The Ringer: Duke’s Greatest Recruiting Class Is Coach K’s Ultimate Failure

BleedGopher

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per The Ringer:

Duke’s magic ran out in its 68-67 loss to Michigan State on Sunday. After surviving nail-biters against UCF and Virginia Tech in the previous two rounds, the Blue Devils were the ones on the wrong side of the biggest plays in the final minute. It was the second consecutive year that a Duke team with multiple freshmen destined to be NBA lottery picks lost in agonizing fashion in the Elite Eight. Coach K hasn’t made a Final Four since winning it all in 2015, despite having 11 first-round picks in the NBA draft, if you count this year’s group, in that span. There is an element of luck in advancing through the NCAA tournament, but the way that Duke lost highlighted the downsides of relying so heavily on one-and-done players.

This group of Blue Devils had been living on borrowed time. It didn’t matter how dominant freshman superstar Zion Williamson was in the postseason. His numbers in four games (26.0 points on 61.6 percent shooting, 8.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.8 blocks) were right in line with his historic regular-season production, but Duke never figured out how to build a balanced team around him. Michigan State, like every other team the Blue Devils faced over the past two weeks, packed the paint with defenders and swarmed Zion almost every time that he touched the ball in the half court. One player can do only so much. A team still needs counters when the defense double- and triple-teams its best player.

Duke couldn’t afford for even one of its star freshmen to underperform. There was no margin for error in their roster. The Blue Devils didn’t return a single player from last year’s team who averaged more than four points per game, and the limitations of their supporting cast prevented Coach K from having much flexibility over the course of the game Sunday. He never developed much trust in any of his three perimeter reserves (sophomores Jordan Goldwire and Alex O’Connell and junior Jack White) so he never went small against Michigan State. He alternated between juniors Javin DeLaurier and Marques Bolden at center for all 40 minutes, and neither had the shooting ability to open up the Spartans defense.

It was the same story for the Blue Devils last season, when their starting lineup was made up of one senior (Grayson Allen) and four freshmen (Marvin Bagley III, Wendell Carter Jr., Gary Trent Jr., and Trevon Duval). While all four were consensus top-15 recruits, only Bagley and Carter lived up to expectations. The backcourt of Trent and Duval could not handle their share of the burden. They couldn’t space the floor or take care of the ball for their star big men, and they combined to shoot 4-of-16 from 3 with four turnovers in their 85-81 loss to Kansas in the Elite Eight. Not every five-star recruit is destined for big things. Trent was taken with the no. 37 overall pick in last year’s draft and has barely played as a rookie. Duval went undrafted.

It’s almost impossible to develop a supporting cast when so much of the team turns over on an annual basis. Duval and Trent would probably have been better off returning to school rather than declaring for the NBA draft before they were ready to contribute at the next level. Their problem is that they were forced out by this year’s recruiting class. Trent would have come off the bench behind Barrett and Reddish, while Duval would have had to fight for playing time with Jones. Whatever NBA buzz they still had would have disappeared if their production had slipped from their freshman to sophomore seasons. They would have had to stay in college until at least their junior year, when they would have been yesterday’s news at a school that regularly reels in the top recruiting class in the country.

Not every recruit that Duke signs expects to go pro after one season. The issue for the ones who do stick around is that the identity of the team changes so dramatically each season that there is no continuity within their roles. Coach K has to start from scratch each summer. Last season’s team was built around two more traditional big men (Bagley and Carter) who struggled to defend in space, so he played a zone and slowed the tempo (no. 105 in the country in pace) to pound the ball inside. This season’s team was built around three 6-foot-7 players with inconsistent jumpers, so he played pressure defense and tried to speed up the pace (no. 27 in the country) to get out in transition. It’s no wonder his bench couldn’t keep up. Players without as much natural talent need to learn to play within a system on both ends of the floor.

https://www.theringer.com/march-madness/2019/4/1/18290521/duke-coach-k-one-and-done-failure

Go Gophers!!
 

Coach K is a fraud. Against the one and dones until he realized he couldn’t win it all without them.Then he went all in on them. Glad MSU knocked them out.
 

He's not a fraud but he has gone from being a great coach to a guy who recruits on his brand, stacks the deck and then rolls the ball out there for his one and done stars to play. His teams no longer play up to their potential.
 

He's not a fraud but he has gone from being a great coach to a guy who recruits on his brand, stacks the deck and then rolls the ball out there for his one and done stars to play. His teams no longer play up to their potential.

Agree.
 

He's not a fraud but he has gone from being a great coach to a guy who recruits on his brand, stacks the deck and then rolls the ball out there for his one and done stars to play. His teams no longer play up to their potential.

True.
 


He's not a fraud but he has gone from being a great coach to a guy who recruits on his brand, stacks the deck and then rolls the ball out there for his one and done stars to play. His teams no longer play up to their potential.

+1000. With his current approach, the players aren’t being developed.


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He’s 72. Can’t believe he’s got a lot left in the tank. Coaching at that level is a young man’s game.
 


He’s 72. Can’t believe he’s got a lot left in the tank. Coaching at that level is a young man’s game.

The great majority of championships in the last ~20 years were won by head coaches in their late 50s to late 60s.
 



The great majority of championships in the last ~20 years were won by head coaches in their late 50s to late 60s.

Significant difference between late 50s and early 70s. Let's just say K's age isn't trending in the right direction.
 


+1000. With his current approach, the players aren’t being developed.


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You think his players really aren't developing. I saw improvements in Zion & Tre Jones as the season progressed. If you say there is no development because he is only coaching for them for 1 season that's different than saying they didn't improve as players during that 1 year.
 

+1000. With his current approach, the players aren’t being developed.


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What makes you say that? The style he plays is much more similar to the NBA than most other college teams.

As far as development, it doesn't really seem like the NBA scouts agree that K is not developing players. Or at the very least, scouts don't seem to think he is hurting their anyone's prospects. The most recent mock draft I saw has Zion at #1, Barrett at #3, and Reddish at #8. That can't be very far off from when the season started. Seems difficult to make the argument that K is hurting their development with that being the case.
 



I honestly feel bad for the long-time fans of Duke. What Duke and others like Kentucky are doing is just one step above not even having a team. As a spectator I would pick a Jordan Murphy over a Kris Humphries any time.
 

I honestly feel bad for the long-time fans of Duke. What Duke and others like Kentucky are doing is just one step above not even having a team. As a spectator I would pick a Jordan Murphy over a Kris Humphries any time.

I know some sane Kentucky fans who echo your sentiments. They like the chance to win with the talent, but it is hard to follow the team with the revolving door of one and dones. One critiqued the team for not crying like the other losing teams did, thinking all they cared about was signing for their millions. Probably a little harsh, but reflects how difficult it can be for a fan to get close to a team when it turns over so quickly. Sadly, it is getting more like Kentucky throughout college basketball with easier and more frequent transfers. Maybe good for players, but hard on fans.
 

Being against the one-and-dones was archaic. You cannot compete at the levels of Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, UNC on a year-to-year basis without the one-and-dones. He had them in 1999 with Maggette and Brand, so it's not like these last couple teams are revolutionary.

He won a championship in 2015 and 2010. I mean, it's not like he was ripping a championship every other year in the mid 90's.

I'm actually really surprised at the amount of backlash this team is receiving. They were a really good team that lost to a really good team that was really hot. This wasn't a team like the 2015 Kentucky team that Devin Booker coming off the bench.
 




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