interesting, that broken nose really set him back and he seemed to lose confidence. The person that picked us preseason #1 was assuming Roach would be back.

 

[orphanduke]

I think we will definitely be a better shooting team next year. Defensively, we will see, if we don’t bring in a 5, then we’re gonna need to be a more uptempo high scoring team. For a Duke team: we played pretty slow last year.

-Proctor projects as a good shooter. His 32% 3 pt shooting was due to a horrid first 2 months. Remember, he should have been playing High School games during that time.
-Mitchell isn’t a good shooter. He shot 35% from 3 last year but that seemed fluky. He did hit some big shots. If he can be consistent on the wide open threes, that’s good enough.
-Flip shot 28% from 3 last season..yikes. However, his form is great, and he definitely isn’t afraid to put them up there. I’m willing to bet he’s around 35% this year.
-McCain would be an upgrade in 3 point shooting if Roach doesn’t come back.

We need to bring in a 5. I believe the thing this team will do best is rebound. Flip at the 4 is a monster on the glass. Same with Mitchell at the 3. Move them up to the 5 and 4 and there goes our rebounding advantage.

If Roach does return, I wouldn't be surprised if he's a 38%+ 3PT shooter with a full season playing off-ball. I know many worry about losing one of McCain/Foster (Foster more than McCain) if Roach returns, but I really think it would be big for this team if he does. He can single handedly win games for us down the stretch and is such a clutch player.

 

[DanTheDukeFan1982II]

If Roach does return, I wouldn't be surprised if he's a 38%+ 3PT shooter with a full season playing off-ball. I know many worry about losing one of McCain/Foster (Foster more than McCain) if Roach returns, but I really think it would be big for this team if he does. He can single handedly win games for us down the stretch and is such a clutch player.

Roach has been 31, 32, & 34% in his 3 years here. 38% would be great and yes it should help with him playing off the ball. If he was a consistent 38% 3 point shooter, he would probably be entering the draft.

I think the roster we currently have is Final4 good, but won’t be a dominant force. In todays era of NIL & the portal, there is no reason to not try to plug all of your holes (ours would be a 5 man.)
Many Duke teams have been blessed with guys returning & loaded with talent. The 06 Senior JJ/Sheldon team was a PG short, Paulus wasn’t ready. The Jabari 14 team had zero centers. Had those teams been able to bring guys in, the outcomes would have been much different IMO.

 

[gstarr]

I'd feel better with Roach back. Proctor is good but then its 2 freshman and Blakes and Schutt. So minus Roach that is a relatively inexperienced backcourt. We will be good but to be final four good I think we either need a transfer big or Roach back. We will see. Blakes will be interesting, that broken nose really set him back and he seemed to lose confidence. The person that picked us preseason #1 was assuming Roach would be back.

I would love to have Roach back, but last year we had Roach and inexperienced Proctor and still made it to the final four. We would be pretty strong with Proctor, McCain and Foster and the wild card Blakes and Schutt. I still want that rim protector!

 

[christophero]

We made the final four last year? I must have drank a lot of Coor's.

 

[orphanduke]

We made the final four last year? I must have drank a lot of Coor's.

You don't remember Derek Lively's full court buzzer beater to defeat Kansas State in the Elite Eight? Or Ryan Young doing a back flip in celebration?

 

[christophero]

We did make the final four with Roach, Keels and Moore. That is a pretty good backcourt. Moore was never quite the same after he had Covid, was he?

 

[SWEc/o95]

Say what you want but by the end of 2010 Zoubek was a game changing 5.

 

[christophero]

Say what you want but by the end of 2010 Zoubek was a game changing 5.

Definitely. And him playing well and big minutes allowed the Plumlees to come in and not have to worry about fouls.

 

[gstarr]

We made the final four last year? I must have drank a lot of Coor's.

OK brain fart! Maybe it was an ACC championship!😀

 

[sheyduke]

I actually think this Duke team can absorb the loss of Roach . I think a lot are sleeping on Foster and McCain. Think it’s still up in the air about Schutt or Blake possibly leaving.

 

[pisgah101]

I think we are in an amazing place even if this is the roster.

 

[KDSTONE]

Definitely. And him playing well and big minutes allowed the Plumlees to come in and not have to worry about fouls.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a senior make a bigger jump compared to his previous 3 yrs than Brian. I recall after the Baylor game, Elite 8 I believe, marveling at the difference he made

 

[JimboSlice00]

I agree, this roster as it is today is a top 3 roster in America. I still think there will be alot of moving parts with names being taken out of the draft, and in the portal. I'm still holding hope for Holmes as there seemed to be alot of mutual interest there.

 

[jamsession3]

I agree, this roster as it is today is a top 3 roster in America. I still think there will be alot of moving parts with names being taken out of the draft, and in the portal. I'm still holding hope for Holmes as there seemed to be alot of mutual interest there.

If Holmes comes he needs to be team first, draft status second.

 

[JimboSlice00]

If Holmes comes he needs to be team first, draft status second.

Fair enough. He's just at the top of my personal wishlist as I think he puts this team over the top.

 

[sheyduke]

Fair enough. He's just at the top of my personal wishlist as I think he puts this team over the top.

I think that ship has sailed even if he withdraws from the draft .

 

[NCirishman]

Say what you want but by the end of 2010 Zoubek was a game changing 5.

I felt he was the best C in the country from 2/13 until the end. He was a flat out stud.

 

[christophero]

Zoubek was huge. He was like Big Country. Once his conditioning was good he was a great college center. His defense on that late play against Butler was huge.

 

[JimboSlice00]

I think that ship has sailed even if he withdraws from the draft .

Why do you say that? Have you heard we are done in the portal?

 

[christophero]

Is he even in the portal? I thought it was NBA or Dayton.

 

[JimboSlice00]

Is he even in the portal? I thought it was NBA or Dayton.

No. However, he maintains his college eligibility so he could pull out of the draft and enter the portal. I believe the deadline to enter the portal is May 11.

 

[sheyduke]

Why do you say that? Have you heard we are done in the portal?

No not with the portal just Holmes in general. If he comes out the draft think he returns to Dayton .

 

[JimboSlice00]

Ah got it Shey. He's for sure the guy I think rounds us out, but he very well could not be in the cards.

 

[sheyduke]

Yeah, I think someone on here posted that Dayton was putting together big NIL packages and Scheyer just isn’t promising large amounts of NIL money to recruits which I don’t blame him .

 

[hart2chesson]

Yeah, I think someone on here posted that Dayton was putting together big NIL packages and Scheyer just isn’t promising large amounts of NIL money to recruits which I don’t blame him .

Can't blame him either Shey. The amount of exposure a kid gets playing at Duke, and the NBA track record of Duke kids should count for something. Obviously, a Duke degree of course is a huge selling point if a youngster can look at the big picture(He can always come back to finish his schooling).

Of course if a young man is comparing NIL packages, it's easy to get caught up in "Who can give me the next deal??" I am fine however, with our young coach. He has a plan. OFC

 

[KDSTONE]

Yeah, I think someone on here posted that Dayton was putting together big NIL packages and Scheyer just isn’t promising large amounts of NIL money to recruits which I don’t blame him .

What a joke it has come to this. The inmates are running the asylum. Not a comment on your take shey but this Nil nonsense

 

[Devilinside]

Are we suddenly going to become a good shooting team? Because we weren't last year.

True, but we got better as the year progressed. especially Proctor and Mitchell. OFC

 

[hart2chesson]

True, but we got better as the year progressed. especially Proctor and Mitchell. OFC

Especially Proctor DI, and I think he becomes even more of a perimeter threat this season!

OFC

 

[christophero]

If schools like Dayton are putting together better packages than us it may hinder us from landing a big transfer.

 

[sheyduke]

Duke landing a big time transfers would need two things, IMO . A big NIL deal( which if you want money IMO to play at Duke then go elsewhere ) or an opening with a chance at starting .
Duke really doesn’t have that but your going to have to beat out the other two centers . If a big time transfer wants hard competition then bring him in but outside of that I’m fine with the roster .

 

[christophero]

No offense Shey but I dont think Reeves will scare away any transfers.

 

[Topps Coach54]

If Holmes comes he needs to be team first, draft status second.

Isn’t May 12 the cutoff date to return to college

 

[christophero]

Mgbako down to 4 schools.
1. St. Johns (hmm I went there)
2. Kansas
3. Indiana
4. Louisville
Would be a big get for Pitino. Indiana has already done well in the portal. Kansas could possibly add Hunter and MM.