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RJ Hampton’s comments

Bagley was the furthest thing from the problem in 2018.
IMO that team had the talent, but what made them not one of the elites was...
1. Ducal came in as the #1 pg in the class and he never performed close to that. I get why guys leave after 1 year but he was not a OAD caliber player. He also had maturity issues.
2. Grayson shot poorly pretty much all year and never got better after his sophomore year.
3. Trent took too many plays off.

If it weren’t for having 2 elite bigs, that was an average Duke team at best.

Haha
 
Do you got any links or quotes or anything at all stating any issues that Bagley caused?

A lot has been insinuated and if you can’t read between the lines there idk what to tell you. Carter was told he was going to be the focus on O and duval was told he’d have free rain and driving lanes. Barley came in (late) and both those changed and both were unhappy. K has said that team had issues many on here has said the same thing
 
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Here we go. On one side, the rah rah, give me talent, and hear me roar crowd. On the other, the downer crew, give me chemistry and watch it do its thing.
The 18 team didn't have chemistry. That was obvious. This season didn't have enough talent, a consistent 3rd scorer.

Maybe this upcoming season, we have both.
 
We didn’t do that 4 yr ago we got the perfect amount of players and nobody was “overrecruited” or promised something they didn’t get. They had the summer together and nobody came in August to “be the man”

They had 4 freshman that year with Grayson Allen playing less than 10 minutes per game. Is that any different than RJ, Hurt, Moore and Carey getting major minutes and maybe Boogie getting less minutes. We are really splitting hairs if we are saying that ‘15 doesn’t count as a take all the talent type class.
 
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I get what you are saying, I really do. But I can’t accept a mentality where we are turning away talented players because we don’t want to overrecruit the players we currently have.

Say Jack White comes out of the gate and goes 4 for his first 20 threes. Say Alex comes out of the gate and can’t defend the perimeter and is getting beat pretty obviously. Say Jordan comes out of the gate and misses an open lay up. You will be the first person saying they all stink, you know you will. And all those scenarios are possible, they all happened this year (with exception of Jack who instead finished the year on 4/30+ type streak). Where will we be then having turned away talented guys? If Jack wants burn, if Alex wants burn if Jordan wants burn. Get their asses in the gym all summer and earn those minutes. This isn’t tee-ball where guys get minutes because we recruited them early on.

We need balance we don’t necessarily need a slew of upperclassmen playing big minutes. We need scoring, we need shooting, we need a half court offense, we need defense, we need rebounding and yes we need chemistry. There’s no set formula that guarantees all those things.
 
The most talented team does not always win. The team with the best chemistry usually does. Talent helps; but we already have plenty of talent.
 
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Here we go. On one side, the rah rah, give me talent, and hear me roar crowd. On the other, the downer crew, give me chemistry and watch it do its thing.
The 18 team didn't have chemistry. That was obvious. This season didn't have enough talent, a consistent 3rd scorer.

Maybe this upcoming season, we have both.

There is going to come a point (again) where Duke will struggle to land talented players. Wonder what that other side will say then? Wonder if they’ll be as patient? I know the answers to the questions I’m asking. Lol
 
Why does it have to be all or nothing? With Hurt we have a nice blend of young talent, shooting and experience. Sometimes less is more. Sometimes the pieces do not fit together. You need the right blend of chiefs and indians. If Tre was gone I'd be in the get RJ camp. But we don't need him now. I get why folk would want RJ, but folk should also get why some wouldn't.
 
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There is going to come a point (again) where Duke will struggle to land talented players. Wonder what that other side will say then? Wonder if they’ll be as patient? I know the answers to the questions I’m asking. Lol
You may be right. Nothing is for sure. Never know if the pieces fit. We all want the best talent, but losing this season in the elite 8 was easier for me to take than last year losing at the same point. You know why? It’s because I felt they gave everything they had.
Can you honestly say the 18 team gave the same effort as this team did?

As the line goes, I’ll hang up and listen.
 
I agree chemistry wasn't the issue this year. Untimely injuries threw us off. Also bad luck, and prob. a bad elite 8 match up for us.
 
You may be right. Nothing is for sure. Never know if the pieces fit. We all want the best talent, but losing this season in the elite 8 was easier for me to take than last year losing at the same point. You know why? It’s because I felt they gave everything they had.
Can you honestly say the 18 team gave the same effort as this team did?

As the line goes, I’ll hang up and listen.

And yet both teams yielded similar tournament results. One lost as a 2-seed to the one seed in OT!
 
Lots of Duke teams with great chemistry couldn’t get past the Sweet 16 from 2005-2009. Just sayin’
 
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Instead of daydreaming about who would’ve been great on this time and how dominant we woulda been had some player returned....how about we daydream about what this team woulda been like if we coulda made FTs and not shot 40 3s a game. Just Imagine!!!!
 
Instead of daydreaming about who would’ve been great on this time and how dominant we woulda been had some player returned....how about we daydream about what this team woulda been like if we coulda made FTs and not shot 40 3s a game. Just Imagine!!!!
Or not let a team shoot 70 times to Duke's 57 or turn it over 17 to the other teams 7.
 
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A lot has been insinuated and if you can’t read between the lines there idk what to tell you. Carter was told he was going to be the focus on O and duval was told he’d have free rain and driving lanes. Barley came in (late) and both those changed and both were unhappy. K has said that team had issues many on here has said the same thing

That would be a Coach K issue, not a Bagley issue. Or you can just say a couple of players couldn't deal with the fact that another guy on the team was vastly superior on the offensive end then them.
 
Instead of daydreaming about who would’ve been great on this time and how dominant we woulda been had some player returned....how about we daydream about what this team woulda been like if we coulda made FTs and not shot 40 3s a game. Just Imagine!!!!

Banners oh the banners
 
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I always thought Carter was better than Bagley on that team..I said it then and I’d still say it now..Carter could step outside and shoot well and man he could really defend the rim..both of those things Bagley struggled with..he was insanely talented around the basket but left a lot to be desired defensively and anytime he stepped away..I would of centered the team more around Carter and felt it was pretty clear..
 
Duval was the biggest problem with that team. K tried to hide him lol
 
Hurt WOULD NOT get the nod over Javin. A senior Javin will get the start over everyone except Carey.


If Hurt comes to Duke he's starting.

I know K doesn't promise playing time, but he hasn't prioritized Hurt the way he has for Hurt to come off the bench. He'll be expected to be one of our primary scorers.
 
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I think it’s safe to say there were chemistry issues during the 2018 season. We found that much out after the season ended. Blaming one guy seems odd, but I wouldn’t expect anything else.

Is it possible Bagley was part of the problem? For sure. Is it really dumb assuming he was the only culprit? Yep.

Looking back, that team just didn’t fit together real well. Grayson, as much as I love him, never came across as a great leader. Defensively, we used a band-aid to cover up a scab. It limited our offense from being able to do what we did this past season....that was scoring off our defense and in transition. I think all four of the freshmen didn’t always play for the name on the front of the jersey.

That team didn’t just have one or two problems....and yet, they were so ridiculously close to being in the Final Four.
 
I think it’s safe to say there were chemistry issues during the 2018 season. We found that much out after the season ended. Blaming one guy seems odd, but I wouldn’t expect anything else.

Is it possible Bagley was part of the problem? For sure. Is it really dumb assuming he was the only culprit? Yep.

Looking back, that team just didn’t fit together real well. Grayson, as much as I love him, never came across as a great leader. Defensively, we used a band-aid to cover up a scab. It limited our offense from being able to do what we did this past season....that was scoring off our defense and in transition. I think all four of the freshmen didn’t always play for the name on the front of the jersey.

That team didn’t just have one or two problems....and yet, they were so ridiculously close to being in the Final Four.

Nobody said he was the only one but him coming in deff had a big impact. How carter and duval handled that well that’s part of it too
 
Instead of daydreaming about who would’ve been great on this time and how dominant we woulda been had some player returned....how about we daydream about what this team woulda been like if we coulda made FTs and not shot 40 3s a game. Just Imagine!!!!
Imagine if some of the people on this board could take coach Ks job, we would be 40-0 and a team without blemish every year
 
I always thought Carter was better than Bagley on that team..I said it then and I’d still say it now..Carter could step outside and shoot well and man he could really defend the rim..both of those things Bagley struggled with..he was insanely talented around the basket but left a lot to be desired defensively and anytime he stepped away..I would of centered the team more around Carter and felt it was pretty clear..

Just stop. Bagley put up offensive games that nobody at Duke ever sniffed. All the talk this year about Zions games and he never came close to putting up numbers Bagley did. Duke has 5 games in the history of the program under K with a guy getting 30 and 15 in a game.....Bagley has four of them, Christian has the other.
 
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RJ Hampton is the #5 player in the 2020 class and the #1 PG. if he reclassifies to the 2019 class where do ya’ll think he would be ranked overall and/or among PG’s? Cole Anthony is currently the #1 PG in the class of 2019.
 
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I think RJ will move to 2019 and I'd be really surprised if he waits until August to pick a school, unless his academics aren't in order until then.

Here are his summer highlights. He looks like a solid player, and most likely an upgrade at the 2 vs. our other options, but he doesn't blow me away and I won't be too upset if we miss.

 
Ok, we’re gonna need a way to distinguish Barrett from Hampton if he comes to Duke. RJ2?
 
Why does it have to be all or nothing? With Hurt we have a nice blend of young talent, shooting and experience. Sometimes less is more. Sometimes the pieces do not fit together. You need the right blend of chiefs and indians. If Tre was gone I'd be in the get RJ camp. But we don't need him now. I get why folk would want RJ, but folk should also get why some wouldn't.

agree...getting RJ now affects Boogie, AOC, and Jordan.........Im all for Hurt and Watford if possible...a sophmore Watford would be perfect once javin/quese graduate
 
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