I liked his comments because for the first time I heard him give the Duke program big time praise. I just want Zion and his family to be happy with their choice. Unlike a few of you, my life doesn’t revolve around Duke basketball. You don’t see me ever bashing our players when we’re losing. Can you say that?
Zion Williamson (Shut it down?)
- Thread starter dukesince91
- Start date
Far and away BEST POST ON THIS THREAD. In a year K said we will EMBRACE the 6th man and seemed to be more flexible, he hasnt prepared for a moment like this. Back in mid-summer in a preseason presser at Cameron, he said Marques will be one of the best big men in the country this year....He did appear to be turning the corner last nite, and lack of development from him + reserves we play is just not up to the really good teams....
Tell ya what though, K's got my support for LIFE for what hes done for the program, the school, the V Foundation etc. He's truly a man's man! OFC
Not just Zion but I can’t imagine ANY big time player turning down an opportunity to play on the biggest stage in their sport (NCAA Tournament) if healthy enough to do so. Kyrie couldn’t do it. What player would miss that if they didn’t have to?
Health + legitimate shot at title= play.
Had it been Ben Simmons when they had no shot then I can see it.
I am a UVa fan visiting this site. I hope Zion is okay. While we UVa fans love Coach Bennett, there is a ton of discussion (actually, complaining) on our board about his not giving Jay Huff and perhaps another bench player more minutes now in the event we suffer an injury to one of our regulars as the season goes on. I have noticed that, over the past few seasons (as Duke has signed more and more 1-and-dones), Coach K seems to have tried to limit playing time as much as possible to 6 or 7 players, sometimes with the result that there are 3 and 4 star Duke recruits who ride the bench except in mop up occasions. As with Huff, I imagine it is difficult for a player to maintain his confidence in his abilities when he suspects his coach does not believe he is worthy of regular playing (playing only in mop up or emergency situations). Obviously both K and Bennett have forgotten way more basketball than we fans/posters ever knew, but I too wish our bench (players 8 and 9) played more than it does just to be ready when something like what happened last night occurs.
Huff is a good player.. I wondered why he didn't see more time against us. His athleticism and energy gave our bigs problems.
I agree with you to a certain extent regarding our bench players lacking confidence. I remember Bolden's freshman year, whenever there was a stoppage in play his head would snap towards the bench because he was expecting to be called back instead of allowed to work through it.
For amazing as the Duke program is and Coach K, we have had some players the last few years who severely lacked development to the point where they didn't even look like division 1 players.
Thornton, Hairston, O'Connell, Goldwire...
I will readily admit to being wrong, but I think depth is the most overrated thing in college basketball. I would always rather have elite starters with clear separation than I would 8 comparably good guys. I feel like you can't coach the season with the fear that someone will get hurt, you roll with the guys that will give you the best chance to win on a given night.
Duke has three guys off the bench averaging 10+ minutes a game in White (23 mins.), Javin (14 mins) and AOC (12 mins). That is certainly a reasonable amount of opportunity. They just aren't playing well currently.
Duke has three guys off the bench averaging 10+ minutes a game in White (23 mins.), Javin (14 mins) and AOC (12 mins). That is certainly a reasonable amount of opportunity. They just aren't playing well currently.
Oh an internet tough guy...tell your parents you're using their computer to act tough...tough guy
Good post. I agree with you. But I have always felt that K should get those guys involved more on offense when they are in. We should run some horn sets every so often with Alex in the game similar to what we would do with Luke. Ques has played solidly, but there have been a lot of times where we have been stagnant on offense where I feel like a post touch for him would be nice. That being said, he does miss a lot of easy shots.
That being said, winning cures all and I feel like if we can beat Syracuse on the road we won't be complaining so much.
And its a winnable game because syracuse struggles to score . We just cant take 50 threes plus we do play better on the road
False, Grayson Allen, Amile Jefferson, Matt Jones, and Marshal Plumlee all say hello
Your argument is 2 role players a super athletic freak and a highly touted recruit?
Enjoy how media is saying Z should call it quits and head to NBA. Sure those lottery teams are so well run! Went to Hornets-Knicks few months back and it was unwatchable hoops. NBA has become a talk show league where everyone is worried about free agency, money and not the actual season. Watch the highlights and its empty seats galore. Sure there is money but level of play is garbage.
Just got back from Cancun without internet for a week and man did I miss a lot.
-Zion will be back, it was smart to not play him last night even if he felt fine. I hope we only miss him for a week because we need a #1 seed.
-Zion getting hurt completely deflated Cameron and our team(again), so I'm not worried that UNC punked us. Can we not play another game in Cameron this season please?????
-The "K not developing his bench" is the dumbest argument on the planet. These guys are playing basketball 365 days a year, does anyone realize how many games they actually play (open gyms, scrimmages, etc.) I'm sorry but O'Connell getting an extra 10 minutes a night isn't gonna make him a better defender.
-We have by far the most talent in the country and people are complaining that our 8th man isn't very good?? Give me a break, we are so spoiled.
-Zion will be back, it was smart to not play him last night even if he felt fine. I hope we only miss him for a week because we need a #1 seed.
-Zion getting hurt completely deflated Cameron and our team(again), so I'm not worried that UNC punked us. Can we not play another game in Cameron this season please?????
-The "K not developing his bench" is the dumbest argument on the planet. These guys are playing basketball 365 days a year, does anyone realize how many games they actually play (open gyms, scrimmages, etc.) I'm sorry but O'Connell getting an extra 10 minutes a night isn't gonna make him a better defender.
-We have by far the most talent in the country and people are complaining that our 8th man isn't very good?? Give me a break, we are so spoiled.
So you are saying Quinn Cook, Brian Zoubek, Lance Thomas, Seth Curry, Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler, J.J. Redick, the four guys I previously mentioned all did not raise their gsmesbfrom their Freshmen to Senior year at Duke?
You come here to play basketball. You don’t come here to give up on your team. What kind of message does that send our youth? 6’8” 285lbs sounds tough, but once a quitter always a quitter. There’s no turning the clock back on being soft.
The Zion we’ve all been introduced to through interviews and such is a goofy, humble, laid back guy who just wants to hoop.
He will play, unless we’ve been fooled by a phony.
The Zion we’ve all been introduced to through interviews and such is a goofy, humble, laid back guy who just wants to hoop.
He will play, unless we’ve been fooled by a phony.
Oh they deff did but they were all “stars” from day one. I mean our role players are 5* that show little to no progress is what they’re saying. Those guys aren’t in the same breath. Every one of those guys were suppose to and expected to contribute. It has nothing to do with being a four year player
A beg to differ on.Nolan Smith the amount of people that criticized him his first two years was high. Same could be said for Quinn Cook
Curry was not a 4 year player at Duke, he transferred in. Redick and Singler could have left after their Junior or even Sophomore years and were all Americans as underclassman. Thomas and Zoubek I will give to you, but that was 9 years ago.
Players run their own race as K likes to say. Let’s see what happens moving forward. You want a recent player from Duke that maximized his Talent how about Tyler Thornton
Correct. Other than the stars we have (and they are big time stars) the player development of the others has not been what I thought it would be.
Did anyone notice early in the 2nd half that K ran cross screen action to get Bolden the ball on the block, Bolden turned over his right shoulder and did not finish the play. We got a clean look at the rim, Bolden did everything that was asked but just did not finish. We did not come back to that the whole night. Part of player development is allowing kids to fail but also having the confidence to come back to them even after they fail. We have a long leash on all the 5 star kids but when anyone else fails they are pulled from the game or are not given another opportunity.
Eh we’ll just agree to disagree. Yeah I know Coach K does not play his bench a lot, I wish he did too, but if it’s what he feels gives his team the best chance to win so be it. White and O’Connell are getting clean looks at shots and neither one of them can knock down a jumper lately.... Jack is not the same player he was during the non conference portion of the season. I like Goldwire, but he is challenged with his offensive game.
Well what's the point of playing at all? Why does every great player even play at the risk of injury? Shouldn't Ja Morant, Coby White, PJ Washington, etc. all shut it down too? Why do players even play in the Drew League or for Team USA? Heck, why do the great NBA players even play much at all before February? All of these high level college players want to play in the NBA, why isn't every one of them shutting it down and just working out individually until the draft? Every player should be placed in a bubble and not take any risks with their body at all. Yeah there are plenty of guys who coast in the NBA, looking to just collect a paycheck and nothing else. But those aren't the great ones, those aren't the ones we remember. You play the game to win, to be competitive, and to be great, to be remembered. The great ones play for more than just the money and put their bodies and earning potential on the line for that chance to be legendary.
I mean, it's sports, you're always risking injury and loss of value no matter when or how you play. Greg Oden was injured as a freshman, still drafted #1, and proceeded to be a huge bust and lost a lot of momey thereafter. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons both were drafted #1 after getting injured and went on to be studs. Kenyon Martin was injured as a senior and still taken #1. In other words, history has shown that the NBA does not give two you-know-whats about an injury, if they have seen a player they like they still draft him high even with an injury. The real key to the player's future earnings is what he does in the NBA once he has rehabbed and whether or not he is re-injured in the NBA. History shows that draft position only changes slightly, if at all, due to a player being injured in college.
I find it perplexing that the only times I have ever heard the media say that a player should shut it down is with Duke guys: Harry Giles and now Zion. I don't think I have ever heard anybody say that a UK or KU one and done should shut down their season. Wonder why?
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Some 5 stars don’t live up to the hype. Some 3 and 4 stars have an underrated ceiling. The TRUE stars of the past decade jump to the draft. We have a list a mile long.
As much as I love seeing all the top prospects that pick Duke, they’re truthfully making a risky decision. The best come here to play. If you’re out-performed, you sit in the backseat. They all have a fair chance to get on the court. Alex and Javin are both 4 stars, one plays and one gets junk minutes. Jack and JG both 3 stars. One starts half of the time, the other is rarely seen. It may seem like underdevelopment but if you aren’t a top-tier talent, you’re taking that risk when you commit.
Jack White doesn’t start or play significant minutes because Coach K feels like decorating the lineup with a 3 star. Hard work pays off.
I'm just saying I understand the argument they're making and I don't think it's absurd. He's already thr number one draft pick. He has nothing left to prove. From purely a business stand point he has nothing to gain from continuing to play. I'm not saying he shouldn't play because if he wants to play then he should. There is more than just a business side to it.. I'm just saying I understand the argument the media is making.
There's certainly a theoretical argument one can make. It's also more plausible after what happened last night.
That said, Zion isn't that kind of kid. He doesn't come from that kind of family. He's not getting on his team, his brothers or his best friends. He gets one shot at this whole college thing. One. I don't think it's in his personality to walk away from his guys.
I agree....I don't think there's any way he doesn't come back and play. He already addressed that when Pippen said he should shut it down weeks ago.
Right, but the fact that we know there is more to it than just the business side renders the discussion completely hypothetical and only for, well, the business of sports media to have something controversial to talk about. It's a completely made up narrative intended solely to get people calling into talk shows, clicking on articles, watching those silly shows with men sitting at a desk arguing, subscribing to websites, etc. Deep down everyone in knows that he is not going to just sit out, he wants to compete and win, that's why he plays the game and plays it hard and with passion. Sports are played by humans and when humans are involved there is a lot more going on than just some 1+1=2 kind of thinking, there's emotion and passion among many other things.
It's strictly an argument for argument's sake, not really one that thoughtfully considers the human side of being a highly competitive, world class athlete.
I completely agree; I don't think Zion is the type of kid to walk away. If able, I definitely expect to see him back in a Duke uniform.
Do people forget the game of basketball is fun? All you hear is $$$ blah blah. He will be back if healthy. No way he can look all those guys in the eye and say “I’m done”
