OT. How good is Duke going to be next year?

[CTFIRERETIRED]

Duke has the top recruiting class coming in, headlined with national POY Cooper Flagg.
My question is; Will they be 24-25 champion in waiting? All of those 4 and 5 star recruits look impressive on paper, but an old sage once said that the game is not played on paper.
A number of current players are already leaving the program, current coach Schyer is NOT coach K. It remains to be seen whether or not they are going to be the toast of college basketball. Any thoughts on this?

 

[mets1090]

Is this a real post

 

[UCFan1513]

Kentucky 2.0

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Scheyer is recruiting like it’s 1999, and not in a good way.

 

[businesslawyer]

If Flagg is truly a transcendent talent, like Anthony Davis was, they have a chance. If he’s just a potentially great future pro who is still going to be learning to play on a higher level, they’ll be really good but will likely fall short.

 

[caw]

Houston would be my non-UConn pick if healthy. They were probably better than Purdue in some ways (well basically anything not named Edey, to be clear I think Purdue would have beaten then because they couldn't stop/slow Edey without doubling) and have a lot returning, and they just have a good thing going down there.


As for Duke, depends on if Proctor is back and actually plays to billing. That and if Scheyer can keep all those egos happy with limited PT. Center alone would give me headaches with Stewart, Maluach and Ngongba wanting PT. Perhaps you could shift Stewart to the four but Flagg will eat a ton of minutes there and Stewart can't really shoot at all. Power will probably want PT also at some point and he is too small for the five and too slow for the three, I could see him transfer TBH (no inside info). Flagg shifting to the three isnt a great option as Duke brings in three 4/5 star SFs, though Harris could shift to the two I guess. They have only a returning from injury Foster at PG (if Proctor goes pro) and he wasn't exactly blazing trails as a freshman. Roach returning (ala Diarra) would help them but that's no guarantee supposedly. They need a good PG in the portal at the least, if Proctor leaves.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

In terms of individual talent and pro potential? Among the top couple teams that we will see this century.

In terms of results? Lacking in experience, cohesion, question marks on leadership (both on the sideline and court) and team identity will bring a number of challenges that may be too much to overcome.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

If Flagg is truly a transcendent talent, like Anthony Davis was, they have a chance. If he’s just a potentially great future pro who is still going to be learning to play on a higher level, they’ll be really good but will likely fall short.

Even if he is a transcendent talent, it’s going to be an interesting litmus test of how that works on the NIL/transfer portal era. Probably doesn’t help that we’ll still have the COVID super seniors next season. I’m still just hesitant to pick a team of teenagers to go all the way through teams of 22 and 23 year olds.

Also going to be a bit of a litmus test on Scheyer. They were flawed, soft team that had at best mediocre X’s and O’s this year. If that’s what Scheyer puts on the floor again, it’s going to be an issue.

 

[Dooooooomed]

Early tourney exit.

 

[REB1094]

They will be very good, but as we’re all learning in his current era of college ball, experience and coaching takes you farther in March

High ranking, high seed, plenty of memorable moments, #1 draft pick hype, but probably won’t win it all

That’s a historic and very successful season. But Duke expects championships and I don’t think they win it unless they grab some big transfers. So unless they make a final 4, their fanbase might be disappointed

 

[mauconnfan]

Here’s the cool thing, I could care less right now.

But I will say he’s doing the same thing as Cal and how did that work out. Recruit over guys who you should be helping get better therefore they’re leaving? Not a good pattern by what I feel is not a very good coach.

 

[Palatine]

The whole will be less than the sum of their parts because of their coach.

 

[connVA]

Even if he is a transcendent talent, it’s going to be an interesting litmus test of how that works on the NIL/transfer portal era. Probably doesn’t help that we’ll still have the COVID super seniors next season. I’m still just hesitant to pick a team of teenagers to go all the way through teams of 22 and 23 year olds.

Also going to be a bit of a litmus test on Scheyer. They were flawed, soft team that had at best mediocre X’s and O’s this year. If that’s what Scheyer puts on the floor again, it’s going to be an issue.

Wasn’t able to adjust and beat NC State with a shot (really a layup) at the FF on the line. Sampson would have stomped him into the ground in the R16 with Shead playing. If we run into them in the tourney- with or without Cooper- our coaching staff vs Scheyer is three-dimensional chess vs tick-tack-toe.

 

[UC0NN]

Duke will be good, how good it is hard to say. With all these top recruits 1 or 2 of them probably won't see much playing time.

The model has worked before, but winning a championship can sometimes require elite defense play. Cooper flag can block some shots.

For next year every school would love to be in Duke's shoes right now. Maybe not Uconn, but we only have half our roster built up.

 

[Greg]

Duke has the top recruiting class coming in, headlined with national POY Cooper Flagg.
My question is; Will they be 24-25 champion in waiting? All of those 4 and 5 star recruits look impressive on paper, but an old sage once said that the game is not played on paper.
A number of current players are already leaving the program, current coach Schyer is NOT coach K. It remains to be seen whether or not they are going to be the toast of college basketball. Any thoughts on this?

It seems to me that the best teams this year had several fifth year players. As good as young players at Duke are the teams built around Freshmen and Sophomores don't win it all very often without older leadership.

 

[Ricker]

They would be my preseason pick because I think Flagg is so good he can compensate for coaching weakness. On the other hand, I agree with other posters that an older more experienced team with quality coaching might trip them up. Thats why they play the games.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Do we need to start a thread like this for every has-been program?

 

[Poe]

Kentucky 2.0

We’ve seen this movie

 

[dogpause]

Duke's one-and-done approach makes them vulnerable to well-coached teams with experience and maturity. Hurley knows exactly what he needs from the portal to compete for a third Natty.

 

[MexicoHusky]

Much of the post season conversation was about 1-and-done freshmen. A team filled with them no longer can compete with a team of 24-year-old 5th year players. So we will see.

 

[uh-no]

a modern team needs to do the following to be successful:

• recruit
• develop
• get transfers
• coach em up

Jon can certainly recruit, that's been true even while K was still there, when Jon was already the lead recruiter. So far, he has come up woefully short on the other three pillars, though.

- None of the returners this past year showed any substantial development. We saw essentially the same Roach, Flip, proctor, and mitchell as we had the year before. A team with that mix of experience and talent should have been significantly improved of the ACC champion team the year before, and they weren't.

- Get transfers. Jon gets a 0 in this department so far. Why are they bringin in a 6 person class of unproven, undeveloped freshmen, when they could be bringing in a couple of proven, hungry, experienced, stronger 22 year olds? There are likely some challenges with transfer credits at duke, but Jon's reluctance to adapt to the portal is insupportable thus far.

- Coach em up. It's an analytics driven world. The NBA has moved away from the iso pro style ball, but not duke! Jon is trying to run the same kind of offense that K ran, but Zion williamson is not coming through the door. Even announcers were stymied by how little variation or complexity they had on the offensive end. There was zero adjustment to burns in the elite 8...even after they got beaten by the same team 2 weeks earlier in the exact same way. Duke plays like a chicken with its head cut off. Compound this with the lack of fire the team has, and IMO Jon is in above his head right now.

Duke has a chance to be better than they were this past year, but I think their ceiling is limited. They're building rosters and coaching like it was 10 years ago.

 

[Orc]

Top portal guys> Burger boys

Probably early exit like Kentucky.

 

[That Guy]

They'll be good. Probably Final Four potential, but no chance in hell they win it all with this one and done crap they keep doing.

 

[UC0NN]

Jon can recruit bc of the Duke brand and what coach K built. Put him on Maryland and we shall see.

 

[UC0NN]

Some of you guys saw Cam pregame at the hotel, and the look on his eyes was laser focus. He was ready to run through a brick wall. 8 rebounds in each game. Sign me up for a guy like that any day of the week.