And Castle honestly. We’re missing anyone - regardless of age - who is really primarily a shot creator. McNeeley is great but he’s more of a maxed out Karaban in that even in HS he was more of an amazing secondary option than go to scorer. Ball can’t drive/finish as the rim well enough and Karaban is too slow foot speed wise to effectively take his man off the dribble as well.
I think it's apparent at this point that Flagg is REALLY good and is a difference maker for the team that got him. Imagine if we had him now. Need bucket, he gets a bucket.
Great post you nailed it
Besides Newton he's had a bit of blind spot filling the PG position. Hass doing better than I thought he would but he doesn't have a complete game and too much is on his shoulders.
You can add Storr to the list for Kansas. People thought he was going to be a cheat code for them.
FTFY
Which is why so many were discouraged. Kid probably could have been on a team that would have won three in a row. Much better legacy than winning one with Dook before moving on. That was the whole point of the major disappointment. I think deep down we kind of all knew it might be a rough year just no one wanted to be the person to bring it up.
Flagg is unreal but what is forgotten is the talent level around him. Let’s count the 5 stars. Even without good coaching with that much talent they will be good.
Need to change the offense. Go to throwing it into Reed and let him go to work. Surround him with shooters. Hurley has to change the offense to fit this team for this year due to lack of talent.
But they have that every year and are not this good. He makes everyone around him level up. He clearly is a generational player and we are trying to accomplish something that is more like a once every other generation accomplishment. To me it just felt that should have been the closer and it was not.
Ive been saying it all season. A pack line style defense would be perfect for this team. Virginia used it with the same type of rosters as we have this year. It helps keep our guys in defensive position for rebounds and prevents penetration.
Hurley has done it without loads of 5 stars granted but Duke has tipped the scale so much with them that even without Flagg they could be a top 20 team this year. We lose our one 5 star Liam and we are struggling.
It would be more than interesting for a deep dive on the results of the transfers from the portal at least for the top 25 teams as to productivity, etc. I bet the success rate is a lot less than people realize. Why? Well, there's several reasons but one main one is they just weren't good enough in the scheme of things at the Div I level to get the playing time they thought they should have. And why? Because they maybe just don't have the talent that they were recruited for? Of course, there's always exceptions, like Cam for one, but is he the rarity or the norm? I'd say the rarity. So the portal may not be the best place to look for answers.
Watch Solo Ball for a few possessions on defense you'll totally see the difference in "want to" between him and Cam. The guy just accepts screens without even trying to fight over under or through. He just watches the ball in the air instead of boxing out or getting in better rebounding position. Those are the 'want to" plays Ball doesn't make and Cam always did. Ball is the guy Hurley was referring to as too nice and soft without a doubt.
The transfers that UConn basketball considers are not ones that are leaving their teams due to lack of playing time. The football team is a different story.
At Montverde, it was McNeeley, not Flagg that the offense ran through. Not that he was a point guard, but his court vision, knowledge of the offensive schemes, was critical and often he was given the ball from the point guard to initiate offense.
^^^^^^This. Spot on.
2 transfers that were arguably best players on their teams last year too, along with a 6 man off an NC team. These guys are all men, not boys, which offsets the youth. Starting to think when Hurley goes portal he needs to find old guys that bring that senior toughness, not developmentals. Development is great and all, but reality is that they all don’t develop into what you want, so go get a couple iron clad older mercenaries you can plug in.
Who? Are you talking about Sion James who averaged 14 ppg for a horrendous Tulane team who finished 14-17 and 5-13 in the AAC and who is now averaging 7.5 ppg for Duke? Are you taking about Maliq Brown who averaged 9.5 ppg for a weak Syracuse team and is now averaging 2.5 ppg for Duke?
Brown is a GREAT versatile defender. He is one of the few guys I’ve seen play Broome really well, and can play 2-5 defensively. Problem is he’s been banged up but was a 20-25 minute guy. Not sure you’ve noticed but our defense is abysmal, and not sure if you recall how well having strong defensive guys like Jackson and Castle helps, despite their offensive challenges at times.
I've come to realize your obsession with everything Duke leads you to hyperbolic bloviating when it comes to them...
The blind spot in filling the PG position remains a problem for next year, because as things now stand, it's Mahaney and Nowell. If we cannot find a true, experienced PG in the portal, we are in trouble.
The irony is that I have no obsession with them - I have an awareness for them as a fan of the sport (tune into a podcast, I'm not alone), and a curiousity to how their unique roster makeup will work. This feels a lot more like your obsession with what you perceive as an obsession and some oddball anti-Duke thing you have going on. Go back to the fiddle.