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Wenyen Gabriel to UK

Yeah knew this one probably wasn't gonna happen and that's okay. Kid has a lot of talent and UK will be a good place for him. Can't get them all! Good luck to the young man!
 
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Wish we could have pulled him in, but K can't win all of them, all the time. We'll struggle along.

OFC
 
Hopefully it's a good sign about UK's shot with Giles. I guess you can never know, but I would be a bit surprised if Gabriel is willing to attend the same school as Giles. They clearly overlap positionally.
 
I hear you aah. While I think we ultimately end up with Giles, I'm still taking the cautiously optimistic route. But this looks good from that angle. Plus, I know a lot has been thrown around about Giles and Wake, but I continue to maintain there is little to no chance he goes there.
 
DJ, who do you think it is down to, along with Duke, for Giles services?
 
I don't even know. To be honest, I think it's as close to a done deal as it can get with us....but I've been burned using that line of thinking before.
 
It's an arms race between Duke and UK in 2016: UK has three bigs signed for 2016 I believe, while Duke has DeLaurier and is aiming at Giles and Bolden. Let's see how each class rounds out
 
dukiejay said:
I don't even know. To be honest, I think it's as close to a done deal as it can get with us....but I've been burned using that line of thinking before.
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If Giles is serious about winning a title, it comes down to UK or Duke. Wake Forest shouldn't even be on the radar
 
twdukefan said:
If Giles is serious about winning a title, it comes down to UK or Duke. Wake Forest shouldn't even be on the radar
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+ If Giles were such a homebody that he'd pick the local school b/c he wants to stay home, he wouldn't be playing for Oak Hill right now. There's really no reason to think his college thoughtprocess will be any different than the one he used to pick Oak Hill over his old school. IMO, this is clearly a Duke v. UK battle.
 
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Yeah, we're pretty much ecstatic right now cuz we seem to have lost Bridges. This eases that pain quite nicely. Still think Giles is all Duke though so I wouldn't worry.
 
jrpross said:
Yeah, we're pretty much ecstatic right now cuz we seem to have lost Bridges. This eases that pain quite nicely. Still think Giles is all Duke though so I wouldn't worry.
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More so cautious optimism than worry, at least for me. Anything can happen in the world of recruiting: a lot of people seem to think Giles to Duke, but we'll see come decision day
 
Good pick up for Kentucky. I wish he would have come to Duke but I never got the feeling he was ever going to end up at Duke. Coach K certainly put the effort in to getting him though.
 
Starting at UK vs. coming off the bench at Duke (behind Giles and Tatum). The fact we were still in his Final 2 shows the strength of our recruiting right now. I imagine the staff would have loved to add Gabriel - seems like a great kid along with an amazing talent - but had to realize the appeal of starting at UK.

Adding Bolden and Giles to our current class will make it our best in years. Using 247s class calculator, that gives us a score of 52.40; UK adding Fox and Monk would give them 52.24 by way of comparison.
 
Not the type of person to say that Duke basically told Gabriel to look elsewhere after taking DeLaurier's commitment and Giles being a done deal, but just didn't see us getting 3 power forwards. Great get by UK.

Now we just have to finish with Bolden and Giles, and we will have another amazing 5 player class.
 
lobstersgopinchpinch said:
Starting at UK vs. coming off the bench at Duke (behind Giles and Tatum). The fact we were still in his Final 2 shows the strength of our recruiting right now. I imagine the staff would have loved to add Gabriel - seems like a great kid along with an amazing talent - but had to realize the appeal of starting at UK.

Adding Bolden and Giles to our current class will make it our best in years. Using 247s class calculator, that gives us a score of 52.40; UK adding Fox and Monk would give them 52.24 by way of comparison.
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Still trolling eh? And Duke classes are measured on the court, not by "pre-season statistical ratings".

Good pick up for UK. Kid is raw, but could develop nicely.
 
aah555 said:
Hopefully it's a good sign about UK's shot with Giles. I guess you can never know, but I would be a bit surprised if Gabriel is willing to attend the same school as Giles. They clearly overlap positionally.
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No predictions on Giles, Bam or any others, But sure that Gabriel is our 3 for the future. (We don't get Bridges) Still in the market for a rated 4/5 as starter or back up for Jones/Humphries.
 
poppycat said:
No predictions on Giles, Bam or any others, But sure that Gabriel is our 3 for the future. (We don't get Bridges) Still in the market for a rated 4/5 as starter or back up for Jones/Humphries.
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I have no idea what Cal is selling to Gabriel, but Gabriel's not a 3. He just isn't -- or at least he's no more of a 3 than someone like Alex Poythress, who's been misused at the 3 for a number of years. Gabriel is a pretty skilled guy for a 4, but he won't be able to do anything off the dribble against college 3s. He just doesn't have that kind of balhandling ability. Maybe Cal smartly sold him on the idea of the 3 b/c Duke obviously can't make that pitch with Tatum already committed -- but Gabriel at the 3 is fitting in a square peg in a round hole.
 
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aah555 said:
I have no idea what Cal is selling to Gabriel, but Gabriel's not a 3. He just isn't -- or at least he's no more of a 3 than someone like Alex Poythress, who's been misused at the 3 for a number of years. Gabriel is a pretty skilled guy for a 4, but he won't be able to do anything off the dribble against college 3s. He just doesn't have that kind of balhandling ability. Maybe Cal smartly sold him on the idea of the 3 b/c Duke obviously can't make that pitch with Tatum already committed -- but Gabriel at the 3 is fitting in a square peg in a round hole.
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Gabriel is a better ball handler, passer and shooter than Alex Poythress. And it's not really close.
 
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Gabriel might be able to play along side 2 other bigs, but it won't work as the main set. He can dribble better than most know, but it simply won't be useful against a shorter guy faced up one on one. He's better in the open floor. Basically, he's no Winslow. Won't hit the three and can't get in the lane off the bounce unless his defender sucks.
 
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I ventured over to Rupp Rafters earlier after it was announced that Gabriel chose UK and a KU fan had started a thread last night saying that he knew that Gabriel was going to announce today that he was going to choose UK today and the board ripped into him good and everyone was calling him a troll but then as soon as Gabriel announced that he was going to UK, it became the ultimate "I told you so" moment for that KU fan and all the UK posters were instantly praising him. The thread went from a 6 post thread to a 6 page thread in just a few hours. It was pretty fun to read through that thread before and after Gabriel announced that he was going to UK. lol
 
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Why are we making such a big deal out of a UK player.I'm all for talking about our guys. We're not through with our recruiting. A door closes and another door opens. Just think through all the years when we missed on a top recruit and soon after we got a big one. OFC
 
CalCat57 said:
Gabriel is a better ball handler, passer and shooter than Alex Poythress. And it's not really close.
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That very well may be the case, but it doesn't mean Gabriel is elite level at those things, yet. He has the potential to improve and be great at those things but he will long have moved away from college ball by the time that happens. He is a good player and kid, but he has the skills of a power forward right now.
 
skysdad said:
Why are we making such a big deal out of a UK player.I'm all for talking about our guys. We're not through with our recruiting. A door closes and another door opens. Just think through all the years when we missed on a top recruit and soon after we got a big one. OFC
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I don't think we're making a big deal out of it. Gabriel was a kid we recruited pretty hard....so I think it applies to being Duke related.
 
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Duke didn't really need him, he is to thin to play the 4, What's the holdup with Giles you know he knows were he is going. If Giles don't commit to Duke by x-mas, he will not come.
 
RamHard said:
Duke didn't really need him, he is to thin to play the 4, What's the holdup with Giles you know he knows were he is going. If Giles don't commit to Duke by x-mas, he will not come.
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Yeah not sure the point of this post....he'll commit after he has taken his OVs- you know stay the same course he has said he would. Early Nov commitment.
 
RamHard said:
Duke didn't really need him, he is to thin to play the 4, What's the holdup with Giles you know he knows were he is going. If Giles don't commit to Duke by x-mas, he will not come.
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Terrible post. Any program could use a kid like Gabriel. Duke is no exception.

Like timo said above me, Giles has not wavered from his plan that he set forth months ago. Why would that change now?
 
Didn't think lobster was trolling so get off him.

The kid could probably play the 3. At an elite F4 level? Maybe not but doesn't mean he can't step out some.

At least I bet he could play the 3 better than anybody on this thread so far! ;)
 
crazyduke3 said:
Didn't think lobster was trolling so get off him.

The kid could probably play the 3. At an elite F4 level? Maybe not but doesn't mean he can't step out some.

At least I bet he could play the 3 better than anybody on this thread so far! ;)
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No way, I am crazy long with a 48 inch vert and can shoot out to 30 feet. I just choose to sit in an office most of the day.
 
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DukeDenver said:
No way, I am crazy long with a 48 inch vert and can shoot out to 30 feet. I just choose to sit in an office most of the day.
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I think that tops my 4.8 inch vertical and ability to shoot out to 3.0 feet. That might actually be generous too. :)
 
Gabriel would have been a good "get" for Duke, but he chose Kentucky. Good for him and congrats to Kentucky. Best wishes for him, seems like a very nice young man.
Somehow, Duke will survive this.
Go Duke!!


JC-OFC
 
crazyduke3 said:
Didn't think lobster was trolling so get off him.

The kid could probably play the 3. At an elite F4 level? Maybe not but doesn't mean he can't step out some.

At least I bet he could play the 3 better than anybody on this thread so far! ;)
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You really think I would listen to you? Lol, get a clue and then I'll listen. Lobsters trolls across numerous boards "as a Duke fan" making the base look bad. Next time have an idea of what's going on here before spewing your crap.

As for Wenyen, he's not a 3 at the D1 level. Your statement there is in line with many of your other posts,though, so nothing shocking here....
 
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