Top 5 elite players who picked Duke in the NBA

[~Keyser Soze~]

Harry Giles - Rivals #2 prospect. Sac said he was healthy but want his knee to get stronger. Truth is, he has zero NBA skills and they're trying to hide him

Jason Tatum - Rivals#3 prospect. 3-7 shooting for 8 points 9 rebounds in 39 mins last game.

Jahlil Okafor - Rivals #1 prospect. DNP coaches decision. Dude is so bad, he can't even see the floor on a bad team. Dude is a bust.

Brandon Ingram - Rivals #4 prospect. 3-15 shootining, 12 points 5 rebounds. Dude is a bust

Austin Rivers - Rivals #1 prospect. 1-11 shooting, 2 points 2 rebounds in 26 mins

Kyrie Irving- Rival #4 prospect. 7-25 shooting, 17 points and 3 assists. He's not a bust but he's the most overhyped and overrated player in the NBA behind Lonzo Ball.

I'm not calling these dudes busts for 1 bad game, there is plenty of evidence to suggest they are. It was just eye opening how many guys who were elite can't miss prospects who go to Duke and struggle in the NBA. Is Coach K the one who is just rolling the ball out and not dedeveloping guys.

It's so bad, think of all the elite talent Coach K has gotten at Duke, now put together an all Duke NBA team and try not to laugh. Spoiler alert, that team includes not 1 but 2 Plumlee's.

 

[Cat Ballou]

I think it's more a reflection of the type of kid who goes to Duke and finds the whole elitist Ivy League Duke thing appealing. Guys who are sometimes maybe a little spoiled and full of themselves? Or maybe they think they are taking the easy road and sales pitches like "set for life" and snobbish hokum like The Brotherhood and guys sitting on the sidelines in matching custom tailored suits appeals to them.

Okafor isn't playing because he won't play a lick of defense, just like in college. Rivers and Tatum are pass-last selfish gunners who sometimes even pissed off their own fanbase with their inability to play team ball.

How many seconds would Cal have put up with either behavior? Cal let's kids know they are going to work harder than they've ever worked in their lives if they come to UK. He makes them develop areas were they are weak instead of letting them continue bad habits from high school, and when they get here, they aren't coddled. We tend to get the tough blue collar kids who are workers, and fully appreciate the effort it's going to take to make it in the NBA.

Okafor's fat ass would have learned to play defense if he'd come to UK. Tatum would have learned to pass the ball to a teammate instead of taking a bad shot. And think about the vast gulf between Bolden and Adebayo last year - maybe if Bolden didn't start the year thinking he was already "set for life" he would have worked his tail off and played his heart out like Bam did and he'd be playing in the NBA right now.

 

[the nail at the foul line]

2010 and 2015.

Nothing else matters.

Our NBA players are better is a consolation prize for the butthurt.

 

[uk78]

I hate Duke but couldn't you argue that this shows what a great coach K. is by having players over-achieve while in college?

 

[North Carolina Blue Wildcat]

I hate Duke but couldn't you argue that this shows what a great coach K. is by having players over-achieve while in college?

Yes..but you lose the internet today. No likes for you...

 

[~Keyser Soze~]

I hate Duke but couldn't you argue that this shows what a great coach K. is by having players over-achieve while in college?

Not really, first of all, K is a great coach and no one argues that he isn't. That being said, he has had overwhelming talent and ridiculous good luck with the NCAA Tournament draws he's gotten. His overwhelming talent just seems to stall out post Duke in the NBA.

 

[wcc31]

I think it's more a reflection of the type of kid who goes to Duke and finds the whole elitist Ivy League Duke thing appealing. Guys who are sometimes maybe a little spoiled and full of themselves? Or maybe they think they are taking the easy road and sales pitches like "set for life" and snobbish hokum like The Brotherhood and guys sitting on the sidelines in matching custom tailored suits appeals to them.

Okafor isn't playing because he won't play a lick of defense, just like in college. Rivers and Tatum are pass-last selfish gunners who sometimes even pissed off their own fanbase with their inability to play team ball.

How many seconds would Cal have put up with either behavior? Cal let's kids know they are going to work harder than they've ever worked in their lives if they come to UK. He makes them develop areas were they are weak instead of letting them continue bad habits from high school, and when they get here, they aren't coddled. We tend to get the tough blue collar kids who are workers, and fully appreciate the effort it's going to take to make it in the NBA.

Okafor's fat ass would have learned to play defense if he'd come to UK. Tatum would have learned to pass the ball to a teammate instead of taking a bad shot. And think about the vast gulf between Bolden and Adebayo last year - maybe if Bolden didn't start the year thinking he was already "set for life" he would have worked his tail off and played his heart out like Bam did and he'd be playing in the NBA right now.

Good post. If a kid chooses Duke he immediately identifies himself as a dbag.

 

[wcc31]

I hate Duke but couldn't you argue that this shows what a great coach K. is by having players over-achieve while in college?

Did they overachieve? Giles was terrible. Tatum was decent but played no defense on a trainwreck of a team. Same with Parker.

K has had two great runs in the last 15 years.

 

[~Keyser Soze~]

And Kentucky has had 1.

Just curious, if you had to put together a current All Duke NBA team, who would it be?

 

[BlueDevilPharmD]

Just curious, if you had to put together a current All Duke NBA team, who would it be?

You can go look at my other comment to see my views on Duke vs UK NBA players right now. I already said UK has a huge edge. That has nothing to do with my comment here. The guy said that K has had 2 good runs in the past 15 years, I assume he means 2010 and 2015, so I pointed out that UK has only had 1 in the past 15 years. Seems pretty straight forward.

 

[BlueDevilPharmD]

1? Have you been doing the old 1 for you 1 for me pill trick ?

Did I miss a championship somewhere? 2012 is it right?

 

[Deli owl]

I think Tatum and Ingram will be good pros.

 

[wcc31]

And Kentucky has had 1.

No, moron- I was referring to the fact Duke has been past the Sweet 16 3x in 14 years- and one of those was a blowout Elite 8 loss.

So, K has two great runs and a bunch of crappy losses in the last decade and a half.

Always enjoy educating Duke’s bandwagon fanbase on their own program.

 

[wcc31]

I think Tatum and Ingram will be good pros.

Maybe offensively for Tatum. He’s an awful defender.

I don’t see it for Ingram.

 

[BlueDevilPharmD]

No, moron- I was referring to the fact Duke has been past the Sweet 16 3x in 14 years- and one of those was a blowout Elite 8 loss.

So, K has two great runs and a bunch of crappy losses in the last decade and a half.

Always enjoy educating Duke’s bandwagon fanbase on their own program.

I always enjoy seeing rival fans jump straight into name calling over some sports talk. Shows the intelligence level of the person real quick.

In that same span you are talking about, UK has 2 NIT visits, one of which was a first-round exit. I will take 2 championships over 1 all day.

I also see you like to cherry pick your range of dates into some random timeframe that can try and help you make a point. How about we go from the past 26 years and compare the results.

 

[wcc31]

You can go look at my other comment to see my views on Duke vs UK NBA players right now. I already said UK has a huge edge. That has nothing to do with my comment here. The guy said that K has had 2 good runs in the past 15 years, I assume he means 2010 and 2015, so I pointed out that UK has only had 1 in the past 15 years. Seems pretty straight forward.

I always enjoy seeing rival fans jump straight into name calling over some sports talk. Shows the intelligence level of the person real quick.

In that same span you are talking about, UK has 2 NIT visits, one of which was a first-round exit. I will take 2 championships over 1 all day.

I also see you like to cherry pick your range of dates into some random timeframe that can try and help you make a point. How about we go from the past 26 years and compare the results.

I couldn’t care less what you do or don’t like. I have zero respect for your fanbase.

You can pull whatever stats you want. If you’ve been a Duke fan for any amount of time (with you people, that’s never a given), you would know what I said is true.

Since 2004, you have two great (albeit fortunate runs) and a bunch of disappointing upsets.

I suppose the fact you still have two championships makes up for it, but what I said remains true. Duke has disappointed in March a helluva lot more than they’ve succeeded in the NCAA of late.

 

[~Keyser Soze~]

I think Tatum and Ingram will be good pros.

Who knows what Tatum will be, there's no end in sight for Ingrams awfulness.

 

[wcc31]

F’ing locusts. Every day I have to hide more Dookies. Get the hell out of here.

 

[BlueDevilPharmD]

I couldn’t care less what you do or don’t like. I have zero respect for your fanbase.

You can pull whatever stats you want. If you’ve been a Duke fan for any amount of time (with you people, that’s never a given), you would know what I said is true.

Since 2004, you have two great (albeit fortunate runs) and a bunch of disappointing upsets.

I suppose the fact you still have two championships makes up for it, but what I said remains true. Duke has disappointed in March a helluva lot more than they’ve succeeded in the NCAA of late.

It is actually sad that you take it so personally. Maybe you should reevaluate your priorities when a bunch of teenagers playing basketball is clearly what you live for.

 

[Cat Ballou]

I think the Duke Effect is real. As great a prospect as Bagley is, I can't help but doubt that he'll be as good a pro as is expected simply because he opted for Duke.

 

[Willy4UK]

Duke guy lol. Not taking into acct NCAA biased seeding and sketchy refs.

Dukes players suck in the NBA because refs and NCAA can't hide their undeveloped skill set.

 

[wcc31]

It is actually sad that you take it so personally. Maybe you should reevaluate your priorities when a bunch of teenagers playing basketball is clearly what you live for.

Yes, clearly. Now, piss off.

 

[3kidsandme]

2010 and 2015.

Nothing else matters.

Our NBA players are better is a consolation prize for the butthurt.

Well to be fair UK was literally robbed by a crooked ref 3 times. We are one title behind and i would imagine ahead in tourney wins.

 

[DSmith21]

Kyrie Irving- Rival #4 prospect. 7-25 shooting, 17 points and 3 assists. He's not a bust but he's the most overhyped and overrated player in the NBA behind Lonzo Ball.

Speaking of Lonzo Ball, he was 1-6 last night for a whopping 3 points in 29 minutes. The Lakers got their butts kicked and Lonzo sat the bench in the 4th quarter as the Clippers were up by over 20 points. Lavar is going to eat his words about the Lakers making the playoffs.

 

[docholiday51]

One can't deny that the Duke(thereby Coach K's)system works and produces great results in college.Minus the tripping,flopping and floor slapping it is a fun style to watch and probably to play in as well.Duke gets home cooking from the refs wherever they play and they get favorable treatment in NCAA seeding and placement,these two things can't be denied either.

Cal is better than K at the OAD thing but keeping players two or three years has great advantage.

As to the success in the NBA of former players from both schools,as a long time college basketball fan it makes very little difference to me,of course I wish former UK players well and hope that they have success because they were here.As UK fans we feel we know a little about them and have some emotional investment in them.

Over the past few years I can't see how a player ,whose goal is to get to the NBA quickly and be the most prepared to succeed when he gets there does not come to Kentucky.

Many former Kentucky players are better pros than they were college players,many of Duke's players were better college players than they have been in the pros.Maybe it is K's system vs Cal's system,maybe it s because the refs and the NCAA take better care of Duke or a combination of both.

 

[Ryan Lemonds Diary]

I hate Duke but couldn't you argue that this shows what a great coach K. is by having players over-achieve while in college?

Or could it be the fact they get the benefit of the whistle in every game?

 

[Newcattitudes]

I hate Duke but couldn't you argue that this shows what a great coach K. is by having players over-achieve while in college?[/QUOTE

Dukes success is necessarily just because of how great K is but rather how much advantage they receive from the media, respect from the refs, and placement in seeding and favorable regions and brackets in the tourney. When was the last time you ever saw Duke get a bracket like Ky did last year?

 

[weatherbird]

I always enjoy seeing rival fans jump straight into name calling over some sports talk. Shows the intelligence level of the person real quick.

In that same span you are talking about, UK has 2 NIT visits, one of which was a first-round exit. I will take 2 championships over 1 all day.

I also see you like to cherry pick your range of dates into some random timeframe that can try and help you make a point. How about we go from the past 26 years and compare the results.

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but 26 is a lot more of a cherry picked number than 15. At least 15 is a nice round number, 26 even looks cherry picked. I would also note that comparing both schools over 15 years has an issue, as one of the school had a single coach, while the other school had 3 different coaches, and the main argument is pitting Cal against K in terms of NBA success. Cal has only coached at UK since 2009-2010 season, so bringing up anything beyond that is bringing in useless information.

 

[ELsdownC8]

And Kentucky has had 1.

Do you really not consider going 38-0 a great run?

 

[RipThru]

It is actually sad that you take it so personally. Maybe you should reevaluate your priorities when a bunch of teenagers playing basketball is clearly what you live for.

Says the guy on a message board defending a group of teenagers playing basketball.

 

[the nail at the foul line]

Well to be fair UK was literally robbed by a crooked ref 3 times. We are one title behind and i would imagine ahead in tourney wins.

Still a butthurt thread. Duke won two titles in two different seasons where UK had a better team. So, let's deflect to NBA performance.

 

[Jmeeks54thebest]

2010 and 2015.

Nothing else matters.

Our NBA players are better is a consolation prize for the butthurt.

This. Who cares whose players do better in the NBA? I mean I guess if you watch the NBA and these guys are going to teams you root for it matters.

I care about winning titles. If our guys do well in the NBA. awesome. The only thing I really want to see is our NBA alums act like gentlemen and good reps of UK. And they've all done that.

 

[RDCat07]

I always enjoy seeing rival fans jump straight into name calling over some sports talk. Shows the intelligence level of the person real quick.

In that same span you are talking about, UK has 2 NIT visits, one of which was a first-round exit. I will take 2 championships over 1 all day.

I also see you like to cherrypick your range of dates into some random timeframe that can try and help you make a point. How about we go from the past 26 years and compare the results.

I hate the cherry pick argument, its a losers argument.....I mean you lose when you bring up that argument duke basketball started in 1906 UK in 1903 UK has 8 national titles duke 5...we are second you all are tied for 4th.if we actually wanted to cherry pick time frames I don't think we would include any time that tubby or BCG was here it would be cal years only...since duke has basically either crapped the bed in the round of 64 or 32 most years

 

[JoeBeeHall]

I always enjoy seeing rival fans jump straight into name calling over some sports talk. Shows the intelligence level of the person real quick.

In that same span you are talking about, UK has 2 NIT visits, one of which was a first-round exit. I will take 2 championships over 1 all day.

I also see you like to cherry pick your range of dates into some random timeframe that can try and help you make a point. How about we go from the past 26 years and compare the results.

A good run is when you take off and Allen doesn't trip you .

 

[BlueDevilPharmD]

I hate the cherry pick argument, its a losers argument.....I mean you lose when you bring up that argument duke basketball started in 1906 UK in 1903 UK has 8 national titles duke 5...we are second you all are tied for 4th.if we actually wanted to cherry pick time frames I don't think we would include any time that tubby or BCG was here it would be cal years only...since duke has basically either crapped the bed in the round of 64 or 32 most years

Ummmm... Tubby won a championship and made it to multiple S16 and E8's.

 

[Poetax]

Ummmm... Tubby won a championship and made it to multiple S16 and E8's.

Well he did win it in his first year and never made the FF again.

 

[ELsdownC8]

Still a butthurt thread. Duke won two titles in two different seasons where UK had a better team. So, let's deflect to NBA performance.

It's about looking ahead. Recruiting. We get it man, you only care about UK basketball and how our seasons go. However, the point is that having our players do better in the NBA than duke guys should theoretically give us an edge recruiting top players in the future.

It's a bad sign when the douche duke troll is the only guy liking your posts

 

[Poetax]

2010 and 2015.

Nothing else matters.

Our NBA players are better is a consolation prize for the butthurt.

Sounds like someone hasn’t gotten over it yet.

 

[the nail at the foul line]

It's about looking ahead. Recruiting. We get it man, you only care about UK basketball and how our seasons go. However, the point is that having our players do better in the NBA than duke guys should theoretically give us an edge recruiting top players in the future.

It's a bad sign when the douche duke troll is the only guy liking your posts

Theoretically it should already have.

 

[utbb01]

BlueDevil you're cherry picking dates just like the Cats poster too. Instead just look at alltime!! Which program do you think is the best overall between Duke and Kentucky if you include the entire history of each program? No need for either fanbase to cherrypick dates.