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Id say the best recruiter right now is Teflon John (although everyone knows how that is happening) and you have to give a nod to Josh Pastner for the great job he's done in his 1st year at memphis. K isn't going anywhere, the connection has been re-established with Roscoe, 2011 stud Quincy Miller will be on hand for tomorrow's game and it's being reported that Doc Rivers is seeking out current Duke pros at every opportunity to talk about his son Austin as a potential Dukie. Like K has said, "It's the best college rivalry for a reason and it will stay that way until unc decides to move because we're not going anywhere."
This year will help duke recruiting because unc looks terrible. 11 turnovers tonight between drew and ginyard against a valpo zone!

congrats to all the followers of the baby blue. Harrison sounded like a Dukie throughout his speech so I was feeling great. I guess the power of the alumni game and those Michael Jordan tapes he grew up watching provided the emotional connection that the other schools couldn't match. Let's be honest, there's only one Jordan and Kobe never got the chance to go to Duke for one year like he freely admits he would have. Time to focus on this year and start the work on Roscoe Smith and getting Kyle Singler to stick around for his senior year.

preseason player of the year versus a malnourished overhyped freshman who laid 4 pts on fiu? Jims, did you ever stop drinking? You sound ridiculous and I'm considering the possibility that I'm mud wrestling a pig here but ok. How about Irving, Smith, Dawkins, Thornton, Curry for a backcourt rotation and Singler, Barnes, Kelly, Plumlee x2 and Hairston for the wings and frontcourt. Like Luke Winn of cnnsi.com said "that would be your preseason number 1 team in the nation."
Stop with the Ginyard crap. He is a terrible player on offense. Overestimated due to his defensive abilities, we're talking about a baby blue version of david mcclure. Ginyard averaged 6.3ppg as a frosh, 4.1 as a sophomore and 6.9 as a junior. Meet unc's versatile offensive savior folks. give me a break.
one last thing, gloating about an injury, even a minor wrist injury is freaking low class. If a hurt Duke player makes you feel better about unc in any way, you're a joke. What are you, a maryland fan cheering for Nolan Smith's concussion? At the end of the day, these are college kids we're talking about. Have some perspective.
See, this is why you don't mud wrestle with a pig. You just get dirty and the pig just likes it.

I believe that the key phrases here is "capable of contributing". With all the talk of Duke's backcourt troubles, there's no way you can look at Drew, Strickland and whoever else pitches in and say that is a better situation than Scheyer, Smith and Dawkins with the preseason all american Singler being the guy who will help out. Quality depth.
Either way, tomorrow will be fun. Either we get to say told ya so, or we get to see Jims admit that he was dying for Barnes and that whole fine without him stance was sour grapes to ease the sting. Good times.
LD-thanks on the name. I just couldn't figure out how to fit Yinka Dare into a name and have it apply to Duke.

I actually think that there is plenty of room for PT at unc. Strickland looks like a turnover machine because he's being forced to work as a point (because drew is so average) and he's a scoring guard, Henson will not survive an ACC season. He's got great length but he's getting banged around by NCCU and FIU. Henson is going to struggle all year. Mcdonald doesn't look bad but he sure doesn't look explosive either and the Wears are complete stiffs right now. That being said, Barnes is the last piece of the puzzle at Duke and he is tight with Dawkins and Irving, the choice is obvious.

And then give that ring back 2 years after you win it.
Ask Umass and Memphis has the story ends when you follow teflon John. Nice talent but remember this, the only kid who even had kentucky on his mind before SAT prep rolled into town was Jon Hood. I guess kids just dont appreciate going to the NIT like they should.

Absolutely. In my opinion, that's the best thing about Barnes. I think there are a lot of great athletes that enter college every year but this kid has a pro mentality already.

Jims, dont back down and start rationalizing now. Back in the "unc edging Duke for top recruit" posts, you were all about the reasons why Barnes would pick unc. Now that the writing's on the wall, you start with the sweet lemons routine? He's the best high school player in the country. No top team needs him but It's ok to admit you want to sign him and it's ok to acknowledge that it's not going to happen for you.

BTW, here's Harrison's explanation of the whole unc/Duke visit schedule so we don't have to guess: http://www.highschoolhoop.com/recruiting-news/2009/10/harrison-barnes-clears-up -dukeunc-rumors/

Here's what else we know: unc went ahead and took a committment from reggie bullock , a 6'6 sg/sf from NC. With Kendall Marshall and Dexter Strickland locked in for the backcourt next year, why would they sign a 5 star kid who will get most of his minutes playing the same position as Barnes? Easy, they don't have a shot here.
By comparison, Roscoe Smith, a 6'7 sf from Oak Hill, visited Duke the week before Barnes and has stated that he knows exactly where he wants to go but wants to see where everyone else signs first. Why wait? Easy, he wants to go to Duke but won't play with Barnes. Duke won't take the commit because theyre in good shape with Barnes. If Barnes has a change of heart (highly unlikely) then Roscoe is a dukie. If not, Roscoe's a husky.
The only school to even think about besides Duke is Kansas. Close to home with the talent to compete and Barnes has a good relationship with Manning who sends Barnes hand written letters each week. isu is too small, ucla is rebuilding, okla hasnt proven it will win past blake and unc got in too late. That leaves KU and Duke and I've said forever that Irving and Barnes (and Rivers too possibly!) were a package deal and there is no reason to change that outlook.

Still doubting me jim? Ok, I'll do it again.
Given that Barnes' mom works at ISU, we can be sure he's taking that unofficial as a courtesy. Ucla was smart to reschedule before the ISU unofficial so they'll get their visit but they really have zero chance here. I expect that we'll get an announcement the week after the ISU visit. I was dead on about Irving and Im right here, as well. The only question is, after Barnes commits to Duke, will you have the guts to get back on here and admit that I was right all along or will you mirror unc's run at the top of the ACC and just....suddenly...disappear?

Hey, how does this look? http://blogs.newsobserver.com/accnow/barnes-watches-duke-thump-pfeiffer
What about this? http://bluedevilnation.net/2009/10/2911/

Barnes wearing Duke blue....deal with it.

I had to drop back in and deliver the good news!! First, time to take out the trash:
1- Singler is a 1st team All-American according to foxsports, here's the link: http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4200&ATCLID=204790545
2- Bourbon, I love your ridiculous comparisons that all slant unc. "We've got Ginyard who's a 6'5 glue guy, hasn't played in a year and has never been a primary ball handler, I call that a push" or how about "Henson is a painfully thin high school center who will now play out of position at the 3 because we have zero guard play, also we do have the best frontcourt in the ACC so we'll be feeding davis and thompson constantly. Sounds like a potential player of the year to me!" Get a clue. Mcdonald is a 3, Ginyard is an offensive bum but he can D so he gets over-hyped, Strickland has potential but he's a slasher/ scorer, not a true point. We have no evidence that watts is capable of anything except sitting near the court. Look, I envy UNC's interior guys (davis, thompson and zeller) but your backcourt is horrible. Deal with it.
3- Barnes and Irving aren't teammates, yet. One goes to school in jersey, the other in Iowa. i recommend rivals, scout, zagsblog, espn and highschoolhoop for crucial info on recruits. Stuff like, who plays in the East versus who plays in the Midwest. Follow those for about a year or so then feel free to post again. Not until then.

Ok, time for the news. Like I said a million posts ago, Irving is a lock to Duke and it's very likely that he and barnes are a package deal. Now, I know it's not Drew and Ginyard but this is the tandem that will continue the Duke dominance that will be re-established by this year's sweep.
Here's some supporting evidence: http://www.highschoolhoop.com/recruiting-news/2009/10/kyrie-irving-set-to-annou nce/#more-1749
Read it and weep.
Now that we've got those two locked up, my hope is that we grab one more interior guy to make it official. I'd like Josh Smith but he's going to UCLA so Im hoping Duke tracks down Enes Kanter and uses K's international cache to seal the deal.

Btree, I love that you got all biblical on me with the "heal thyself." Very Clever.
Ok, so let's see what wrongs we can right tonight. 1- Jims, glad you missed me. Real job and all, can't post everyday but it's good to be missed. 2- As to the turnovers being skewed by Scheyer playing in a different system and only at the point for the last 14 games, these are valid points except for two things A- Scheyer played meaningful minutes against top competition and Drew was mostly mop-up when the intensity of the D is clearly less and B- we're talking a diff of 12 turnovers in almost 900 extra minutes!! 3- Duke is better at the point and 2 with Scheyer and Smith interchangeable and Singler is a preseason 1st team all american so he clearly takes the 3. Just sayin. 4- Yes, I'm very familar with the help that unc has coming in their recruits. Henson will be special one he gains weight, the wears won't smell it except in mop up minutes, Mcdonald is a swing who can help in many areas but not ball handling or 3pt shooting and Strickland who is a slasher/scorer, not a distributor. 5- It's not Duke's perimeter focus that tells me unc will struggle with Drew, it's Roy's history. If you can accept the fact that drew is a VERY average pg and you look at the years when Roy has truly excelled, he has an elite pg each of those years. It's Ok unc fans, you're still good and I said they WONT have an Indiana/KY fall off, theyre just very very young and not uniquely good this year. They won't struggle by say, Maryland's standards but preseason top ten, ACC champs, final four type results will not happen. Not even close.
Now for the real question, Jims wants to my Duke predictions so he can pick it apart. here we go, Duke is huge, 6 players in the rotation 6'9 or above (Zoubs, Thomas, Singler Plumlee x 2, Kelly) 2 6'5 guards in Scheyer and Dawkins. Duke is experienced with 3 seniors and 2 juniors set to log a ton of minutes. Duke is uniquely talented with Singler (ACC POY) and a recruiting class of an explosive wing in Dawkins, a polished albeit painfully thin 6' 10 shooter(3's and mid range) in Kelly and an uber-athletic post player with extraordianry length in Mason Plumlee. What Duke is not is ultra athletic in the run fast, jump high definition of athleticism(except for Dawkins and Plumlee who lack experience). What Duke is, is very skilled and very smart. They simply will not beat themselves and frankly they remind me of those Butler/early Gonzaga-type mid major teams that always seem to beat people due to their experience and execution. The difference is the talent level. Imagine the execution of strong mid-majors with Mickey D talent up and down the roster. Duke will sweep unc, Duke will win the ACC, Duke will earn a 1 seed and Duke will be an elite 8 team with a shot at the final four with the right draw. Kansas will win it all and unc will probably be in that 3/4 seed area due to simply being too deep for many teams but also beating themselves especially early in the year. If unc does sneak a 2 seed it will be on name value and potential, not from their body of work.
Ok boys, have fun with all this, I'll check back in a few days to clean up whatever messes you make. Cheers.

BTree, you seem like a reasonable guy and you make some good points. As a therapist, i think you have some unresolved issue towards Coach K you might want to look at but all in all, pretty solid.
Now, let me grab the red pen and highlight your mistakes.
Shelden Williams was cleared of all wrongdoing and his charges had been dropped before he ever enrolled. Not at all like Curry. Shelden had bad friends, Curry was the bad friend. Corey Magette is a better example if you want cast Duke in a questionable light.
I'd like you to revisit the Drew over Scheyer comment after this season. In 364 mins playing with as much experienced talent as possible last year Drew had 45 turnovers. Given that the experience is gone and the pressure is going up, what do you predict will happen to those numbers? By comparison, Scheyer played 1,214 mins and only turned it over 57 times. Duke is older, deeper and Scheyer can only get more comfortable as a distributor. Throw in the fact that Drew is a horrific shooter (23% from 3, 41% from the line!) and this is going to get ugly. It's not the lack of speed, it's the lack of skill.
You inadvertently proved my point with the Frasor example. that was certainly the year when it started to turn around for unc but finishing 2nd in the ACC and earning a 3 seed would be a huge letdown for a team ranked in the top 10 in basically every preseason projection. Im not saying unc will fall off like Indiana or Kentucky the past few years. I'm saying that recent success has expectations elevated to a level not obtainable by this years team. Seriously, a 3 seed would be amazing for unc this year and if you want to make money on your 2010 bracket, have unc leaving sometime in the first weekend.
One final note about Ol Roy since you mentioned his "admirable integrity". Roy turned his back on the first major school to give him a chance and did so less than a week after going on television and saying "I don't give a **** about north carolina." Before you cite loyalty to his carolina family remember that when he was first asked to move, he just couldnt turn his back on those that loved him at kansas. Conveniently, the nest year, after Hinrich, Collison and Gooden fell short and either graduated and/or declared for the draft, Ol Roy had a change of heart. So he's an opportunist, traitor and a liar and you should really take a look at yourself since you find that type of thing admirable.

This statement, much like unc's program, scores very high on style with little to no substance behind it. What criteria did you use to judge the "alumni player relations" programs of these fine institutions other than putting on the face paint and waving the pom-poms at the unc rally in the dean dome? I assume you've got a standardized criteria for judging "alumni player relations" or at the very least, I'm sure you've attended alumni events such as the K academy this past year which drew over 80 former Duke players. I'm also sure that you were in florida for the high school early evaluation period when Jeff Capel, Mike Brey and Johnny Dawkins all sat courtside with their mentor, Coach K and former players such as JJ Redick, Grant Hill and Jay Williams to watch and evaluate high school players. I'm also sure you gazed down the bench beyond K where 4 former players currently serve as assistants. I love how you don't let the fact that you have no idea what you're talking about stop you from speaking at length on the topic.
As for the transfers, I was responding to another misguided poster on that issue. I believe all major programs lose their share of kids at no fault of the team or staff. It's just part of the business of college sports. I used stephenson to illustrate this point and I'm glad to see you agree with me. Alex's story sounds just like Eliiot Williams from this year so i sympathize. Now, give us an insider's look at the Jameson Curry situation since we're all ready for another heart-breaking tale of carolina players past who were ripped from the loving arms of the carolina family. Um... yeah, his doesn't quite read like that does it?
Your final points 1- college players don't sacrifice themselves for our entertainment. They go to the highest bidder or the biggest stage and get a free education and royal treatment for 4 yrs (or less) in the hopes of signing a pro contract once theyre done. Don't let the NCAA marketing machine romaticize this for you. It's a business. I love Duke and i'm passionate about their success but my eyes are open. 2- Roy rode Ty like he rode Felton, Like he rode Hinrich like he rode Adonis Jordan. Ol roy's system requires an elite pg to prosper. Not a good pg, elite. With teflon John Cal snatching up every pg he can and Roy working with Larry Drew and kendall Marshall for the foreseeable future, expect good not great years to come.

It is nonesense but it's your lack of detail that is the most glaring weakness of your post. I see you hit all the high points in unc-chapel hill's favor but it's what you fail to mention that says so much. One day after I post that Irving and Barnes are a package deal, Irving completely removes IU from his list. this is important bc IU was considered the co-fav with Duke. So that pretty much guarantees Irving is in. Given that it has long been rumored that Irving and Barnes bonded over the summer and are looking to play at the same school, this is an important get.
As for your assertion that kids who have decided don't look around, look at gator commit Austin Rivers taking an official to Duke this weekend with unc-chapel to follow next. Why wouldn't a 17 yr old enjoy "phenomenal weekends" at university expense? As for barnes letting it known he had a good time....so what? That's being respectful and polite. irving twittered about a "great" in-home visit with IU and 72hrs later, they got the ax. Barnes isn't making a basketball decision, he's making a life choice. I doubt he's going to be swayed to play at a state school just bc vince carter can still jump really high.
Nice swipe about transfers (alex stephenson) but name a Duke transfer that went on to do anything of note. Life's tough, sometimes people just can't cut it when the lights shine the brightest.
Look, nice four year run, but Ty Lawson is not walking back through that door. Barnes is a done deal and so is unc-chapel hill's time on top. The cream always rises and the natural order has been restored.

This visit doesn't change a thing. Harrison Barnes and Kyrie Irving are a package deal for Duke and have been since mid-summer. Irving will be on campus next week and will most likely commit at that time. Barnes will take his visits and then commit in the late signing period. Not mentioned in this piece of non-information is that K was in-house with Barnes the week after his unc visit. Yawn....... the only question is if we'll get Roscoe Smith as well?

This is all nonsense. Some village newspaper cites "sources" that say a 17 yr old kid is leaning to a school with a strong local fanbase and it starts a frenzy. I do know for a fact that Barnes is scheduled for his 3rd visit to Duke next weekend so I think it's pretty safe to say he's still deciding. By the way, this 3rd visit to Duke is 2 more than he's taken to Kansas so you tell me which way he's leaning.

Joe Dirt - dumbest comment ever
Quick, name the college team that wouldn't be average without their two best players.
Duke isn't a top tier team and wasn't supposed to be this year. They got pushed up the rankings because of everyone else's losses but they remain as they were, a good not great team that could make a run come March but will most likely stall out in the round of 32 or 16 depending on seeding.
Now, if Singler and henderson stay, next year could be very different.