Duke Basketball 2020-2021

[Inveigle]

If there were ever an offseason for a national title contender to find a point guard on the transfer market to patch up its one biggest weakness, this would be it. Of all the positions, this is the easiest to find a guy without the measurables to go pro anywhere decent, but who has the head and the experience to be a low usage floor general for a talented team. Now you have an expanded pool due to the COVID extra year.

Duke’s major weakness for next season is incredibly easy to fix for any coach who wants to fix it. The loss of Goldwire and the lack of any point guards on the recruiting radar should push a sensible or merely sane coach to at the very least find someone to share the responsibility with Roach next season. The additional step of finding someone who would be better than Roach next season isn’t really an additional step at all, as long as you don’t inexplicably target someone who is extremely bad at basketball.

It would be infuriating and bizarre for K not to find some 5th year senior point guard to transfer in for next season. He can frame it however he wants to protect Roach’s psyche, but the fact is basically any average senior starter across midmajors is going to probably be better than a sophomore Roach.

One example is Jacob Gilyard at Richmond, who has no pro expectations at 5-9, shoots 36% 3pt/81% ft for his career, has a 2.5 ast/to and 17% usage this season, and will almost certainly repeat as A10 DPOY with one of the highest steal rates in the country. It would be extremely easy to plug him into next year’s offense and have him spearhead the defense for a bunch of freshmen with the usual steep learning curve in Duke’s defensive system.

Isn’t it worth it to at least reach out to someone like that to see if he might want to play on national TV all season for a championship contender while getting a free master’s degree from Duke, rather than starting a pro career in Taiwan?

I was told a long, long time ago that these guys have to want to come to Duke before the coaching staff will even talk to them.

 

[bdotling]

I was reflecting on this today and one thing is for certain in “we control our own destiny” games - we always always come up short and against the worst teams. K has that inverse clutchness typically applicable to conference standings, this year to making the tournament.

I remember there was a 9-10 year stretch where we were untouchable and now we wilt in the moment time and time again

 

[aiw]

We used to "impose our will". We haven't done that consistently in years.

 

[Bullettoothtony]

This season has gobbled so much cock I almost wish we'd bought Cade Cunningham.

 

[rome8180]

I mean, considering most top 10 players are bought, I certainly would have rather bought him than Jalen.

 

[dukeboy911]

We used to "impose our will". We haven't done that consistently in years.

You can thank Ks recruiting and playing style to that. Can’t have a team impose its will when it’s mainly freshman, while your would-be-upperclassmen decide to transfer when you give them barely any playing time.

 

[StopThePumpFakesShav]

Can we at least get store credit back for Jalen?

 

[deepdarkblue]

Can we at least get store credit back for Jalen?

I'd be willing to pay the return shipping if everyone else will chip in on the re-stock fee.

 

[aiw]

I think K is ecstatic that Gov. Abbott opened up Texas completely, including rescinding the mask mandate. Now, he can decline NIT invite over health concerns.

 

[bdotling]

Just peeped the score. Another OT loss, haha. K shrinking in the moment yet again. Never clutch when we need to be.

 

[DrKlahn]

What is the game plan to make the guard play better next year

 

[bdotling]

The Master has no plan that is the beauty of the Master

 

[DrKlahn]

I think they can make the same progress that Moore made from Year 1 to 2. Question is, is that going to be good enough?

 

[aiw]

 

[Bullettoothtony]

Anyone have P. Tape's number? I just want to ask him if he has any buyer's remorse.

 

[Devilsforlife]

This team had that fun 4 game stretch from NC State to Syracuse. The win over UVA was our sole truly "good" one. But otherwise, what a shitshow of a season. All that little run did anyway was give us false hope that maybe we were turning a corner.

 

[rome8180]

How embarrassed must UVA be right now?

 

[rome8180]

Well, at least we managed to stop this trend?

 

[DrKlahn]

Since the 2010-11 season, Duke has had 13 player seasons with 250+ minutes, a PER of over 25 and a BPM of over 8. THREE of the 13 were this season.

PER is a messed up stat but three Duke players this year had a better BPM than Tatum, Ingram, RJ, Singler’s senior year, Tre’s sophomore year, Jabari, Hood, any Amile season.....

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]