I have been hearing from Duke fans and the media that Duke only had 5 players but I saw 10 or 12 players on their bench. What was the deal did they have 7 injured players or are 4 or 5 of those players that bad they wouldn't let them in the game ?
Why only 5 players
- Thread starter kozmas
- Start date
They played more than five........The idea that Duke has only five players is Duke and ESPN "PR" BS hype!
Here's the box score from the 4 letter network. I don't know how many of those guys are hurt, but they have more than 5 players.
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=400839774
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=400839774
Amile Jefferson has missed 19 games with the now infamous Duke foot injury just like Kyrie Irving, Carlos Boozer, Ryan Kelly. Matt Jones got hurt against UNC, high ankle sprain. Antonio Vrankovich was like a two star recruit who was added late as a practice player. Sean Obi is a transfer from Rice who simply has not been able to play against ACC level comp. He averaged 10 and 10 at Rice but can't get on the floor at Duke, when he has he has been very unimpressive. The rest are walk ones. Duke got caught thinking Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones were two year players and did not recruit to replace them, had to convince Derryck Thornton to leave Finday Prep a year early by going to summer school in order to have a pg. Also tried to get Jamal Murray, he left early also, but to UK. Whiffed on Noah Dickerson, Diamond Stone was not interested in Duke, and got Luke Kennard but thought he was gonna back up Justise, then he had to be a major factor with Justise playing for the Heat.
Sounds about right. Kennard has proven to be a nice haul, not to mention Ingram. UofL was so much more athletic than Plumlee who truly is one giant of a man. With 3 studs, a team can go far but I can't understand not going just a bit deeper. I wonder if Rick didn't lure K into thinking our pressing days were over?
Brandon was horrible today, partly because of fatigue but mainly I thought the man to man trap and the fronting full court press was just too tough for him to handle. I thought, always have thought, Pitino in so damn good that you can never count on coaching errors with his teams. I really thought we ( Duke) did a heck of a job staying in it as well as we did. Louisville is good, if you think you can come into KFC Yum and not play your best and get away with it, you get ur butt stamped.
Thronton was a 5 star player, Jeter was a 5 star player, Kennard 5 star, and Ingram 5 star. So they lost 3 and replace with 4. I find it weird myself that Duke is only playing 5-6 players. Honeslty if Jones returned I doubt Thornton would have reclassifed or came to Duke. With Winslow back Kennard either wouldn't have came or would be on the bench. And I believe everyone figured Jeter would beat out Plumlee or at least get some type of significant minutes. Duke has no one to blame but themselves. We have 2 underclassmen leave early and 2 rotation players injuried, yet we are deep enough to overcome it. An elite program like Duke should be able to overcome it as well.
I am not trying at all to make excuses or do anything of the sort. I am not sure what your post is supposed to mean in response to mine. Duke has no excuses, nor was I trying to make any excuses. In fact we said the exact same things in regards to Thornton and Kennard,that Kennard may have come to Duke even with Justise still there, but as you point out, not see much PT. I am not making any excuses for anything. Reread the original post I made, I find it difficult to see it as inflammatory or excuse making. Duke got caught with their pants down recruiting to fill the pg position. I would agree that Duke is to blame for their problems, especially they way Coach K will not use a longer bench. Duke also lost a key starter in Quinn Cook, so it was four for four. Coach K stubbornly refuses to develop his bench, especially later in his career. Pitino and many others are much more willing to play deeper into the bench, I think that is a better approach personally but I am not in a position to convince the all time winningest coach of any change to his coaching decisions.
My response for more of a general statement of how ESPN is talking about Duke injuries more than your post. Honestly I believe K is falling into what Cal had when he started having with all the one and dones. Which is depth and what to do excalty when you have 3-4 players leaving each year. Jeter, Kennard, and Thronton will all be back. They are bringing in 3 5 stars and a 4 star player.
Understood. He took the dive into the OAD arena, maybe because of his age and anyone with his success must have an EGO like a T-Rex, otherwise he would have hung it up a while ago. I think he was driven to drive and win six National Championships and still is. I am only 57, of course I do not make 14 million dollars a year, I am a little short on the income end, but I coach HS varsity in private school league and also AAU. I have to tell you, traveling from Northern Virginia to Pittsburgh, Mannheim, King of Prussia, Philadelphia, PA, then Richmond and Hampton, VA, then Winston-Salem, NC is one thing, then comes July...New Jersey, Suwanee, GA, and finally Las Vegas, NV. I thought last year, you know I am too effing old for this. But we lost in triple overtime to Wisconsin Playground Elite and got banished to the HS gyms in the Silver Elite Bracket. I thought, the gym will be empty, how can I get my exhausted kids to play hard, how can I coach with my best effort( I really rather be on a plane back to Dulles and my own bed, my own car, my own bottles of mandarin orange flavored water that do not cost $8 a bottle in some 7/24 on the LV Strip) and there were coaches in the coaches section of the gym bleachers..some I knew well, George Mason, George Washington, Radford, Navy, Army, VMI, Richmond and some like San Diego State, Northern Kentucky, Cornell, Penn, and UMASS. They were there for my kids, I had to coach hard. It is about them, not me. San Diego State actually offered one of my kids( we are from Fairfax County, VA, mainly, some players from DC and some from suburban Maryland). I was a bit surprised they showed up for those games. But it is a grind man, really a grind.
K has made this decision and it is sort of dangerous waters. I personally like your point now that I understand it. One, K does not play a long enough bench, even against teams like Yale or Elon, starters are playing 36 minutes....why? Also, if you have to reload with multiple five stars every year, you are putting yourself in the position of not having a point guard or a power forward if you miss on a recruit or simply misjudge how long a recruit will stay. I sort of wish Duke could win with 3-4 year players, but K threw his hat in the Austin Rivers, Jabari Parker, Jahlil Okafor, Brandon Ingram ring, as well as ones he missed on...so gotta live with it.
Sorry about G.A., he is a Christian Lattener and Gerald Wallace type...dude is just hard to play against and hard to play with. If you watched every Duke game like I do you'd see that Thornton and Matt Jones do not exactly show much "love" towards him either.
I enjoy your post(s). Just one suggestion: paragraphs are your friend.....more paragraphs are much easier to read for these old aging eyes.thanks in advance.
Good post and as a high school coach (Football) I pat you on the back for the hours you put in for young people. Believe me I know a lot goes unnoticed by many.
Not saying anything is wrong with the OAD model K is using now he deserves to do whatever he feel is best. It's just crazy to me that K never tried to devlope his bench any this season. As you said even against the likes of Georgia Southern in the non conference he didn't try to devlope his bench.
To Rick's credit I think he does a better job than anyone in the Country developing his bench and bringing them along as the year progresses. Take the Duke game for instance 8 guys played significant minutes and thats with 2 guys out who would have played minutes too.
