Duke lands another top class | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Duke lands another top class

This is reason #400 why I enjoy seeing Duke lose in March EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. No titles in 11 years with a top 3 class every year. Hilarious.
No one does less with more.
 
No one does less with more.
Cal and Scheyer can't lose enough for me......coaching is more than just rolling a ball out there to a bunch of studs. That's why 2014 will always be one of, if not THE, most satisfying NCs for me. Look at our "talent" vs theirs. And by the end Cal was too overwhelmed to even have his boys foul us.
 
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Cal and Scheyer can't lose enough for me......coaching is more than just rolling a ball out there to a bunch of studs. That's why 2014 will always be one of, if not THE, most satisfying NCs for me. Look at our "talent" vs theirs. And by the end Cal was too overwhelmed to even have his boys foul us.
There wasn't a talent discrepancy in the 2014 championship game. Kentucky guys were ranked higher out of high school and Julius Randle is a stud but nobody else on that team cut it in the NBA. UConn was the 7th seed Kentucky was the 8th seed. I think we were the slight favorite on the betting line and I wasn't even nervous heading into that title game.
 
There wasn't a talent discrepancy in the 2014 championship game. Kentucky guys were ranked higher out of high school and Julius Randle is a stud but nobody else on that team cut it in the NBA. UConn was the 7th seed Kentucky was the 8th seed. I think we were the slight favorite on the betting line and I wasn't even nervous heading into that title game.
Could have actually been one of Cal's better coaching efforts getting that far with that team.
 
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Rippey committed today, Scheyer will be reloading with frosh. I find that fairly interesting in this class given it's been widely noted as not having a lot of difference makers behond Stokes.

With Boozer, Ngongba, Evans likely leaving, makes you wonder what Scheyer will do given he has no Boozer/Flagg coming in. And that is going to be a really crowded backcourt, so you'd have to think he pushes a couple of the current guys as well. His strategy will be tested this year.


We love to see it. All roads in college basketball run through Duke.
 
The formula that wins appears to include developing existing players who stay 2-4 years, and then bringing in specific types of players to fill specific roles in the portal and with recruits from high school. A three legged stool approach.
 
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There wasn't a talent discrepancy in the 2014 championship game. Kentucky guys were ranked higher out of high school and Julius Randle is a stud but nobody else on that team cut it in the NBA. UConn was the 7th seed Kentucky was the 8th seed. I think we were the slight favorite on the betting line and I wasn't even nervous heading into that title game.
That’s exactly why I used quotes. All the “experts” had their guys rated so much higher than ours. And while KY only had Randle make it in the NBA, who from our team did?? Bazz had a cup of coffee and that was it.

KY definitely had better players, they just didn’t have a coach
 
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Could have actually been one of Cal's better coaching efforts getting that far with that team.
Because he took a team full of top 10 recruits that completely underachieved all season? I ain’t buying that.

According to 24/7 he had 4 of the top 10 recruits in the country that year. It’s criminal they were an 8 seed, but that’s Cal’s “coaching”
 
Scheyer has arguably brought in better talent than K was at the end:

2026 (current #1)
2025 (#1) - ??
2024 (#1) - FF
2023 (#2) - EE
2022 (#1) - R32

2021 (#6) - FF
2020 (#3) -
2019 (#3) -
2018 (#1) - EE

but both underachieved for what the were bringing in, without a question.
 
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Kind of like Notre Dame football.
This is not true. Notre dames recruiting was never elite with Brian Kelly. They just had their first top 5 class in over a decade.

The teams with the best classes in football actually win for the most part
 
This is not true. Notre dames recruiting was never elite with Brian Kelly. They just had their first top 5 class in over a decade.

The teams with the best classes in football actually win for the most part
I don't want to do the research but play around with this and tell me their recruiting classes aren't high enough to win more than they have the past 25 years.

 
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The freshman thing works if you have Flagg and Knueppel or AD but most classes it’s not going to be a great strategy.

Considering they could get the Lendebourgs of the world if they really wanted, it’s somewhat perplexing that they don’t put more of an emphasis on it.
 
Scheyer has arguable brought in better talent than K was at the end:

2026 (current #1)
2025 (#1) - ??
2024 (#1) - FF
2023 (#2) - EE
2022 (#1) - R32

2021 (#6) - FF
2020 (#3) -
2019 (#3) -
2018 (#1) - EE

but both underachieved for what the were bringing in, without a question.

Duke made the final four in 2025 with Flagg. They lost in the elite eight to NC State in 2024. I don’t have a point - just making some corrections from recent memory.
 
The freshman thing works if you have Flagg and Knueppel or AD but most classes it’s not going to be a great strategy.

Considering they could get the Lendebourgs of the world if they really wanted, it’s somewhat perplexing that they don’t put more of an emphasis on it.

They want to keep the playing field level. Knowing that they have the most money, they handicap themselves on the coaching and strategy side. It's sporting of them.
 
Castle was our 4th most impactful starter. All the top teams are pretty much going to have at least one impactful freshman.
Cannot understate his defensive presence and ability. That kind of impact is hard to quantify as who he defended fg % is not tracked.
 
I don't want to do the research but play around with this and tell me their recruiting classes aren't high enough to win more than they have the past 25 years.


Since this started in 2015, they were mostly in the 8-15 range in total team talent. A few times they had no 5 stars on their team.

Brian Kelly was a lazy recruiter.

2015 is widely regarded as a team that could’ve won it all though. But their coaching sucked. Brian Van Gorder was an atrocious DC
 
Duke made the final four in 2025 with Flagg. They lost in the elite eight to NC State in 2024. I don’t have a point - just making some corrections from recent memory.
You are misunderstanding the post. That was the 2024 and 2025 recruiting classes, not the college season.

Flagg was in the 2024 recruiting class, their freshman season they went to the FF.

Boozer is in the the 2025 recruiting class, they are still playing.
 
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You are misunderstanding the post. That was the 2024 and 2025 recruiting classes, not the college season.

Flagg was in the 2024 recruiting class, their freshman season they went to the FF.

Boozer is in the the 2025 recruiting class, they are still playing.

Ohh gotchu. That makes perfect sense now. My bad, thanks for clarifying.
 
That’s exactly why I used quotes. All the “experts” had their guys rated so much higher than ours. And while KY only had Randle make it in the NBA, who from our team did?? Bazz had a cup of coffee and that was it.

KY definitely had better players, they just didn’t have a coach
Napier played in 345 NBA games. That is not a “cup of a coffee.”
 
Kentucky was loaded with NBA prospects in 2014. They didnt have a great regular season, but had a great postseason. You dont judge a college team by how their players eventually turn out in the NBA. College is college, NBA is NBA. Different game.
 
Bazz had over 800 assists and 2400 points in his very venti cup of coffee.
Julius Randle has over 14,000 points and more than 6,000 rebounds. He has more career assists than Shabazz has points. I don’t think there’s much to compare when looking at their NBA careers.
 
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