Dunleavy finished at Duke

[slydevl]

Looks like Shav is going to have to step up and produce very fast for Duke this year. Shelden Williams was admitted and will play at least a year for Duke so his and Shav's differing styles (power vs. finesse) in the power forward slot should offer K a wide variety of looks against opposing teams. Williams can also slide to the 5 and share time with Thompson and Sanders if neither of those guys decide to show up this year. Should be an interesting year for Duke but I see no reason why they cant duplicate what they did in 2000 with Williams and Boozer starting as freshmen.

 

[gutter]

I hope they suck. Serves you right.

 

[slydevl]

You hope Duke sucks vs. I know UNC will suck.

I'm still ahead

 

[Shocker]

Duke will be fine as far as talent goes. They won't be heads and shoulders above the Heels though. Those Carolina frosh will be very good and I feel the ACC is suddenly wide open with Dun"leaving".

Also, Doherty has much to prove to show he can coach on the level of a CoachK. Duke ATP - has a decided advantage in coaching.

 

[gutter]

Coach Doh has already proved he can coach on the same level as K. People easily forget he was AP coach of the year in his first year. And that was with mediocre talent as well. And they dominated the ACC. What was it like 17 games in a row? Last year shows how important attitude and chemistry is to a team. I think this year will be totally different. We have young talented players, but so does the rest of the country. Everyone will be putting young teams out on the court. I don't think anyone has an advantage at this point.

 

[Shocker]

Well...
I would say CoachK has the similar advantage that Dean Smith had on him when Dean was still around. Both are good coaches - Coachk has seen much more.

 

[PantherPaul]

Hmm

Good to see Duke is routinely having to deal with early departures now. Heck the Heels have dealt with it for 10+ years

 

[Big Russ]

I got tired of seeing the Heels make the same mistakes all year long. Our offense bogged down entirely too often. I can't place all this on Doh bucause we had not one guy on the team that could create his own shot (or get shots for others).

But seeing them make careless passes and mis layups, that's just a lack of concentration. We have some talented frosh coming in, but what I'm most worried about is cohesion. Whispers around campus have Doh not being players coach, he's tough on them. And normally that wouldn't really bother me. Tough is good, but not to the point where you have every other player wanting to transfer.

Back to the point of this thread, Duke will be fine. Good coach, and as much incoming talent as anyone in the country. However, you don't lose 3 players like that and don't struggle a bit. Shav needs to put on a lot of weight, but so did Dun when he first showed up. It'll be interesting to see whether Duke's returning players can step up and lead that young team.

 

[gutter]

Originally posted by Shocker
Well...
I would say CoachK has the similar advantage that Dean Smith had on him when Dean was still around. Both are good coaches - Coachk has seen much more.

This is definitely true on the head to head matchups. I'm not betting on miracles this season. I think Dook still has our number this year. But it will definitely be closer.

 

[WYDD]

yeah i know what your saying russ. about losing 3 players and not struggling. I remember when elton brand, corey magette, william avery, and trajon langdon all departed duke. Man, i tell ya what, they only won the acc, and finished the regular season ranked number one in the country. I'm really worried about this year. Not saying it won't happen, but duke should be fine.

And by the way, at THIS point (without them playing any ball) duke has far more talent than anyone in the country. With unc a close second.