I thought the same thing. He was a top ten player in a superior class, and he no doubt would be top ten in the 2015 rankings.
Great get. It is nice to know no one has to play out of position.
Thornton Reclassifies and Commits!
- Thread starter jibip
- Start date
I thought the same thing. He was a top ten player in a superior class, and he no doubt would be top ten in the 2015 rankings.
Great get. It is nice to know no one has to play out of position.
WOW! Welcome to the winning team Mr. Thornton. Ya know, it's been a while since we had a back to back National Championship....LET'S DO THIS !!!!!!
dang this is bad news ,i know have to buy my unc buddy another broom when we sweep them again lol
I strongly approve and love that he is going to play with the NATIONAL CHAMPS next year.
Can we still get Dennis Smith Jr. from 2016?
After the scare of thinking we were not going to have a PG for next season, a part of me would have to have two blue chippers and run the system the way we did with Tyus and Quinn....Been watching a lot of hockey of late; I'd equate it to having two great centers to direct the offense on different lines...There is never too much of a good thing.
Welcome to K-Ville DT !!!! Looking forward to seeing you accomplish great things for the Devils.
After the scare of thinking we were not going to have a PG for next season, a part of me would have to have two blue chippers and run the system the way we did with Tyus and Quinn....Been watching a lot of hockey of late; I'd equate it to having two great centers to direct the offense on different lines...There is never too much of a good thing.
Welcome to K-Ville DT !!!! Looking forward to seeing you accomplish great things for the Devils.
It was expected, but it's still a nice thing to hear when it becomes official. Welcome to Duke, Derryck!!!
The Duhon and Jason Williams, Nolan Smith/Kyrie Irving and Quinn Cook/Tyus Jones sell job is now in full 100% effect with Dennis Smith.
Huuuge get for Duke!! He has great handles and really liked the mix tape, but we will need to give him a little time for K to get control of him. It won't be quite as easy as in the mix tape when he plays against D-1 competition, because he is still a little reckless. But I sure am glad he chose Duke, this is going to be fun!!
Next years team will take a little time to gel, but they will be an awful tough out by the end of the season (or maybe even earlier)!!
Go Duke!!
JC-OFC
Next years team will take a little time to gel, but they will be an awful tough out by the end of the season (or maybe even earlier)!!
Go Duke!!
JC-OFC
Great news...welcome, Derryck! If he wears this number, he's got big shoes to fill.
OFC
OFC
Very cool pic ODD!Great news...welcome, Derryck! If he wears this number, he's got big shoes to fill.
OFC
I like how we can reply easily on threads.
My most desired recruit since Jabari Parker and stoked about this, I think he'll be great for us. Determined defender.
The difference is leadership. K recruits guys with leadership qualities. You can't bring in a collection of egos without selling the but in. Cal's guys buy in but it seems that in pressure situations there's no leadership.
To me, that is the difference.
Definitely no fan of Cal or UK, but I don't know if I would agree with that. I think the Harrison brothers were always too erratic to be leaders, and that proved to be the one achilles heel of that team. However, I think you'd be hardpressed to argue, for instance, that UK's teams led by Patrick Patterson, or Brandon Knight, or Anthony Davis / MKG lacked leadership.
While I don't disagree with the notion that K tries to recruit leadership, reality is that experience often proves to be a big part of leadership and I think you'd be hardpressed to look at the 11-12 or 13-14 seasons, for instance, and claim that we had great on-court leadership. Even though this group was quite young, I think Tyus was unusually mature and we critically had at least one Sr. star player -- who importantly played a position (SG / PG) where it was easy for him to lead the team.
The only thing I think about Calipari's recruiting is he seems to recruit like a shotgun on extra full choke. He casts a wider net and takes the best that he can get of any available players and worry about fitting them together later. Coach K seems more focused on how the pieces fit together as he recruits.
Both those are generalities and not trying to define the styles to the minutest details. They are just my opinion.
Both those are generalities and not trying to define the styles to the minutest details. They are just my opinion.
Yep. I wanted those guys but I wasn't foaming at the mouth for them (though If I knew their additions would have led to number 5 I would have been). I wanted Jabari really bad. I thought he was all that.....
so yeah, I'm ULTRA high on Derryck
I never stated those Duke teams had great leadership for Duke. They didn't, which is why they flamed out. Cal's teams also lacked leadership. I agree that the anomaly for UK was the Anthony Davis squad. His leadership qualities are now even more apparent in the NBA now. But The John Wall team. Nope. This latest UK squad? Nope. Even the championship game team was out foxed by a UCONN team that featured one of the best leaders I had seen in the NCAA tournament in a while in Shabazz Napier.
My point? Does K hold the trademark on leadership in his players? Absolutely not. But IMO, he does it better than most if not any coach, and he certainly puts a higher premium on it over Cal. And that is why if the one and done war is going to continue, K is going to win it.
Will be interesting to see if Thornton is so good he becomes a 1 and done. But, if he stayed to year two and we got a Dennis Smith - wow.
I am really interested in seeing Thornton's D. He apparently has long arms and is a quality defender. With K's emphasis on defensive intensity, Thornton could become one of the great defensive PG's at Duke.
I am really interested in seeing Thornton's D. He apparently has long arms and is a quality defender. With K's emphasis on defensive intensity, Thornton could become one of the great defensive PG's at Duke.
I agree with that. Cal seems to recruit, to varying extents, way more of the top 25-ish kids than any other coach. He wants to acquire as much high level talent as possible (which he does tremendously well), and then after that worry if/how they all fit together. Most of the time that philosophy works because the superior talent will carry the day. I think Coach K does give more thought to being selective and pursuing kids that fit his desired profilem no matter how long they plan on being in college.
I'm really excited about this pickup. Our NC squads had Hurley, Williams, Scheyer, and Jones as PGs. Scheyer was not a natural PG but knew what was expected of him and was smart. PG play is incredibly important in college and I think he can be a star. With plenty of bodies in the paint and 3 terrific shooters in the backcourt along side him, I think he can really thrive here.
Can't wait to see him running the floor with Matt, Grayson, and Luke.
Can't wait to see him running the floor with Matt, Grayson, and Luke.
I agree with what you're saying about K, but I don't think you win nearly as much as UK has done over the past few years without leaders. On that 2009-10 team, for instance, I think there were leaders (Patrick Patterson as a jr., for instance,-- someone we recruited btw)) other than guys like Walls / Cousins -- who we, as outsiders, presume are the leaders of that team b/c they're the most talented. On this year's UK squad, I think guys like Willey Cauley-Stein and Tyler Ullis were good leaders. I mean -- say what you want about UK -- but going through the regular season undefeated is an incredible accomplishment. As we proved by getting clobbered by Miami at home, even great teams are capable of playing awful basketball against mediocre competition if they're not ready to play. The fact that UK never let itself succumb to that kind of complete letdown takes leadership. There are a lot of things I don't like about UK and Cal, but I personally don't believe it's productive or healthy to spend time confidently proclaiming that our guys have better personal qualities than theirs -- b/c (i) it's impossible for any of us to know; and (ii) it's probably not often true. We know that Quinn Cook is a great leader b/c we follow the program closely and listen to what Coach K says on the subject -- but, if you followed UK just as closely, I'm sure you'd hear Calipari talking-up his guys as great leaders as well.
He can talk all he wants, it doesn't make it true. I'm not saying they aren't leaders, aah. That's not the point I'm making. The point I'm making is that Championship number 5 is proof that in the one and done arms race, Duke is going to overtake UK and it boils down to K's leadership vs. Cal and the team's leadership and chemistry. Part of that equation is mixing those one year players with multi-year guys. K obviously gets players to buy in. The Olympic team is proof. UK won a lot on talent. Do you really think the Harrisons were listening with bated breath to what Ulis had to say? Not me. Does that mean Ulis is not a leader? Absolutely not. The kid is going to have a big year next season and maybe he becomes UK's Quinn Cook or Fred Van Vleet. But buying in is a part of leadership. Overall, I think Duke exemplifies that quality better than UK.
One thing now Duke fans and I know all are aware of this but let's let Thornton be Thornton and no one else. No comparison to Tyus or any other Duke point guard. We are fortunate to have him and no matter what I'm going to value his talent and appreciate what he brings us next year. OFC
I think it's fair to have a comparison in mind when we see these recruits, but we should also not be so quick as to denigrate them if they have a few bad performances, which is entirely possible. Let's just see how the season plays out and how this team progresses once Feb, March, and hopefully April come around
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