Is Duke out-working everyone else, or is it something else?

[moe#8]

All the OP is doing is trying to show people just how stupid all the Duke threads are on here, that's my take anyway.

 

[BBUK]

All the OP is doing is trying to show people just how stupid all the Duke threads are on here, that's my take anyway.

Yeah but he doesn't like Coach K. He fooled me though...

 

[Federal Cat]

Bath salts are not good for you ya know

 

[Dakota25]

I wonder what will happen to Puke after rat face leaves. My best friend is a bandwagon Puke fan but when I ask him what team he will cheer for after rat face leaves he just dodges the question and never really gives me an answer.

 

[TUL]

Wtf thread is wtf.

 

[Cat Ballou]

K has IMMENSE advantages over Cal. He is at private unversity with a prestigious academic reputation as opposed to a large public state university in a fairly poor state. He has been at that university for over 30 years, and thus has the resources of over 30 years of esteemed alumnus to draw on - whereas Cal has been to 3 separate schools over his career. K is also in a talent rich state.

He is largely revered by the media whereas Cal is a guy who is having to work to overcome past perceptions of him when he was young and brash, on top of the UMass, Memphis NCAA allegations that he had little control over.

The fact that Cal - despite all that - can belly up and go toe to toe with K is pretty amazing if you thInk about it. I don't think any UK fan could ask for more than we have gotten out of our coach.

 

[SomeDudeCRO]

Yep, and they were 2 or 3 seed in UK bracket in '12 and '14 so I'm guessing K must have lost on purpose to Lehigh/Mercer so he could maintain this "dominance"

 

[Clive Gollings]

OP has forever tied his allegience to Duke.

Atleast Blueblood66 hides it.

 

[ThroughBlue]

Coach K is our padre. No denying that

 

[JellyShelly]

Duke had four players who averaged between 12 and 16 points/game in 95-96. They won 18 games. They played a tougher strength of schedule in 95-96 than they did in 94-95. How you can quantitatively say that Duke had a lesser team in 96? Cherokee Parks, a career NBA journey man who saw career highs of 7.1ppg in his best NBA season, is not really the type of player to cite when talking about a vacuum left by an elite player's departure. Duke's offense/defense was ranked 61st/159th in 1995. Their offense/defense was ranked 85th/112th in 1996. I'm not sure how that makes for an argument that the 96 team was overwhelmingly inferior to the 95 team.

Also, I know it's hard to imagine your presumptive hero coach as anything less than the college basketball equivalent of Gandhi, but I think the first step to approaching the potential pitfalls of hero worship is acknowledging that every human is self-serving to some degree. Even someone like Coach K, whose military history really is as faulty in solidifying your point that he's above reproach as it would be citing General David Petraeus's service to his country as somehow negating his inability to keep his pants on.

That is to say, it's not really relevant to this discussion about whether he would abandon his team. It should also be noted that while he's had worse teams in his career, all of those teams came before he was handed the title of "college basketball's greatest coach" during his epic late 80s/early 90s run. He didn't go for back surgery in a season that featured a returning core of Grant Hill and company or one that featured an incoming Corey Maggette. He chose a season that featured his lowest amount of talent since before the movie The Breakfast Club hit the box office. Does it mean K was deliberately abandoning his least talented team in a decade? Not necessarily, but the picture you paint certainly doesn't exonerate him either. Until Duke fans formulate a better counter-argument, the discussion should continue.

It was, at the very least, suspicious timing. I'd hope you could at least acknowledge that much.

God dude- give it up. As a UK fan (yes a UK fan) you are making us all look like desperate fools.

 

[Catswin9]

For those of us who follow recruiting almost as closely as we do the actual games, something really unusual has been going on the last couple of years with Duke's recruiting.

Duke has shown an uncanny ability to get in early on kids and establish relationships with them before any of the other big schools - and before these kids blow up the national scene. What I can't figure out is whether the Duke guys are just outworking us, UNC, Kansas, and everyone else, or if they are realizing some kind of immense scouting network advantage because of K's Team USA affiliations.

Some recent examples - Frank Jackson was an under-the-radar talent that Duke became heavily involved with before he showed up at the Summer events and blew up - suddenly the guy is in the discussion as one of the Top 2-3 PGs in the class and Duke already has him in the bag. None of the other big time programs were involved with him.

In the 2017 class, Trae Young is another under the radar, Top 50-ish kid that Duke has been heavily involved with - he too blows up this Summer. He also just happens to be best friends with Michael Porter, the Jayson Tatum of the 2017 class.

So what is it? Are they just working harder and doing a better job of finding these kids before everyone else, or is this just another way that Duke is benefitting from the Team USA affiliation?

 

[Catswin9]

Since Duke is all in on the one and done now, Duke will probably win on most of the players that they really want. As much as I hate to admit, Duke and coach K are hot right now. Kentucky will continue to compete for the yearly no.1 recruiting class.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

God dude- give it up. As a UK fan (yes a UK fan) you are making us all look like desperate fools.

Ah, man, I'm sorry. But I'm sure a name like JellyShelly and a picture of a red Cadillac at the hop will help you overcome the stigma I'm creating.

 

[JellyShelly]

Ah, man, I'm sorry. But I'm sure a name like JellyShelly and a picture of a red Cadillac at the hop will help you overcome the stigma I'm creating.

a spade is a spade my man.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

a spade is a spade my man.

 

[JellyShelly]

Ah, man, I'm sorry. But I'm sure a name like JellyShelly and a picture of a red Cadillac at the hop will help you overcome the stigma I'm creating.

Also- "JellyShelly" was my mothers nickname growing up. She just passed away from liver cancer and she always said she wanted a pink Cadillac one day.... Which she never got. So that explains that .

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Also- "JellyShelly" was my mothers nickname growing up. She just passed away from liver cancer and she always said she wanted a pink Cadillac one day.... Which she never got. So that explains that .

I'm truly sorry to hear about your loss and sorry for the presumption about the name. Are you doing okay? I can't imagine how difficult that would be, man.

 

[JellyShelly]

I'm truly sorry to hear about your loss and sorry for the presumption about the name. Are you doing okay? I can't imagine how difficult that would be, man.

Thanks. I am doing alright I suppose. Luckily
I have a wife and 3 children (under 5) so there is a lot of distraction lol

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Thanks. I am doing alright I suppose. Luckily
I have a wife and 3 children (under 5) so there is a lot of distraction lol

Well, I hope you find peace through this. Sounds like you've got a handful of blessings. May the good Lord give you even more peace, sir. God bless.

 

[Neue Regel]

The OP is either a troll or someone with a pathetically bad grip on sarcasm or satire.

In fact, Kentucky and Duke have played four consequential games in my lifetime.

1966 Final Four. Kentucky wins
1978 NCAA championship Kentucky wins
1992 Regional Final Duke wins in OT on fluke play
1998 Regional Final Kentucky wins when Duke chokes away 17 pt lead

So, in games that matter Kentucky owns Duke.

1980 NCAA Sweet 16 game in Rupp Arena?

 

[GonzoCat90]

This got weird in a hurry.

 

[Cats192]

They just won it all. They're one of the premier college basketball schools. What is hard about this?

 

[SosaUK]

Just letting you know that I do not care.

Aww.

 

[Blue Decade]

#1. Many fans would be elated if K took a break or even retired. That's a sign of respect for the man.

#2. I personally feel it was ironic and funny how his lone back surgery season coincided with his worst team since his first Duke teams (and yes, up until that point, it was his worst team since the early 80s). You may not agree and see the irony or humor there, but many folks do. I happen to be one of them. Do I think K was faking an injury? No, but I also feel had e encountered the same symptoms during the 98-99 season, he probably would have waited until after the season for the surgery. Maybe I'm wrong there, but I don't think so.

Look, these Coach K apologists are forgetting that the 94-95 season happened before the 95-96 season, rendering their appeal toward his objectivity in his timing baseless. There was no way to know that the 96 team would be worse at the time when K stepped down. The reality facing K in 1995 was back pain and a team with no chance at a Final Four. He did the math and took the logical break from the game. I can't say I blame him, but I'm also not going to act naïve by asserting he would have taken a break had he faced similar back pain in 1992 or 2001. I find the humor, in part, from those who would never even dream of such a possibility, even if it was the logical move for K.

#3. Your opinion doesn't dictate or encompass the full scope of reality. Neither does mine. Life goes on, but I do hope I've explained my position in a clearer way.

Why did you feel it necessary to reply with all of this psychobabble? 95% of it is off point. I only suggested that you embarrassed yourself by saying a lot of fans would do a secret high 5 if Krzyzewski comes down with another back injury. That was bush, and I seriously doubt it was accurate. I don't think Duke's program is as strong as ours, historically speaking, but all serious students of basketball respect Krzyzewski. By the way, I admire and enjoy most of your posts.

 

[-LEK-]

This got weird in a hurry.

I dont really understand this thread at all. Offseason I guess.

 

[lakercat]

All the OP is doing is trying to show people just how stupid all the Duke threads are on here, that's my take anyway.

Someone got it. Look, I grew up in California/Hawaii; I don't remember the Laettner game; therefore, I don't hate Duke as much as the rest of you. I despise Carolina and Louisville far more (and Marquette). I respect Coach K. In my opinion, he is one of, if not the greatest ever. Coach Cal is great too. Everyone was acting all paranoid about Duke; they have one of the greatest coaches ever; is anyone really surprised at what they are doing? Kentucky is the greatest program; is anyone surprised at what UK is doing. We look like a bunch of Louisville fans obsessing about another school, like they do UK. Maybe it's bad satire, but this also a forum to discuss basketball.