Laley23;1518468 wrote:Disagree. Its a badass picture! lol

Yeah, I thought it was pretty legit, myself. When I first saw it, I was hoping it was this year's team poster. Ha.

Excited for the Duke season to get underway, I feel this team will be very exciting to watch!

Laley23;1518468 wrote:Disagree. Its a badass picture! lol

Completely agree.

reclegend22;1518478 wrote:Yeah, I thought it was pretty legit, myself. When I first saw it, I was hoping it was this year's team poster. Ha.

It should be this year's team poster that would be sweet.

Laley23;1518468 wrote:Disagree. Its a badass picture! lol

Agreed, and that's why I posted it...sorry to disappoint ya', Rec :rolleyes:

vball10set;1518963 wrote:Agreed, and that's why I posted it...sorry to disappoint ya', Rec :rolleyes:

I think we both know that it's much more likely that you posted it after reading something like this: "Duke Basketball Team Faces Fire For West Point Pose with Fake Firearms".

But since I cannot prove that, I'll take your word for it. Thanks for posting, though. It's a cool shot, even if Duke had to take it off its web site due to public outcry. Which is so ridiculous. But the world we live in.

^^^actually it was sent to me from my nephew who lives in Lexington, NC and attends App State...he's a BIG Dook fan

Then I stand corrected. Sounds like you have a cool nephew.

ccrunner609;1519593 wrote:I am a stupid Duke fan

More like it. That pic does the impossible for me by causing me to give Duke "coolness" points.

Reflections from countdown to crazy

-It will take a while for this team to gel and figure out how to best operate. The philosophy change requires players to know their game and benefit the team. There will be growing pains.

-Jabari Parker is more like Luol Deng than LeBron. He is smooth and fluid like Luol, shoots much in the same fashion and slashes and rebounds as well. He will be a good player at Duke and will be our best player much the way Luol was his freshman year. This could be a similar season to the 2004 year. Let's hope Jabari doesn't take an ill-advised three pointer in a 5 point game against UConn that ultimately leads to UConn run.

-Semi Ojeyle (pronounced Shemi Oh juh lay) is an athletic freak and reminds me a great deal of Brian Davis from the early 90's. It will take him a while to figure out how to best help the team but he will and at times will show flashes of brilliance.

-Quinn Cook will see his time on the floor dissipate unless he does an above average job getting guys into scoring opportunities. With so many players on the floor who can create for themselves what use is a point guard? His defense will be the one area that I look at for playing time because if he falters K will run Thornton out there and Suilamon, Hood, or Parker will bring the ball up the floor.

-Alex Murphy should transfer. I want the kid to be the great player he can be but the competition for pt is so tough he would be better served playing at another school where he is a guaranteed starter.

-Michael Gbinije transfered a year ago and it seems we brought in a better shooting more defensive and rebounding minded version in Matt Jones. He is a gifted player that will probably take a back seat this year but next year will emerge as a major contributor.

-Andre Dawkins? I simply don't know what to expect from this kid. In all honesty there are so many players that can dribble shoot and score on this team I find it hard to believe his role changes. He should just camp on the three point line and hit wide open shots because he will have a ton of them.

Duke will drop a game or two at the beginning of the season because there will be times players let the clock dwindle down and it will be one on one matchup shots as the clock dwindles (much like the NBA). This will be refreshing I think because in the last 10 years Duke has really excelled in the early season because of structure and coaching. As the season wore on the talent of other teams caught up and Duke didn't have the ability to overcome the gifted athletes they were facing. I believe now Duke will have early season hiccups but barring injury I believe they will be a very tough out come March.

Side note, I am willing to bet Parker misses time due to a foot injury this year. I can feel it. Not sure why, I just can.

swamisez;1521190 wrote:Reflections from countdown to crazy

-It will take a while for this team to gel and figure out how to best operate. The philosophy change requires players to know their game and benefit the team. There will be growing pains.

-Jabari Parker is more like Luol Deng than LeBron. He is smooth and fluid like Luol, shoots much in the same fashion and slashes and rebounds as well. He will be a good player at Duke and will be our best player much the way Luol was his freshman year. This could be a similar season to the 2004 year. Let's hope Jabari doesn't take an ill-advised three pointer in a 5 point game against UConn that ultimately leads to UConn run.

-Semi Ojeyle (pronounced Shemi Oh juh lay) is an athletic freak and reminds me a great deal of Brian Davis from the early 90's. It will take him a while to figure out how to best help the team but he will and at times will show flashes of brilliance.

-Quinn Cook will see his time on the floor dissipate unless he does an above average job getting guys into scoring opportunities. With so many players on the floor who can create for themselves what use is a point guard? His defense will be the one area that I look at for playing time because if he falters K will run Thornton out there and Suilamon, Hood, or Parker will bring the ball up the floor.

-Alex Murphy should transfer. I want the kid to be the great player he can be but the competition for pt is so tough he would be better served playing at another school where he is a guaranteed starter.

-Michael Gbinije transfered a year ago and it seems we brought in a better shooting more defensive and rebounding minded version in Matt Jones. He is a gifted player that will probably take a back seat this year but next year will emerge as a major contributor.

-Andre Dawkins? I simply don't know what to expect from this kid. In all honesty there are so many players that can dribble shoot and score on this team I find it hard to believe his role changes. He should just camp on the three point line and hit wide open shots because he will have a ton of them.

Duke will drop a game or two at the beginning of the season because there will be times players let the clock dwindle down and it will be one on one matchup shots as the clock dwindles (much like the NBA). This will be refreshing I think because in the last 10 years Duke has really excelled in the early season because of structure and coaching. As the season wore on the talent of other teams caught up and Duke didn't have the ability to overcome the gifted athletes they were facing. I believe now Duke will have early season hiccups but barring injury I believe they will be a very tough out come March.

Side note, I am willing to bet Parker misses time due to a foot injury this year. I can feel it. Not sure why, I just can.

Any Rodney Hood reviews?

Rodney Hood wasn't a huge factor in the scrimmage to be honest. He had some open shots missed most (mostly pull up 15 foot jumpers). Did drain a nice transition three and distributed well. He seemed to hang on the periphery offensively and most importantly on the defensive end. He didn't seem to mix in and rebound as I had hoped.

I was pressed for time and didn't go into much depth there. I do feel bad I didn't speak on Amile Jefferson who was in all honesty the most impressive on Saturday. He rebounded very well, played foul free defense, and scored in the post with regularity. I was honestly shocked and elated at his play. If Duke gets that kind of production from Amile it will be a huge addition to the lineup. Right now my feeling is that he will be among the 5 starters, over Josh Hariston a senior.

Cook
Suilamon
Hood
Parker
Jefferson

thornton hariston for defense
matt jones and andre dawkins for offense
semi and plumlee for rebounding
Murphy???

Thanks for the first-hand account, swami. I didn't get a chance to watch the Blue-White game other than highlights, so it's nice to get a feel from someone who was there.

There have been reports that Rasheed is in a bit of a swoon and that Andre might get the start at shooting guard. It may not happen, but I kind of like the idea. While Rasheed is the overall better player with a more versatile set of skills, this Duke team is tailor made to suit Dre's game. With the best set of swingmen the Blue Devils have had since the '90s, in Parker and Hood, who are both as dangerous driving to the basket as they are from deep, Andre's ability as a spot-up ace could make him the most dangerous shooter in the country. Despite lacking Rasheed's slashing ability, there will be ample opportunities for Andre to catch and shoot while in the same lineup with Parker and Hood. Also, Andre's experience and leadership as the last holdover from Duke's 2010 national championship cannot be overstated.

Word is that Andre has really improved his all-around game. The kid has great size for a two-guard and hopefully he is finally able to use that body and quickness to get more trips to the free-throw line and to get after it defensively. I imagine it will be Andre's improvement on the defensive side of the ball that will determine just how big of a role he has this year for Duke.

And agreed on Alex Murphy. While an athletic freak with helicopter rotors for arms -- the kid can seriously jump -- thus far he's only proven effective in the open court. Three years in and he still has major work to do on the simple fundamentals of the game -- shooting, ball handing and defense.

I disagree on Dawkins starting over Suilamon. Two years ago Duke was plagued by the fact that in order to function offensively they had to play three players who had zero defensive skills (Rivers, Dawkins, and Curry). The converse of that was to play a defensive lineup that meant there were basically three non-offensive players on the floor at once (Thornton, Hariston, Plum 1). K gambled down the stretch and tried the defensive group and was outlasted offensively by Lehigh. He will not make that mistake again and will side for defense over offense in most cases. Rasheed Suilamon is a superior defensive player to Andre Dawkins and because of this the spot will always be Sheed's to lose.

There's no question that Sulaimon is a vastly superior defensive player to Dawkins; in fact, he's the best returning defensive player on the team. For that reason alone, keeping him out of the lineup would be difficult. As I said, any talk of Dawkins starting is likely dependent on what level improvement the kid has made defensively since his last appearance in a Blue Devil uniform. Some accounts I've seen indicate that Dawkins has made positive strides in this area. If true, then, for the reasons listed in my post above, I think it could work.

Conventional wisdom says that Rasheed will get the nod and Andre will come off the bench playing the role of instant offense. Which will also work out just fine. But for whatever reason, I just feel that Andre will start a significant amount of games at some point in the season. As we know, K is known to shake up his lineups during the course of a year in order to send some sort of message or pump some adrenaline into it. Either way, Andre will notch starter's minutes, in my view, whether starting or coming off the bench.

ccrunner609;1522762 wrote:I don't see how Dawkins could take any minutes from RS.

Where I could see this happening is if Rasheed goes through another mid-season lull like he did at certain points last year. A lot of it was hitting that proverbial freshman wall where he just appeared utterly worn out, after having played so brilliantly early in the season. I'm with you, though. I hope that Rasheed comes out blazing and plays to the All-American level I believe he's capable of.

Andre Dawkins, with his offensive firepower, would give Duke the best sixth man in the country. IMO.

My expectations for Dawkins are to score 8-10 points a night and be a valuable free throw shooter off the bench in late game. Suilamon has a skills set Duke needs (slashing to basket, picking up fouls, and playing solid perimeter defense by denying lane penetration). Those intangibles are enough to keep him starting IMO. He doesn't have to carry the load the addition of Hood and Parker will make it to where he is guarded by the opposing teams 3rd or 4th best defender. That's a matchup I like on most nights. Where he can thrive is in that syracuse zone by getting to the 8-10 foot mark in between the zone and hitting a jumper or kicking for an open three on the opposite wing.

I guess what I am saying is I am a big fan of Rasheed

Rasheed's midrange game is nice. He's as good off the dribble with the floater or stop and pop as anyone, and, as you say, has excellent peripheral vision to locate open teammates if necessary. He very well might be the best passer on Duke's roster, including Quinn Cook. It's the one area where Andre is definitely lacking. Not passing, because that's just not his game, but in scoring off the bounce. It's really a shame, because with that extra tool, Dawkins would be virtually unguardable.

Can't wait to see this club in action. While growth time is to be expected, by the end of the year, this could be a fined-tuned machine that gets out and runs and ranks in the top five nationally in points per game. Lots of horses.

But I thought Red Rider told us he heard from people within the program that Suilamon was going pro. And that there was no chance he was staying in school?

Lol

wildcats20;1523193 wrote:But I thought Red Rider told us he heard from people within the program that Suilamon was going pro. And that there was no chance he was staying in school?

Lol

Lol. Must've been a different Rasheed Sulaimon. Odds are there is another one out there, somewhere.

Thoughts from the game vs. Bowie State yesterday
(only got to watch via feed online, was busy celebrating in Blacksburg! Go Duke!

-Jabari Parker is going to be an all-american I would bet. He will be one of those players that takes over when necessary but will put up 17 pts 7 boards 5 assists 2 steals and 2 blocks every night. Stat filler. I honestly believe he is the second coming of Luol Deng and is much farther along at this point than Luol was as a frosh.

-Duke shot quite a few threes and made very few. Jabari and Rodney are going to make the offense go, often showing off their midrange game. Duke has so many weapons it will be difficult to predict which other player will step up on each night.

-Amile Jefferson is playing all the time like he did in that 5 game stretch when Ryan Kelly first went out. He is scoring inside, rebounding, and is high energy and isn't fouling like the dickens. He will be a very tough matchup for teams given his length and athleticism.

-Matt Jones and Dre Dawkins will fight for the designated three point shooter role this year. Jones does a little more than Dawkins does on the defensive end and rebounding but Andre has that ability to get in the zone in a minute. Quite the luxury.

-Quinn Cook, Rasheed Suilamon are the primary ball handlers and each will be charged with bringing the ball up the floor and distributing. Each player can get their own shot, Rasheed just has more of an ability to get to the rim. Quinn still relies on that floater.

-Marshall Plumlee strangely is aggressive as hell inside. That redshirt really must have helped because he is no where near the player we saw at times last year. He forcefully went inside for boards and dunks and even looked to protect the rim. I had to pinch myself.

So as I look at the type of teams that will give Duke fits it will have to be a team like Louisville last year with guards who penetrate and can score at the rim like Peyton Siva did. Siva was an once in a few years type player and a team that beats Duke will need to have a couple players who can hit that 11 footer and can score with contact against bigger players.

Another type of team is one that has two bigs that command post touches. I am thinking 2004 UConn, 2012 FSU, and Stanford with the Collins twins type teams. Would have to get paint touches and knock down tons of free throws and defensively prevent Parker and Hood from getting looks off screens and curls.

Aside from those thoughts, I am not sure what to expect when Duke hits the floor against real opponents. They are so dynamic I really don't have any idea how it will look when they match another team with that kind of athleticism (Kansas). I guess we will find out soon enough.

I was able to catch some of the game as well, and was really disappointed with the almost nonchalance that Andre Dawkins displayed throughout. It's something that he has always struggled with. If his shot is not falling -- and it wasn't Saturday; he went 0-for-6 from three-point land, I believe -- his attitude is basically, "I no longer give a fuck." What I like to refer to as J.R. Smith Syndrome. And I'm afraid if he hasn't learned to play through a poor shooting night by now and to look to contribute to the team in other areas, then he never will. Hopefully, for his sake, he is not already in K's doghouse, which, as Marty Pocius knows, is a very petrifying place for an offense-only player.

On the other hand, one of the most encouraging performances of the night came from freshman sharpshooter Matt Jones, who demonstrated that he is going to be a real factor off the bench for Duke this year, not only as a deadeye three-point ace but also as an enthusiastic and effective defender who is not afraid to get after it. As a bonus, Jones can also get to the basket off the bounce. He will be Duke's next great shooter.

Also, love Amile Jefferson. Reminds me of Stacey Augmon with how elastic his body is. As swami said above, he's a high-energy guy who, even with an ultra-thin frame, can really maneuver his way around the basket to rebound and score. Doesn't have Stacey's hops, though.

Andre Dawkins played 6 minutes in the contest against Drury and this occurs when Rasheed Suilamon doesn't play due to illness. I would venture to say Matt Jones has stolen any minutes Andre Dawkins would've been playing at this point. He is going to have to do some sorcery to get back into the rotation.

Again, Amile Jefferson is the Devils most consistent player and has demonstrated he deserves touches on the offensive end. Hopefully he can keep himself out of foul trouble.

Drury led at half by 4 and Rodney Hood apparently did all the barking at half time. Coach K waited until after the game to peel the paint off the wall and did so for 30 minutes or so. Effort and urgency were the words players took from the closed door meeting. Hopefully friday night both are on display against Davidson.

Andre appears to be in store for a Greg Paulus or Ricky Price-like senior season at Duke, where, after registering a good deal of success on the court early in his career, it ends with a whimper with bench duty in his last season. It's unfortunate, considering how talented the kid is as a scorer on the perimeter. He's also an underrated athlete and one of the best dunkers I've seen come through Duke in the last decade, which he just hasn't displayed due to his restricted abilities as a driver. But Andre's limitations defensively on the wing appear to be holding him back on a team as deep as Duke's this year with great guard play defensively. The reports of Dawkins dominating open practices in late summer have since silenced. Not sure what people were watching, as many who watched those practices were predicting Andre would start. Not gonna happen.

Matt Jones is a cool customer for a freshman and will make a major impact. I look for a season from him that is comparable to Rasheed Sulaimon's a season ago. He might not average 11 a game, but he'll have some 15 to 20 point nights where he is the man of the match for Duke in that given game. So that excites me.

I do think that Dawkins can still prove effective as a spurt scorer off the bench and will shine in the occasional game. Then again, Greg Paulus was a great shooter as well..

Might get some flack for saying this but I think Davidson stays within 6-8 points of Duke tonight and if the score is in the mid 60's Davidson will win the game.

Duke's struggles from the foul line and lack of familiarity with themselves as a team will make it hard to beat McKillop's crew which will start 4 upper-classmen.

Davidson 67
Duke 64

Thus ends the longest non-conference winning streak in the country.

No flack from me. Any time Bob McKillop is on the other bench, your team is going to be in for a fight. He's one of the best around, at any level of the game. Put him on the bench in Chapel Hill, and he wins a national championship at some point in his career. Then add De'Mon Brooks to the equation -- one of the nation's premier forwards and 2011-12 Southern Player of the Year who will give Duke's newcomers Rod Hood and Jabari Parker all they want in the front court -- and the recipe for a disaster is ripe.

I think Duke hangs on, but barely. I envision a Belmont situation from the 2011 opener, in which Duke escaped on a last minute shot by Andre Dawkins. Duke 72, Davidson 66.