ACC Review (09-10)

All-ACC

Malcom Delaney, Virginia Tech
Junior 6-3 190 20.2p 3.7r 4.5a 0.1b 1.2s

Jon Scheyer, Duke
Senior 6-5 190 18.2p 3.6r 4.9a 0.3b 1.6s

Greivis Vasquez, Maryland
Senior 6-6 200 19.6p 4.6r 6.3a 0.4b 1.7s

Al-Farouq Aminu, Wake Forest
Sophomore 6-9 215 15.8p 10.7r 1.3a 1.4b 1.4s

Kyle Singler, Duke
Junior 6-8 230 17.7p 7.0r 2.4a 0.8b 1.0s

Player of the Year: Greivis Vasquez, Maryland
General Greivis joins Joakim Noah, Greg Paulus, J.J. Redick, and Eric Devendorf in the starting five on the most annoying team of the last decade and maybe ever. Still, it's quite possible that no one in all of college basketball meant more to their team than the Venezuelan Sensation. (That rhymes, right?)

Coach of the Year: Mike Krzyzewski, Duke
Not a lot of competition in the ACC for Coach K this year. Gary Williams' return from the brink can be attributed to his senior conference player of the year point guard as much as anything else. Regardless, it's difficult to put someone ahead of Killer Mike with his conference regular season, conference tourney, and national titles this season. Plus, is there a more charismatic coach in the land? Anyone you'd rather share a good ol' belly laugh with?

Freshman of the Year: Derrick Favors, Georgia Tech
Pretty underwhelming crop of freshman. Favors had a nice season, but it did not live up to what many expected out of arguably the nation's most highly touted newcomer. Averaged a solid 12 and 8, showed occasional flash of brilliance, but only reached 20 points twice on the season. Some of his shortcomings can likely be traced to having to share the frontcourt with the black hole that is Gani Lawal. Or we can just chalk it up to Paul Hewitt not being a very good coach. Your call.

Defensive Player of the Year: Chris Singleton, Florida State
A joy to watch, Singleton would be a favorite of any defensive aficionado. Only a sophomore, Singleton averaged 7 boards, 1.5 blocks, and over 2 swipes per contest. When he wasn't leading one of the country's stingiest defenses, he was chipping in over 10 points per game. Sidenote: if Chris Singleton isn't going pro (and I'm not saying he should), there are a lot of early entrants who should be rethinking their decisions. I'm looking at you, Talor Battle, Derrick Caracter, Manny Harris, Adnan Hodzic, Sylvan Landesberg (you broke my heart), Tommy Mason-Griffin, A.J. Ogilvy, Jeff Robinson, Alex Tyus, Willie Warren, and Jahmar Young. And these are only the most absurd.

Biggest Surprise: Maryland
No, we didn't think Duke would take home the crown this year, but the Blue Devils entered the season with high expectations. Maryland, on the other hand, seemed a strong bet for the NIT. Outside of our conference player of the year, can you even name a second Terrapin? The Terps weren't pretty, but they played as a team, supported their Venezuelan superstar, finished atop the ACC regular season standings with the eventual national champs (splitting their head-to-head matchups), entered the tourney as a 4 seed, and were a Korie Lucious 3-point buzzer beater away from the Sweet 16. Gary Williams may have bought himself a little more time with this one - though things won't be easy without his star senior. Then again, perhaps Coach Williams will enjoy not having to listen to Daddy Yankee in the locker room ever again. (And, in case you think I'm engaging in racial stereotyping, here's a link in which King Terp speaks to his affinity for El Cangri, the movie "American Gangster", and what it was like playing high school ball with Kid Nut Raven.)

Biggest Disappointment: North Carolina
Entering the season, I thought UNC had a chance to repeat as national champions. Clearly, I was wrong. The young, unseasoned Tar Heels finished one game out of the ACC cellar and missed the NCAA tourney. At this point, it is pretty much common practice to blame, in large part, Larry Drew II's point guard play for the Heels' decline. While there is no doubt there is a drop off when you go from Ty Lawson to LD2, Drew's numbers weren't all that bad - almost 6 assists per game and a respectable 1.84 assist-to-turnover ratio. Others pointed to freshman John Henson's struggles to adapt to the college game. For the record, I still like Henson - still believe he has a ton of potential. Yes, I was a little surprised he didn't do more this year, but, with his body, he's going to have to be given time to develop. His play at the end of the season was more than encouraging. UNC apologists point to the injury bug that a handful of Heels succumbed to over the course of the season. Sure, the injuries to Tyler Zeller and Ed Davis were especially difficult to deal with, but the real problem was the lack of offense from the 2 and 3 spots. Marcus Ginyard and Will Graves never showed an ability to create their own shots or score in bunches to make teams pay for doubling down on the Tar Heel bigs. And freshman Leslie McDonald was a non-factor. All in all, a bad season for the Chapel Hill faithful and a poor performance by one of the best coaches in the country. But no worries Tar Heel nation, it's nothing a little Harrison Barnes won't fix - he of the oh so feathery jumper and aerial acrobatics.

And we're back...

Another college basketball season has come to a close. Duke has been crowned national champion for the fourth time since 1990. Not too shabby, Blue Devils. Here, at Roundball Portfolio, we would be remiss if we failed to acknowledge the glaring absence of posts over the course of the past year. And what we did give you - and by you I mean Pat McGuire the Sig, random Sacramento Kings fan, and Attorney Kyle (Kyle, after this post, you will be glad I kept your identity hidden) - wasn't all that good. Take, for example, an early season post in which I ranked North Carolina as the second best team in the country or a midseason post in which HAL 9000 listed John Wall as a freshman on the decline. Despite these failings, I, for one, am feeling energized. It's my hope that I will get a couple of posts up per week in the offseason. I'm hoping my former compatriots will jump on board as well. We'll see how it goes, but please don't be surprised if this lasts for all of, well, this post.

As I was saying, Duke took top honors again - just when I thought Coach K was slipping into irrelevance (or at least irrelevance relevant to his stature in the 90s and 00s). Obviously, there are a ton of questions to answer heading into next season for a number of programs - will the Tar Heels bounce back?; will Kentucky reload after losing 8-9 players from their already youthful roster?; who will take the helm in Eugene?; what was Oliver Purnell thinking?; and the list goes on. But, for the moment, let's examine what Duke's triumph means for Coach K and for Duke going forward.


1) Coach K is back. Unless you're a Duke fan, chances are you're none too pleased with the Blue Devils' latest championship. Regardless, you would be hard-pressed to deny that Coach K is back. In fact, the real argument may be whether Coach K ever left. I'm not arguing Coach K had lost it, but, if you look at his team's performances over the past few years, his teams exhibited some glaring flaws. Lacking in athleticism, weak in the paint, and an overall lack of toughness just to name a few. This team was different. While not overly athletic (that will start to change with Duke's 2010-11 recruiting class), these Blue Devils, as annoying as they may have been, had plenty of big bodies in the paint (Zoubek, Lance Thomas, and the brothers Plumlee) and a grit lacking in previous Duke squads. I think the thing that shocked me more than anything is the timing of Duke's return to the summit. You see, I've had a sneaking suspicion that things were going to turn around for Duke. The problem has never been Coach K's Xs and Os. Rather, it's been getting the players you need to compete at the highest level. Duke's image as Laettner Redick University didn't help matters. The 1999 Elton Brand/Corey Maggette/William Avery team was beginning to look like an aberration. (And, yes, on some level this was becoming a race thing.) But then the Olympics happened, and Kobe and Lebron caught Coach K fever, singing his praises at seemingly every turn. These are the guys high school phenoms look up to, and I do believe the relationship Coach K fostered with the game's finest will do nothing but help lure recruits to Durham. Just so we're clear, I don't mean to say Duke is on the verge of a dynasty or even that they're my favorite to repeat next year, but I do believe the demise of Coach K predicted by some (myself included before his turn as Dream Team skipper) was premature. Oh, and I should also mention that I think it pretty much goes without saying that he's one of the best coaches in the history of college basketball.


2) With the additions of transfer Seth Curry, JUCO Carrick Felix, and a talented recruiting class led by McDonalds All-American Kyrie Irving, Duke will be formidable next year and will have a chance to repeat if Kyle Singler returns. Jon Scheyer got the press, and Nolan Smith showed marked improvement, but Singler is the Blue Devils' best and most important player. He's a matchup nightmare - able to post up smaller forwards but too talented a shooter and ballhandler for true post players to defend. On top of this, he's as heady a player as there is in the nation. He makes everyone around him better, is an excellent passer, and lets the game come to him. I'm not sure if Singler is going to be successful at the next level, but I do know he's a fantastic college basketball player. One has to wonder, though, if Singler will return for his senior season. His turn as Final Four MOP means his draft stock won't be getting any higher. While he may not be a lock for the first round, one doubts there's anything I guy as polished and limited athletically as Singler (I do believe he's athletic enough to play in the Association) can really do anything in his fourth year to change the minds of Chad Ford and those of his ilk.


3) On a more sinister note, I think RBP has a duty to illuminate a set of circumstances that may have played a part in Duke's return to prominence but has received scant attention in the mainstream press. As I noted in part 1 of this post, Coach K's return to greatness dovetails quite nicely with his position as head coach of Team USA basketball. Additionally, I noted that Coach K forged a special bond with the game's finest - Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. Everyone knows the Olympics are the ultimate propaganda tool for the New World Order, a stripping off nationalistic sentiment for the sake of international unity. You may not know this, but Lebron and Kobe are freemasons. In fact, as is revealed here, Lebron is actually a member of the inner sanctum of freemasonry. Of course, Dick Vitale and the other ESPN talking heads will have you believe that Duke won its fourth national championship as a result of hardwork, precise execution, hustle, and heady play. The national media will no doubt point to Duke's admittedly impressive 35-5 record, ACC regular season championship, ACC tournament championship, and run to the title game as evidence that these Blue Devils earned their rings. I, for one, am not convinced.

A Plea to John Wall

Sorry about all the Duke hate, but this factors prominently into UK’s next season, ergo, it’s eminently important for college basketball in general. Much to the Admiral’s chagrin, I will compose another University of Kentucky-related post, but all in all it’s just another post on John Wall. John Wall is the top point guard in the country and it looks like he will be attending either Duke, Kentucky, or possibly Johnny come latelys, Kansas or UNC. It's hard to believe that Wall will end out at Miami, Baylor, or NC State now that college basketball's headliners have really entered the picture. Right now, it seems like Duke and UK are the leaders, so I'll leave consideration for the other suitors for another post and restrict this to his interest in becoming a Wildcat v. a Blue Devil. Wall is 6’4” and has an unbelievable handle. More importantly for Duke and Kentucky, he is neither Greg Paulus nor Michael Porter. UK has a chance to be a preseason top 10 team with Wall, and may be outside the top 25 without him, so Wall is an absolute must for the Wildcats. But how can you convince a young man like John to come to UK over Duke? Well I present to you, my friends, my plea to Mr. Wall. And just to show you it’s from the heart, I will be doing this post with ZERO internet research to compile this data.

Going back to the Bobby Hurley days, Coach K has signed seven (7) McDonald’s All-American point guards. Now I’m not going to sit here and tell you that those guys weren't any good in college, but if I know John Wall like I think I do, then he’s much more interested in going someplace that will prepare him to dominate in the League. So we’ll walk through Duke’s hamburger All-American PGs in chronological order.

Bobby Hurley: Hurley was undoubtedly one of the best college point guards in the last twenty years. I didn’t root for his NBA career to get derailed by a car accident, but the fact remains that he never did anything in the NBA.

Wojo: Sure wasn’t an injury that stopped Wojo from making it to the league, unless you count his chronic case of Douchism.

William Avery: Showed great potential in college, but left early, got sabotaged by Coach K during predraft workouts, and never made it onto an NBA roster

Jay Williams: One of the most talented players to ever play for Duke. Looked to be a star in the making but his career was also cut short by an injury. In interest of this non-objective exposé, I’ll mention that he struggled his rookie season, and Duke haters reveled in the frequency of offensive fouls called on him after he went down the lane like a tidal wave for three seasons in Durham.

Chris Duhon: He had a great career at Duke as a consummate winner, although he sort of plateaued and never quite reached the potential many saw in him during his freshman year. He was a second round pick by the Bulls, and notable member of the Menudo-esque Baby Bulls.

Shaun Livingston: He never played at Duke, but we’ll include him just to point out that Wall apparently has a near 50% chance of sustaining a horrendous injury by marrying himself to the Duke program.

Greg Paulus: The Sack Lodge of college basketball. This petulant Dukie is the envy of no one, and a quick glimpse into my seeing stone reveals that John Wall is hoping for a greater professional career than how Greg Paulus’s is going to pan out.

While Coach K has been wrecking the bright futures of young point guards, John Calipari has coached two point guards in the last two seasons who are likely to have better careers than any point man from Krzychewskiville.

Now UK has only inked two McDonald’s All-American point guards since the Hurley days: Wayne Turner and Rajon Rondo. Turner had limited NBA experience after a very memorable college career. So he’s sort of like Wojo, except he gets the edge for historically annihilating him in the 1998 regional final. Rondo, meanwhile, is merely starting at point for the reigning NBA champs, and is also clearly better than any of Coach K’s guys have been at the next level.

Now it could be really fun down in Durham, watching the Plumlee brothers roaming the paint and the throwing the ball to Jon Scheyer and Jon Scheyer, but play the historical averages, Mr. Wall. Restore Lexington to its Camelot mystique and prepare yourself to make a lot of money for a really long time in the NBA.

March Madness: Round of 32 (Day 2)

After going 24-8 for the first round, I opened up the second round at 7-1. (I had Washington over Purdue, but the Boilermakers took care of business in a close one.) Not too shabby, but, again, it's not like I predicted any huge upsets. Overall, I'm 31-9 heading into Day Two of the second round. Oh, and Coach K is headed back to the Sweet 16 for the first time since the 2005-06 season much to the chagrin of college basketball fans everywhere.

6 Arizona State vs. 3 Syracuse [12:10 ET]
The Pick: Syracuse
-I like Jim Boeheim's team to prevail here, but who guards James Harden? I don't think Eric Devendorf is up to the task. Jonny Flynn is too short. And I'm not sure Paul Harris is cerebral enough to guard Harden (and his repertoire of pump fakes and jab steps) without getting into foul trouble. The Sun Devils could win, but Harden would need to be spectacular.

12 Wisconsin vs. 4 Xavier [2:20 ET]
The Pick: Wisconsin
-Look for the Badgers' patience on the offensive end to frustrate Sean Miller's Musketeers. Plus, Bo Ryan has a number of capable defenders to throw at Derrick Brown.

11 Dayton vs. 3 Kansas [2:30 ET]
The Pick: Kansas
-Dayton is more than athletic enough to play with the Jayhawks, but Cole Aldrich should have his way with the undersized Flyers. Still, if Dayton can keep Aldrich from racking up the trash baskets, an upset is a real possibility here. Bill Self's squad hasn't been playing great basketball as of late.

13 Cleveland State vs. 12 Arizona [2:40 ET]
The Pick: Arizona
-Arizona's three-man show of Jordan Hill, Chase Budinger, and Nic Wise was sensational against Utah in the first round. Hill went for 17 points and 13 boards. Budinger finished with 20 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and four steals. And Wise dropped 29 on the Runnin' Utes. Cleveland State could certainly pull off the (minor) upset here, but I just don't think they have an answer for Hill. That being said, don't be surprised if the Cats fail to advantage of this obvious mismatch and choose to jack up ill-advised threes instead. In that case, mark the Vikings down for the Sweet 16.

8 Oklahoma State vs. 1 Pittsburgh [2:50 ET]
The Pick: Pittsburgh
-The Cowboys are going to have to get out to a lead early if they want to have a chance in this one. Travis Ford's squad is short in the post and thin on the bench. Not a good combination for a team hoping to knock off the physically imposing and deep Pitt Panthers.

6 Marquette vs. 3 Missouri [4:50 ET]
The Pick: Missouri
-Marquette has no answer for Mizzou's post tandem of DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons. I'm looking forward to seeing J.T. Tiller and Jerel McNeal square off. Two of the nation's premiere perimeter defenders going at it.

10 USC vs. 2 Michigan State [5:00 ET]
The Pick: Michigan State
-Upset potential here, but I like the Spartans to out-rebound and out-defend the inconsistent Trojans. The Kalin Lucas-Daniel Hackett point guard matchup is a contrast in styles but should be interesting.

9 Siena vs. 1 Louisville [5:20 ET]
The Pick: Louisville
-Siena has nice guards, but Louisville's relentless defensive pressure is going to wear them down. Plus, I'm not sure the Saints have an answer for Earl Clark (that is, of course, if E5 is interested in scoring in the post on Sunday).

Top Coaches

These college basketball coaches have done a good to exceptional job this year. They are in order, beginning with who I feel has done the best job.

Deserving of "Every Damn Penny!"
Bill Self - Self has done a remarkable job with his Kansas squad this year. Until last year, many of his Kansas teams were noted for their underachievments. However, after losing Kahn, Robinson, Chalmers, Rush, Arthur, and Jackson after their National Championship season, this year's Jayhawks are right back in the hunt for a number one seed and playing their best basketball of the season heading into the postseason. They lost roughly 85 percent of their scoring from last year, and 87 percent of their rebounding. Self's work this year may be his most impressive coaching effort. His name should be in the top 3 considered for National Coach of the Year.

Jeff Capel - The Sooners are one of the more fun teams to watch in all of college basketball. They have the Player of the Year, potential Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year. The emergence of Juan Patillo has given Capel an incredibly athletic team. Oklahoma recently dropped two without their star big man, Blake Griffin, but this will be a very dangerous team as either a one or two seed. Capel should be applauded for his development of Willie Warren, a guy I didn't think was much more than an athlete coming out of high school.

Trent Johnson - Besides an unexplainable loss at Utah, LSU's season has been quite remarkable. Johnson inherited a team of misfits, egos, and underachievers, saddled with the early departure of Anthony Randolph. He has turned them into a great defensive team with an excellent scoring tandem of Mitchell and Thornton (not the balding one). He's recruited a freshman named Storm Warren, and if that's any indication, Johnson and the hotbed of Louisiana recruits will maintain a hold of power in the SEC West.

Mike Anderson - Mizzou's 40 minutes of hell is wreaking havoc in the Big 12. Anderson has brought national attention to the program again, but this time it's not for vioalations by a smirking ex-Dukie. Did anyone realize Snyder coached Missouri until 2006? I thought he was out of there by at least 2004. Anyway, Mike Anderson brought in five freshman and two transfers this year to bring up the talent level and it appears everyone is fitting in nicely. They are a fun team to watch.

Dino Guadio - Though their conference play has been less than steller, with losses to Georgia Tech and NC State, they also have huge wins over UNC, Duke, Clemson, and Florida State. Many people forget Wake is a young team, maybe explaining their inconsistent play, with most of their production coming from sophomores and freshman. Jeff Teague is an all-world point guard and Aminu has developed into a sensational freshman. With such a young team, Guadio has done an outstanding job to put the Deacons in a position to gain a 2 or 3 seed.

Rick Pitino - Louisville finally looks like a team deserving of a preseason top five ranking. Pitino deserves the credit for this Louisville team's reemergance towards the latter part of this year. He has Preston Knowles and Andre McGee playing much better basketball, Terrence Williams has developed into a (would have won a lot of bets) complete player, and Terrence Jennings is providing defensive and, now offensive, energy from the bench. This Louisville team didn't start as a top five team, but they do look like one now. Surprisingly (to almost everyone who has watched Louisville the past three years), Williams is the heart, soul, and talent of this team. Without him, I sincerely doubt whether Louisville would be a ranked team at this point in the season.

Lorenzo Romar - Washington got off to a rough start, but Romar finally has the Huskies atop the Pac 10 standings. Winning against Washington State would clinch the Pac for the first time in Romar's seven year career. Washington has three guys averaging over 15 points a game, and a stud point guard in Isaiah Thomas. They are bringing in Abdul Gaddy, a top ranked high school guard, next year.

Deserving of Most of their Contract
Tom Izzo - Izzo fo Shizzo has developed a deep team in East Lansing. Kalin Lucas is the engine of this big slow PT Cruiser, but it has a lot of parts - parts that work well together. They play defense, rebound, and slow down every team they face (not a tall task in the Big 1o, but still). They force teams to play at their pace, but Lucas will burn the defense for easy baskets throughout the game. They are an extremely tough team, always seeming to make plays when they are needed. Typical of an Izzo team, the Spartans are poised to make some noise in March.

Roy Williams - Maybe a bit surprising to see Roy Williams and the second-ranked Tar Heels in the middle tier, but with the talent passing through Chapel Hill this year, it has not been one of Good Ole Roy's finest coaching jobs. They have one of the top point guards, top power forwards, and top shooting guards in the nation, but the Tar Heels sporadically commit themselves to defense. This might just be the new trend at UNC and Roy may have to practically go undefeated to be recognized as Coach of the Year.

Mike Krzyzewski - Outside of dropping 4 of 7 during conference play, it's been a remarkable season for the Blue Devils. They had their flopping asses handed to them by North Carolina and Boston College, but rebounded well with four straight wins. It's a typical Duke team, but with excellent floor spacing (Or so I hear). Their travels are receiving some hype on youtube, and if you are a believer of good, I assume you are hoping for one to cost them the game against their first round matchup in the tournament. Despite all of that, Coach K has done a good job with these . . . uh . . . guys. Gerald Henderson has finally lived up to his billing coming out of high school and Jon Scheyer shoots the ball . . . uh . . . I can't do it. Duke's the worst, I hate them.

Bruce Weber - Although Illinois lost a game to Penn State earlier this year 38-33, Weber deserves a lot of credit for where the Fighting Illini are at this point in the season. Although, if playing in any other conference, even the SEC, I don't think this Illini team is .500 in conference play. They fit in well with the other Big 10 teams, and Weber has really overacheived with this group of guys. Prior to this year, I couldn't have told you a player on their team besides Alex Legion.

Jay Wright - Wright may have been included in the top tier if not for his loss at Georgetown over the weekend. The Wildcats returned virtually the same team from last year, where they were a 12 seed that reached the Sweet Sixteen, losing to eventual champ Kansas. Wright dresses well, is married to a former cheerleader, and has hair I deeply envy. For that he gets a handshake, but he has also done an impressive job this year.

Ben Howland - UCLA has somewhat underperformed during their conference play, but with their last two games at home should finish the season at 24-7. I doubt many are expecting UCLA to make a fourth final four appearance in five years, but this team has some experienced talented players and could possibly win the PAC 10 regular season title.

American's Best Mid-Major Program

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Duke is obviously not as good as their champions proclaim, but they also aren’t nearly as bad as their detractors suggest. Duke is simply the best mid-major team in the country. That’s why they’re a tough matchup for most teams, and not a true match for the best teams in the country. I know, that sounds absurd, considering the bevy of McDonald’s All-Americans that litter Coach K’s disgusting Aryan roster, but hear me out. Duke is built on sharp-shooters, an unquestioned dedication to its coach’s philosophy, and one X-factor athlete who threatens to move its offensive system into two-dimensions. That’s the blueprint of nearly every mid-major that makes noise in the tournament.

Just for me, the next time you watch Duke play in their accursed little gym, pretend that they’re all wearing Xavier or Wichita State jerseys. Notice the shooting, the scrappiness, the lack of top-flight athleticism, and team-oriented nature of the players on the floor. And year in, year out, Duke would normally be the best mid-major team in the country. Does that mean anything? I think it means that on the average they’re about the 10^th most dangerous team in the tournament, which is very respectable, but not in line with the national media attention the program receives.

Duke has outstanding shooters every season, and you really can’t undermine how much respect Coach K gets from his players. While we’ve witnessed Deandre Liggins refuse his coach’s request to enter a game, Duke’s players follow Coach K’s commands like weak-minded fools subjected to the mastery of a Jedi mind trick. That’s the only way you can explain that Greg Paulus, Jon Scheyer, and the rest of those honkies can actually play adequate team defense. Nonetheless, there is a ceiling when you build most of your team on un-athletic drones. Duke’s best teams always have an athletic slasher that can take over the game. Grant Hill made man-to-man defense a tall task. Shane Battier was not as athletic as Hill, but he was very heady, and got the benefit of the doubt whenever he drove, so he normally got to the line, even if he really wasn’t that great off the dribble. Jason Williams was a great three-point shooter, but his real strength was that he was so quick and powerful going to the hoop.

Gerald Henderson represents this year’s version of the athletic slasher, but he’s not as coachable as his teammates, so this Duke team is destined for more March shortcomings. Henderson is also a headcase. He’s been the most talented player on Duke’s roster for three seasons and only started playing at a high level this year. He also broke Hansbrough’s face, which means he’s playing on borrowed time, and Psycho T will exact revenge sooner than later. The Dick Vitales of the world heap praise on Henderson and overlook how uncoachable he is because a head case on a Duke squad is basically unheard of. Gerald Henderson wearing a Duke jersey reminds me of when my pa used to tell me about how you could put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.

In Henderson’s defense, Duke’s current roster is also uncharacteristically thin in the frontcourt. Coach K has had a longstanding preference for high-post big men like Laettner, Cherokee Parks, Chris Burgess, Josh McBob, and Shavlik Randolph. Those guys can be more than adequate (no argument with the success that came with Laettner), but those Duke shooters really need a big man that demands collapsing defense to create open looks (Brand, Boozer, Shelden, etc.). This Duke team has its high post guy in Singler, but nothing in the low post, so Duke basically needs Henderson to be their best slasher and low post player, which is a pretty tall task. Two details in the preseason made me positive that Duke would have nothing good close to the basket. First, was when I heard that they expected a 6’10” string bean named “Miles Plumlee” to bring toughness to their frontline. Miles Plumlee? That sounds more like one of Andy Bernard’s fellow members of “Here Comes Treble” than an intimidating glass eater. Second, I read that Kyle Singler said at the end of last season his body was exhausted and he wasn’t physically strong enough to compete at a high level. What did he do about it? He took off like a whole month from doing any physical conditioning or weight lifting. Let me know how that works out in March, Kyle.

It’s hard to understand how Coach K gets his pick of players, but he keeps bringing in the same guys that can’t get the job done. If your roster is built on shooters, it’s just going to be really difficult to go six straight games against tournament teams without a bad shooting night. Athletes can learn to rebound and play outstanding defense every night, then your team is built on something that isn’t streaky. That’s what Ben Howland and Tom Izzo do, and everyone acts surprised when their teams go deeper than anticipated in March. Coach K could do that, but he doesn’t. He keeps his roster heavy on one-dimensional shooters, and light on game-changing athletes. That makes Duke a talented, but somewhat gimmicky program that can be beaten by any disciplined team of athletes. The beatdown Clemson put on Duke really doesn’t validate Clemson in any way, it just shows exactly how limited Duke is due to their lack of athleticism.