There was speculation that it would happen early this week. But it didn't. And now it seems Duke might have to wait until after Kyrie Irving attends Kentucky's Big Blue Madness to find out whether it will land the elite point guard from New Jersey.
Still, Duke should get him.
That's the word.
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| Harrison Barnes of Ames, Iowa is arguably the best wing in the 2010 class. (MaxPreps) |
Yes, they're that good.
Scout.com ranks Barnes No. 1 in the Class of 2010.
Irving is ranked No. 5.
Assuming both sign with the Blue Devils, it will mark just the first and second times that Duke has landed a prospect ranked in Scout.com's top five since it got top-ranked Josh McRoberts from the Class of 2005, which brings us back to that Final Four drought. You are probably aware that the Blue Devils haven't made the Final Four since 2004, that they've made the Sweet 16 just once in the past three seasons. By Duke standards, that's bad. And it can be traced to the program's past five recruiting classes that have been nothing short of terrible.
Consider that Duke has enrolled 18 players from the past five classes.
It breaks down like this:
• Three NBA-level players (McRoberts, Gerald Henderson, Kyle Singler)
• One high-level college player (Jon Scheyer)
• Two average college players (Nolan Smith, Lance Thomas)
• Four players who transferred (Taylor King, Elliot Williams, Eric Boateng, Jamal Boykin)
• Four players who were/are busts (Martynas Pocious, Brian Zoubek, Greg Paulus, Olek Czyz)
• Four players who are too young to label (Miles Plumlee, Mason Plumlee, Ryan Kelly, Andre Dawkins)
So to summarize, Duke's past five recruiting classes have produced more transfers than NBA players, more busts than All-Americans. It's a stunning statistic -- particularly when you consider that North Carolina's past five recruiting classes have produced at least eight NBA-level players (Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, Brandon Wright, Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson, Tyler Zeller, Ed Davis, John Henson). Meantime, Kansas' past five classes have produced at least seven NBA-level players (Brandon Rush, Julian Wright, Mario Chalmers, Darrell Arthur, Sherron Collins, Cole Aldrich, Xavier Henry), and that's why UNC and KU have consistently remained in contention for national titles.
Coach K hasn't sniffed a national title in a while.
It's a direct result, I think, of putting too much emphasis on character and intangibles -- i.e., so-called "good and smart kids" -- in recruiting and not enough emphasis on just getting badass ballers who can run and jump at an elite level. Beyond that, Duke hasn't always operated with a clear backup plan, and so when the Blue Devils missed on guys like Greg Monroe (signed with Georgetown) and Kenny Boynton (signed with Florida), there was nowhere to turn and recover.
In other words, while somebody like John Calipari will cast a wide net -- Kentucky has offered each of the top four point guards in the Class of 2010; Calipari will be thrilled to get any two of them -- Krzyzewski has a history of isolating targets and focusing almost exclusively on a handful of guys. Throughout most of the 1990s, it worked. But at some point over the past decade kids stopped automatically accepting scholarship offers from Duke over places like Georgetown and Florida, and that has clearly played a role in the slip.
But the slip is over.
Or at least it's about to be over.
It's a testament to Krzyzewski as a coach that he was able to take those recruiting classes listed above and still finish first or second in the ACC in three of the past four seasons. To do that with those players is an accomplishment. But the Blue Devils should be accomplishing more, and the Duke staff -- Krzyzewski and assistants Chris Collins, Nate James and Steve Wojciechowski -- now has the program on the verge of landing the level of prospect that it takes to do exactly that.
Make no mistake, Harrison Barnes and Kyrie Irving seem like good kids.
But that's not why they're ranked among the top five of the Class of 2010.
Rather, they're in the top five because they're ridiculously talented prospects -- arguably the best point guard (Irving) and wing (Barnes) in the nation. The word "athletic" appears in both of their "Player Evaluations" at Scout.com, and that must be a welcomed sign to Duke fans who have watched the Blue Devils spend too many games lately as the lesser-athletic team.
Bottom line, the recruiting troubles that have plagued Duke recently seem to be a thing of the past.
That means those on-the-court troubles will soon be disappearing, too.
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