Harrison Barnes is a unique individual, and I'm not just referring to the fact that he is a 6'8" small forward with a perimeter game that is smooth enough to garner him consideration for a top five pick whenever he decides to enter the draft.
As you all should know by now, Barnes made the decision to return to school next season, making North Carolina the early favorite to win the 2012 national title. Barnes said that part of the reason he made the decision to return to school was to "I'm here to experience college life and grow as a person".
I think his actions on Wednesday would qualify.
Barnes participated in a charity wheelchair basketball to support Pi Kappa Phi fraternity and Push America, an organization dedicated to enhancing the life of people with disabilities. Kendall Marshall, Reggie Bullock, and Justin Knox were also in attendance, although they could not participate in the game due to study hall obligations.
Combine that with the fact that the Barnes and the Tar Heels seem to be a genuinely likeable group of kids that also play pick-up games with students at UNC, and I challenge any and all Duke fans to tell me how anyone can root against this team for reasons other than the shade of blue they chose to wear.
Continue reading...
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Harrison Barnes plays wheelchair basketball for charity |
Monday, April 18, 2011
Harrison Barnes returning to North Carolina for his sophomore season |
Following in the footsteps of Perry Jones and Jared Sullinger before him, Harrison Barnes announced on Monday morning that he would be returning to school for his sophomore season.
Barnes, who was the first freshman ever to be named preseason first team all-america, struggled early in the year, but with Kendall Marshall's promotion to starter and Larry Drew's decision to leave the team, the 6'8" small forward known as the Black Falcon finally found his stroke. He scored over 16 points just twice in his first 19 games, but did it 16 of the final 18 games of the season.
All that hype Barnes had? The smooth slasher with three point range, the athleticism to dunk on the entire defense, and a killer mid-range game? That is the guy that showed up for the last three months of the season. That is the guy that was in the running to be the No. 1 overall pick. And now, that is the guy that will be a favorite for National Player of the Year next season playing on the most talented team in the country.
"I look forward to meeting the challenging journey in the NBA, but my decision on November 13, 2009, still holds true," Barnes said in a statement. "I'm focused on being a student-athlete. And my decision is to continue this part of my journey at the University of North Carolina."
"As a team, we're preparing for a special season. My off-season plans are to diligently work on honing my basketball skills in all areas with one team-goal in mind -- to bring the 2012 national championship home to UNC."
With Tyler Zeller and John Henson returning to school earlier this month, the return of Barnes means that North Carolina will bring back their top seven players from last season. The only member of their rotation that they will lose is senior Justin Knox, a physical inside presence that averaged 4.6 ppg and 3.2 rpg in his only season in Chapel Hill. UNC also adds five star recruits James McAdoo, a 6'8" power forward, and PJ Hairston, an athletic, 6'5" wing scorer. Throw in Desmond Hubert and Jackson Simmons, a couple of three-star big men, and Roy Williams is going to have as deep and as talented of a roster as you will find in the country.
This is the second time in four years that the Heels have reaped the benefits of a players returning to school. Back in the spring of 2008, Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Danny Green, and Wayne Ellington all pulled out of the draft and returned to school. They proceeded to lead UNC to the 2009 national title.
Once again, UNC will be the preseason No. 1 team in most preseason polls.
Can Barnes and company follow in the footsteps of the 2009 team?
Here is Barnes' full statement: "As an 18-year old, I'm in the early stages of my life journey. I'm honored and blessed for the chance to play in the NBA. And because of my family, teachers, passion, and work, I have the ultimate dream of one day playing and experiencing a fulfilling career in the NBA.
"Opportunities, both beneficial and life changing, can seem to make the next phase of my journey an easy decision. But I am a student-athlete at the University of North Carolina. I'm here to experience college life, grow as a person, receive a quality education, and be part of the greatest basketball family in college sports.
"The experiences I've enjoyed on and off the court will be invaluable. These experiences will help fuel my journey in the NBA and beyond.
"I look forward to meeting the challenging journey in the NBA, but my decision on November 13, 2009, still holds true. I'm focused on being a student-athlete. And my decision is to continue this part of my journey at the University of North Carolina.
"As a team, we're preparing for a special season. My off-season plans are to diligently work on honing my basketball skills in all areas with one team-goal in mind -- to bring the 2012 national championship home to UNC."
And here is Roy Williams' statement: "I am of course excited to have Harrison back on our team next year. It has been a true pleasure to coach him and I look forward to coaching him again next season. He had a difficult decision to make. He really had no wrong decision to choose, but I believe he is coming back to school because he enjoys college basketball, he enjoys the University of North Carolina and he enjoys his teammates. If he had decided to leave for the NBA, that would have been okay, too, because he will always be a Tar Heel. But it will certainly be a lot of fun to coach him again."
Continue reading...
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Harrison Barnes sets the stage for an epic Saturday night |
Harrison Barnes won't be making anyone's all-america team this season.
Its fair to say he hasn't lived up to the hype. He was the No. 1 recruit in the country and the first freshman to ever be put on the AP preseason all-america team, but classmates Jared Sullinger, Terrence Jones, Brandon Knight, Perry Jones, and even Kyrie Irving have been much more impressive than the Ames, IA, native this season.
That said, don't be surprised if Barnes manages to capture some postseason hardware.
After months of waiting, Barnes has finally found his zone. North Carolina has won 11 of their last 12 games, and after Barnes hit back-to-back jumpers in the final minute of a win over Miami in the second game of that streak, Barnes has averaged 17.9 ppg in his last ten.
That streak includes the game-winning jumper he hit to cap off an 18 point performance against Florida State last night:
"It's very exciting to have the last second shot," Barnes said. "You're either the hero or the goat. You make or you miss and you get to go on from there."
"Tonight, I made it."
Perhaps the best part about last night's win for the Heels?
When Duke comes to Chapel Hill on Saturday night, the outright ACC title will be on the line.
Who's ready?
Continue reading...
Saturday, February 12, 2011
POSTERIZED: Harrison Barnes. That is all |
You were wondering why Harrison Barnes was named to the AP all-american team in the preseason?
The 20 points and seven boards he had against Clemson in a 64-62 road win this afternoon had something to do with it.
This had something to do with it too:
Off the spin? That was vicious.
But was it as good as one of these?:
POSTERIZED - Andre Roberson, Colorado
POSTERIZED - Durrell Summers, Michigan State
POSTERIZED - Phillip McDonald, New Mexico
POSTERIZED - Kyle Kuric, Louisville
POSTERIZED - Anthony Nelson, Niagara
POSTERIZED - Cory Joseph, Texas
POSTERIZED - Will Sheehey, Indiana
POSTERIZED - Tom Pritchard, Indiana
POSTERIZED - Shay Shine, High Point
POSTERIZED - John Holland, Boston
POSTERIZED - Keith Gabriel, VMI
POSTERIZED - Travis McKie, Wake Forest
POSTERIZED - Jefferson Mason, Minnesota State (D-II)
POSTERIZED - Tyler Johnson, Fresno State
POSTERIZED - Justin Williams, UNC-Ashville
POSTERIZED - Derrick Williams, Arizona
POSTERIZED - Hollis Thompson, Georgetown
POSTERIZED - Darnell Wilks, Cincinnati
POSTERIZED - Rodney Williams, Minnesota
POSTERIZED - Darius Johnson-Odom, Marquette
POSTERIZED - Darrius Garrett, Richmond
POSTERIZED - Travis Cohn, Jacksonville
POSTERIZED - Ramon Galloway, South Carolina
POSTERIZED - Terrence Jones, Kentucky
POSTERIZED - Justin Tubbs, East Tennessee State
POSTERIZED - John Williams, UNC-Ashville
POSTERIZED - Kevin Smith, Richmond
POSTERIZED - Mitchell Watt, Buffalo
POSTERIZED - Chandler Parsons, Florida
POSTERIZED - Kenny Gabriel, Auburn
POSTERIZED - Paris Horne, St. John's
POSTERIZED - Travis Leslie, Georgia
POSTERIZED - Laurence Bowers, Missouri
POSTERIZED - Drew Gordon, New Mexico
POSTERIZED - Tony Mitchell, Alabama
POSTERIZED - Jeffery Taylor, Vanderbilt
POSTERIZED - LaMarcus Reed, UT-Arlington
POSTERIZED - Marcus Morris, Kansas
POSTERIZED - Jared Cunningham, Oregon State
POSTERIZED - Langston Morris-Walker
POSTERIZED - Chris Wright and Juwan Staten, Dayton
POSTERIZED - D.J Stephens, Memphis
POSTERIZED - Derrick Williams, Arizona
POSTERIZED - Reeves Nelson, UCLA
POSTERIZED - Kendall Marshall and John Henson, UNC
POSTERIZED - Terrence Jones, Kentucky
POSTERIZED - Rodney Williams, Minnesota
POSTERIZED - Joe Jackson, Memphis
POSTERIZED - Shay Shine, High Point
POSTERIZED - Harrison Barnes, North Carolina
POSTERIZED - Kent Bazemore, Old Dominion
POSTERIZED - CJ Fair, Syracuse
POSTERIZED - LeBryan Nash
POSTERIZED - Rodney Williams, Minnesota
POSTERIZED - Travis Leslie, Georgia
POSTERIZED - Terrence Jones, Kentucky
POSTERIZED - Marcus Jordan, Central Florida
POSTERIZED - Lorenzo Brown, NC State
POSTERIZED - Tai Wesley, Utah State
POSTERIZED - Trent Lockett, Arizona State, and Derrick Williams, Arizona
POSTERIZED - Brandon Paul, Illinois
POSTERIZED - Jordan Hamilton, Texas
Continue reading...
Monday, January 31, 2011
Turning point for UNC wasn't the switch at the point |
One of the preeminent talking points of this college basketball season has been the struggles of the ACC.
As a whole, the league is down, riding the success of Duke to keep them above the likes of the Pac-10 in conference pecking order. But with the embarrassing loss handed to the Blue Devils by St. John's on Sunday afternoon, questions regarding the overall strength of the ACC grow louder and louder.
That said, Duke's disappointing performance since Kyrie Irving went down -- which I detailed in this post -- has done more than just force us to question how many ACC teams will eventually make the tournament.
It may have opened the door for their Tobacco Road rivals to make a run at the ACC title.
North Carolina didn't exactly have a dominating start to the season. They lost their first four games against notable competition, and while their win over Kentucky back in early December was nice (and aided by an ill-timed Terrence Jones nap), the Heels struggled to knock off lesser competition. After less than impressive wins against Virginia and Virginia Tech, the Heels were essentially written off nationally when Georgia Tech swept the floor with them in a 20 point beatdown.
It didn't help matters that North Carolina was coming off of a season in which they crumbled during ACC play and were relegated to the NIT.
After that Georgia Tech loss, Roy Williams finally made a change. He promoted freshman Kendall Marshall to the starting lineup while sending junior Larry Drew II to the bench. It was a move that Carolina fans had been calling for for a long time and one that has, well, been relatively unimportant. Regardless of who has started for the Heels, both Marshall and Drew essentially split time at the point. Neither has seen a dramatic improvement or drop off in the three games since the change, and down the stretch against both Clemson and Miami, Williams opted to go offense-defense, bringing in Drew every time Marshall was on the floor for a defensive possession and putting Marshall back in when UNC had the ball.
I know that this change happened to coincide with three straight UNC wins, but I don't think that the change is what has sparked this winning streak. Replacing one mediocre point guard with another slightly-better-but-still-far-from-great point guard doesn't change the course of a season.
If I had to pick a turning point in the season, it would be the last minute of UNC's win over Miami. As he has been essentially all season, Harrison Barnes was struggling with his jumpshot. He was 2-9 from the floor, he had just six points, and UNC was down 71-69 with just 1:13 left on the clock. Barnes proceeded to knock down a jumper shot to tie the game, and one possession later he hit a three with just 6.6 seconds on the clock that turned out to be the game-winner.
Now the general consensus on what has ailed Barnes, the first freshman to ever be named a preseason AP all-american, this season has been confidence more than anything. Based on his play against NC State, those two late jumpers against the Hurricanes gave Barnes that confidence. The freshman had 25 points on 10-16 shooting against the Wolfpack on Saturday.
Now I know that is just one data point, and one data point is no where near a large enough sample size to draw any kind of conclusion. But its worth talking about. That game was the first time that Barnes scored more than 20 points in his collegiate career. It was the first time he made more than seven field goals. It was, without a shadow of a doubt, his best performance as a freshman, and probably not a coincidence that it came just three days after he won a game for the Tar Heels.
UNC's issue this season, ironically, has not been on the defensive end of the floor. According to Kenpom's rankings, they are actually the seventh-best defensive team in the country. While John Henson and Tyler Zeller aren't as burly as you would like, they are both long, athletic, run the floor, and do an admirable job protecting the rim and rebounding the ball given their physical limitations.
Where the Heels struggle is on the offensive end of the floor. Its no secret why. Roy Williams likes to have his team run in transition and relies on a point guard that can create shots -- whether they are dunks for his big men or open threes for his shooters. As of now, however, UNC fans are going to need to accept the fact that they are probably going to have less-than-optimal play from their point guards this season. It happens. Drew isn't very good offensively, and as well as Marshall passes the ball, he turns the ball over way too much and may actually be a worse jump shooter than Drew.
As a result, the Heels are just the 72nd most efficient offense in the country.
If Barnes can find a rhythm -- well, build on the rhythm he found on Saturday -- on the offensive end of the floor, it makes the Heels a much more potent offensive team. Struggles or not, there is a reason that everyone that saw Barnes play in high school thought he was going to be a star at this level. How many teams would love to be able to add a potential all-american to their roster at the end of January?
Which brings me back to Duke.
The has been almost no positive buzz surrounding UNC this season, but the Heels are currently all alone in second place in the ACC, a game behind Duke in the win column.
Once again, one data point is not enough to draw any reliable conclusions, but it should serve notice that UNC had their best game of the ACC season against NC State when Barnes went off.
The Tar Heels have a back loaded ACC schedule -- they still have to play Florida State, Boston College, and Duke twice each.
But keep an eye on the Heels.
With Harrison Barnes playing like the high school all-american Harrison Barnes, UNC is capable of making a run at the ACC title.
And if they do, remember the moment that turned their season around.
Continue reading...
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Conference Play Primer: The ACC |
Favorite: Duke Blue Devils
I'm not expecting too much of an argument on that one. Not only is Duke the No. 1 team in the country right now -- even without Kyrie Irving -- but the rest of the ACC has been just pitiful. People are legitimately discussing whether or not Duke has a chance to go undefeated this season, and I guarantee that there are more people that think Duke won't lose a game than think the Blue Devils won't win the ACC.
Player of the Year: Reggie Jackson, Boston College
There are a number of legitimate Player of the Year options in the ACC at this point in the season, but I'm going with Jackson. He's second in the conference in both scoring (19.2) and assists (5.0) while grabbing 4.4 rpg and shooting an obscene 50.9% from three. He's also been the catalyst in BC's resurgence under Steve Donahue, carrying the team to a 10-2 mark here early in the season, which includes a win on the road against Maryland in their ACC opener. As crazy as it may sound, BC might just be the second best team in the ACC. And Reggie Jackson is the reason why.
All-Conference Team:
Biggest Surprise: Virginia Tech Hokies
Boston College has probably been the only team in the conference that has been a surprise in a positive way. Since I don't want to talk about the Eagles, I'll go the other direction. This was supposed to be Virginia Tech's year to breakthrough. With senior Malcolm Delaney leading this way, the Hokie's were going to have the supporting cast around the ACC Player of the Year as they gave Duke a run for their money atop the conference. That was the plan, anyway. Then Allan Chaney had a heart condition discovered, JT Thompson tore his acl, and Virginia Tech struggled through the non-conference portion of their schedule before finding out that Dorenzo Hudson, last year's leading scorer, would miss the rest of the season due to injury. Without a quality win, and with very few quality wins available in the ACC this year, it looks as if the Hokies will once again miss the NCAA Tournament.
Biggest Disappointment: Harrison Barnes
Since I'm not going to simply answer "the conference as a whole" (because that would be too correct accurate easy), I'll go with Barnes. Barnes has been far from bad this season. He is the Tar Heel's second leading scorer at 12.3 ppg, which, as an incoming freshman, is commendable. The problem is that with the hype bestowed upon this young man this season, "commendable" is not good enough. Barnes was named CBSSports.com preseason national Player of the Year and became the first freshman to ever be named an AP Preseason All-American. Its not his fault that he had this much hype coming in, but he certainly hasn't lived up to those expectations. Its not an issue of talent, it seems more to be an issue of confidence. Barnes is not playing as aggressive as many expected him to, and he certainly isn't shooting the ball all that well. There is still time for him to turn things around. Personally, I'm hoping he will; Barnes seems like a genuinely good kid.
Teams to keep an eye on:
Teams to forget about:
Continue reading...
Saturday, December 4, 2010
POSTERIZED: Harrison Barnes with an impressive tip-dunk |
I'm not currently watching the UK-UNC game. In fact, I am actually sitting on press row at the Georgetown-Utah State game. Georgetown is smacking the Aggies here in the second half, so I got to tweeting.
This video came across my feed. Its Harrison Barnes with an impressive tip-dunk (if you couldn't tell from the title), so I figured I would post it.
Was this as good as the rest of the dunks for 2010-2011?
POSTERIZED - Kent Bazemore, Old Dominion
POSTERIZED - CJ Fair, Syracuse
POSTERIZED - LeBryan Nash
POSTERIZED - Rodney Williams, Minnesota
POSTERIZED - Travis Leslie, Georgia
POSTERIZED - Terrence Jones, Kentucky
POSTERIZED - Marcus Jordan, Central Florida
POSTERIZED - Lorenzo Brown, NC State
POSTERIZED - Tai Wesley, Utah State
POSTERIZED - Trent Lockett, Arizona State, and Derrick Williams, Arizona
POSTERIZED - Brandon Paul, Illinois
POSTERIZED - Jordan Hamilton, Texas
Continue reading...
Friday, November 13, 2009
UPDATE: Harrison Barnes is a Tar Heel |
UPDATE: Harrison Barnes has announced his intentions to go to UNC. Huge get for Roy Williams. Not only is Barnes projected as the top pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, but he will be able to slide into the small forward role that UNC is missing this year. If by some miracle, Ed Davis stays another year, can you imagine a front line of Barnes, Henson, Davis, Tyler Zeller, and the Wear twins?
Duke fans must be miserable. Barnes has had a long and close relationship with Coach K, and many thought that he was destined to be a Dookie. Its one thing to lose a recruit to Kentucky (Patrick Patterson, John Wall) or Georgetown (Greg Monroe), but to lose a kid to their Tobacco Road rivals?
Maybe all that talk about the return of Coach K's recruiting prowess was a rush to judgement.
Harrison Barnes, the 6'7" wing from Ames, Iowa, will be announcing his college decision today live on ESPN U. It will happen at some point between 2-4:30 pm during the signing day special. We will update this page when the announcement is made.
One thing to note about today - if anyone says they have inside information about where Barnes is headed, they are lying to you. There may have never been such a high-profile recruit that kept his decision making process so close to the chest.
We've written about Barnes a couple times over the last two weeks (here and here), but given the excitement around college basketball circles over Barnes' decision, we figured it would be best to just copy and paste our thoughts on each of the six schools still on his list after the jump:
If you are interested, you can go here to read about all of Barnes' recruiting visits.
Continue reading...
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Harrison Barnes to announce next week |
Harrison Barnes has confirmed that he will announce his decision on where he will go to school next Friday by signing a letter of intent. According to some reports, he will be doing so live on ESPN U.
Barnes will be taking his last visit this weekend to Iowa State is his hometown of Ames. He will then decide between Duke, UNC, Kansas, Oklahoma, UCLA, and the Cyclones.
Harrison Barnes will announce his intentions on Nov. 13th.(photo credit: SLAM)
If I had to make a guess, I would say that Barnes is headed for UNC, but that is completely unsubstantiated speculation. Unlike fellow top recruits John Wall and Kyrie Irving, who most considered locks for Kentucky/John Calipari and Duke, respectively, Barnes' seems to be much more up in the air.
Earlier in his recruitment process, Barnes was thought by many to be a lock to go to Duke. But after attending the UNC alumni game where he met, among others, Michael Jordan, and after Dave Odom reported a bit of a tiff between Tobacco Road foes Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams (to which Barnes responded with a perfectly reasonable explanation), quite a few started speculating a change in sentiment.
When it comes down to it, the only people who know where Barnes is going to go to school are Harrison and his family and advisers.
So what effect will Barnes have on the six schools still in the mix?
- Duke: Assuming that Kyle Singler and Irving both return to Durham, can you imagine a starting line-up of Irving, Seth Curry, Barnes, Singler, (insert 6'10" white guy), with Andre Dawkins, Tyler Thornton, and (insert two more 6'10" white guys) coming off the bench? Can you say national title?
- UNC and Kansas: His effect on both schools will be determined by who actually comes back to school. Will Xavier Henry or John Henson stick around for more than a year? Are Ed Davis and Cole Aldrich locks to enter the draft? Assuming those guys are gone, there will probably be more minutes available at the small forward spot at UNC than at Kansas, but that shouldn't matter as Barnes will likely be a starter from day one at either school. Kansas is probably better equipped to handle not getting a commitment, but both schools are going to be in the national title conversation regardless of whether or not Barnes wears their jersey.
- Oklahoma: Jeff Capel probably isn't going to be lucky enough to have Willie Warren return to school for his junior season, which means that he will be losing a huge number of points (Tony Crocker graduates as well). Barnes will step in and be the Sooners go-to scorer the second he gets on campus, but it is much less likely that he will be a Final Four contender in Norman. Does Barnes want to post huge stats and win a bunch of individual awards (a la a Kevin Durant), or does he want to compete for a national title?
- UCLA: The Bruins are very young this year, but with two consecutive loaded recruiting classes, a season of maturation could be enough to get Ben Howland's team back to national prominence come 2011. Tyler Honeycutt, Mike Moser, and Malcolm Lee will make minutes more difficult to come by in Westwood, but, as is the case with UNC, Barnes should be good enough to start immediately. Without him, they are one of the best teams out west. With him, they are in the national title conversation.
- Iowa State: If Craig Brackins returns to school, Iowa State may have the pieces to make a run at the tournament. If not, then, well, Barnes will spend a year playing in anonymity.
Continue reading...
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Harrison Barnes recruiting battle: where on Tobacco Road will he end up? |
For those that are unaware, yesterday (October 5th) was the last day that college coaches were allowed to visit recruits in their homes. For the last 27 days, coaches have been in and out of the homes of the best recruits all over the country.
The process is usually pretty simple - a coach comes in the home of a recruit and tries to impress the family with, among other things, a spiel about how great his team, and his university, is. When it is done, the coach tries to lock up a commitment from that recruit. If there is no committing to be done, the coach tries to land an official visit from said recruit. When he finishes this little song and dance, he is off on his merry way to try and persuade another young mind that his school is the place to be.
Pretty standard stuff, and usually nothing too exciting occurs.
Unless, of course, you are the best player in the country.
Then something exciting always occurs.
Take Harrison Barnes for example.
Harrison Barnes has Roy Williams at his beck and call.(photo credit: SLAM)
Duke has long been considered the favorite to land Barnes, who many consider to be the best player in the country. But last month Barnes attended UNC's alumni game and was smitten by the chance to rub elbows with Michael Jordan, as any 17 year old basketball player, regardless of talent level, would be.
In an effort to get the last word in edgewise, Coach K requested that he be the last coach to have an in home visit with Barnes. That visit took place yesterday evening, and apparently had quite an effect on Barnes.
Enough of an effect that he decided he needed to meet with Roy Williams one more time face-to-face.
So Barnes calls the UNC athletics office, but Roy Williams is not in. Someone locates Williams, tells him that Barnes wants to see him, and before the night is over Williams makes it to Ames, Iowa via private jet to have one last sit down with Barnes before the season beings.
Think about that. Roy Williams, who was more than likely on his way home on a Monday evening, dropped everything and chartered a plane to Ames, Iowa, just to have a chance to be the last coach to talk to this kid before the contact period ended.
Ahhh...
There is nothing better than a good old-fashioned recruiting war.
Continue reading...
Monday, September 28, 2009
Coach K is hitting the recruiting trail hard |
I don't think anyone will argue with me if I say Duke has one of the best basketball programs in the country.
But over the last few seasons, Coach K's bunch has not been as dominant as they were in the 90's. Since 2001, the Blue Devils have made it past the Sweet Sixteen just once, a 2004 run to the Final Four. They have reached the tournament every season with a smattering of ACC regular season and conference championships thrown in there, which would be a great run for just about any program in the country.
But we are talking about Duke.
Expectations are high down in Durham.
The reason why the Blue Devils haven't been the same Blue Devils is a tough question to answer. Have they had a dominant play maker in their back court since Jason Williams left? Are their stars too soft to handle the pressure of playing in March? Do they rely too much on the three? Does the team break down by the end of the season?
This image has been a common one for recent Duke teams.(photo credit: photobucket)
The bottom line is that Duke just hasn't been getting the same caliber of talent into their program of late. Instead of landing a Christian Laettner, they get a Josh McRoberts. Instead of Jason Williams, its Jon Scheyer. Elton Brand is now Lance Thomas.
I don't mean to be speaking ill of the current Dukies, because these are still kids that are playing for a team that wins 25-plus games a year in the ACC. That is very impressive. But Thomas, Scheyer, and McRoberts are not going to be making NBA all-star teams. And as we have said time and time again, that NBA ready talent is what you need to win titles in college.
So is the issue recruiting?
It seems to be a fair argument, as Coach K has just missed on quite a few big time recruits over the last couple of summers. Patrick Patterson, Greg Monroe, John Wall, and Kenny Boynton are just a few of the big names that flirted heavily with the idea of playing for Coach K.
Imagine a starting line-up of those four and Kyle Singler.
Scary, right?
But things may be looking up for the Blue Devils.
Kyrie Irving is a consensus top 10 recruit in the class of 2010 (9th by Rivals, 6th by ESPN, 5th by Scout). For most of the summer, it was believed that Indiana and Duke were the two leaders to land his services. But last week, Irving announced that he would not be taking an official visit in Bloomington, putting the Blue Devils squarely in the drivers seat according to most media outlets.
Is Kyrie Irving headed to Durham?(photo credit: Herald Times)
Irving's official visit to Duke over the weekend only added fuel to the fire. Adam Zagoria reported yesterday that the trip was an overwhelming success as the Crazies were out in full force. Irving raved about his trip on Twitter, and if Justin Young or Jeff Goodman is to be believed, a commitment is imminent.
But there's more.
Most believe that Harrison Barnes, who is arguably the best player in the class of 2010 (1st by Scout, 1st by ESPN, 2nd by Rivals), has favored Duke for a while (he takes his official visit there on October 23rd), but that may have changed after his trip to see the UNC alumni game.
Austin Rivers, Doc's son and Jeremiah's brother, is a top ten recruit in the class of 2011 and has long been committed to Florida. But he recently took a trip to the Duke campus, and some believe he may now be choosing between the two schools.
And do I need to mention that Irving's teammate at St. Patrick's in Michael Gilchrist, a 2011 recruit that may actually be the best player in the country.
While it may be all speculation right now, if Coach K can finally land two or three of these kids, would any be surprised to see the Devils celebrating in Houston in 2011?
Continue reading...
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Recruiting update! |
Over the last couple of days, there have been a number of big time recruits committing to a school:
- Jeremy Lamb, a 6'4" shooting guard out of Norcross, Georgia and the 68th best player according to Rivals, has committed to UConn. Want an idea of how good Norcross High is? Lamb got a scholarship to UConn despite averaging just 11 ppg in 15 mpg as a junior.
- UVa landed James Johnson, a 6'9" big man from California. Johnson is a top 100 recruit (99th by Rivals, but 31st according to Scout) and cancelled trips to Arizona and Oklahoma after visiting Charlottesville.
- Bruce Ellington, who was being recruited for both football and basketball, has committed to South Carolina to play point guard. The 5'10" South Carolina native is rated 94th by Rivals and 52nd by Scout.
- LSU has gotten a commitment from Ralston Turner, a 6'5" wing from Alabama rated at the bottom of the top 150 by both Rivals and Scout.
From the Charlotte Observer:
The Heels all but rolled out the red carpet at the Smith Center when Barnes made his official recruiting visit and took in UNC's Pro Alumni basketball game on Sept. 4.So while Barnes was at UNC, he met countless NBA players and former coaches (including Jordan himself), he watched these NBA stars play in UNC alumni game, he helped raise the 2009 national championship banner, and watched as the Heels received their rings.
Barnes' mother, Shirley, once taped many of Michael Jordan's games after he left North Carolina and was doing his thing for the Chicago Bulls, just in case she one day had a son. In May 1992, when she did give birth, her son was named Harrison Bryce-Jordan Barnes.
So here was Harrison Bryce-Jordan Barnes, on a Friday night at the Smith Center. Standing barely 15 feet away on the court was Jordan, MJ himself, basking in the roars of an adoring crowd before the alumni game.
Also on the court were such NBA players as Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison and Jerry Stackhouse. There was former coach Dean Smith, and NBA coaches Larry Brown and George Karl, all back in Chapel Hill to help kick off the school's 100th basketball anniversary.
Barnes would watch and clap as the Heels unveiled their 2009 NCAA championship banner that night. The next day, at the football opener at Kenan Stadium, he would see the Heels receive their new NCAA championship rings.
Does any other school stand a chance?
Continue reading...
Posts
