The Swamp

I couldn’t handle non-stop Election updates so I watched a bit of the college games tonight. Kentucky’s freshmen don’t belong on the same court as Duke’s. I don’t see how Duke was only ranked #4 in the preseason as they seem like by far the most talented team in the country. I knew Barrett was a stud when he led Canada’s U18 team to a win over the USA a couple years back and he looks like the clear #1 pick in next year’s NBA draft.

We definitely getting whooped.

Zion Williamson appears to be a human cheat code.

A_B wrote: ↑Tue Nov 06, 2018 11:45 pm We definitely getting whooped.

I don’t think Kentucky has had multiple good outside shooters since the 2012 title team. Booker and Murray were great but they didn’t overlap and it’s otherwise been barren lately. Supposedly Herro can shoot but he looked overwhelmed by Duke’s athleticism.

But seriously, Zion Williamson. Good lord. The highlight you all need to see is the one where he has a block, controls the ball, leads the break, and feathers an impossible angle pass for a dunk to a teammate.

Yeah the Blue Wave folks were looking for last night happened on ESPN. Duke looked incredible. Not that most teams would have tried anyway, but Kentucky proved the idea - don’t try to run and fun with this Duke team.

Zion Williamson is incredible and a ton of fun to watch. And yet he’s only the second best freshman on his own team.

Didn't see it but don't see how that load is second best to anyone. Will find out.

So yeah, what the hell was that? In terms of raw materials, Duke is obviously way ahead of Kentucky and probably way ahead of Kansas too. They'll play in a lot more structured games than we saw last night. Kentucky fans won't want to watch when Virginia and Syracuse hold that offense to 60.

HaulCitgo wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 8:05 am Didn't see it but don't see how that load is second best to anyone. Will find out.

Barrett has an incredibly polished offensive game for a freshman. I guess he’s nominally Duke’s small forward but he looks like he’s clearly skilled enough to be a team’s primary ballhandler. The Toronto area has become such a hotbed for talent that Canada should start competing for Olympic and World Championship medals soon.

Yeah... No. That kid is an absolute load. And the dime in transition after the block. Come on.

HaulCitgo wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 8:24 am Yeah... No. That kid is an absolute load. And the dime in transition after the block. Come on.

It was like nothing I've ever seen from anyone his size. From block to break to pass.

HaulCitgo wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 8:24 am Yeah... No. That kid is an absolute load. And the dime in transition after the block. Come on.

I know you didn’t watch the game but Barrett has been considered the top player in the class for years and he had 33 points and 6 assists last night — while showing great finishing skills and range to the 3-point line. Zion is an all-time athletic freak but he’s hardly in a class of his own even on his own team.

I watched the game. Barrett was great.

And, still, Williamson was something other. This was the play I was referring to:

More Wiliamson highlights in this good Ringer piece on his debut last night:

https://www.theringer.com/nba-draft/201 ... -holy-crap

So....Zion Williamson was asking Kansas for money, cars, and god knows what else. And now he shows up at Duke, and we are supposed to believe that everything is on the level?

Duke's three stud freshmen all went for 20+ again in game two (led by Zion's 27 and 16). I wonder if any team has ever had three freshmen each score 20+ in their first two games? Maybe one of those Kentucky teams?

Zion Williamson appeared to take flight on an alley oop tonight.

I’m behind in watching this game, but Duke has more points on monster dunks than EMU has points, and it’s in the second half.

I've been taught to despise Duke but this is too much fun.

https://t.co/kVRt8DkQBT

MI looked rather sleepy in its games leading up to last night. They proceeded to destroy Villanova on the road 73-46.

73-46.

tennbengal wrote: ↑Wed Nov 14, 2018 8:26 pm Zion Williamson appeared to take flight on an alley oop tonight.

This was the play:

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 8:09 pm So....Zion Williamson was asking Kansas for money, cars, and god knows what else. And now he shows up at Duke, and we are supposed to believe that everything is on the level?

People actually like living in NC.

Rush2112 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 15, 2018 11:18 am

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 8:09 pm So....Zion Williamson was asking Kansas for money, cars, and god knows what else. And now he shows up at Duke, and we are supposed to believe that everything is on the level?

People actually like living in NC.

Duke is just as dirty as everyone else, but there's two sets of rules in this country for everything. If you're rich, there's a separate justice system available for you. If you're IMG, you're too big to fail. If you're white, you don't have to worry about getting pulled over for a busted taillight or getting caught with a half-ounce of weed.

Same thing.

It is almost unfathomable to me how Zion has the combo of size and athleticism he has at such a young age. Strictly from a physical standpoint, the only basketball comparison I can think of is LeBron during his years with the Heat. I believe LeBron got up to about 282 points with the Heat and could obviously jump out of the gym. But at that point, LeBron was a man in his late-20’s, who had already had close to a decade of work with NBA trainers. Zion just turned 18 in July!

brian wrote: ↑Thu Nov 15, 2018 11:21 am

Rush2112 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 15, 2018 11:18 am

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 8:09 pm So....Zion Williamson was asking Kansas for money, cars, and god knows what else. And now he shows up at Duke, and we are supposed to believe that everything is on the level?

People actually like living in NC.

Duke is just as dirty as everyone else, but there's two sets of rules in this country for everything. If you're rich, there's a separate justice system available for you. If you're IMG, you're too big to fail. If you're white, you don't have to worry about getting pulled over for a busted taillight or getting caught with a half-ounce of weed.

Same thing.

I think everyone who follows college basketball recruiting closely assumes Duke is dirty. It’s similar to when Lance Armstrong was winning the TdF every year — if you’re competing in an endeavor filled with cheaters (in this case, basketball recruiting) and lapping the field, the odds that you’re clean is minimal. But the NCAA will probably never go too hard after Duke, Kentucky, UNC or Kansas. UNC basketball largely got a pass on the academic fraud scandal and to date Kansas has avoided any major consequences from being knee-deep in the Adidas scandal.

And the Dan Hurley era has its first signature win.

Giggity.

From the 2015/16 thread:

wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 19, 2016 7:59 am Lonergan fired from GW on Saturday. Good job by GW announcing this over the weekend. Smart PR. GW won the NIT last year. Goes back to the issue linked above (player abuse and calling the AD names). Lonergan says they did not follow process.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/c ... story.html

rass wrote: ↑Thu Jul 21, 2016 10:09 am

wlu_lax6 wrote:So Mike Lonergan (George Washington) turned down Rutgers (who tried to get Danny Hurley). Rutgers gets Steve Pikiell from Stony Brook.

Go Rutgers?

And now:

The Real Story Behind The Lewd Video And Bitter Feud That Tore Apart GW's Athletic Department

Duke May turn it around but right now they look like a bunch of freshmen. Zags working them even with duke getting benefit of Doubt on a lot of 50/50 calls.

And of course duke scores six straight to end half. They are tremendous offensively but seem to panic a bit when they don’t get easy baskets.

I had to laugh at all of the media turds suggesting this Duke team would have beaten the 89-90 UNLV team and some other all-time great teams from the last half-century. That UNLV team was mostly 21/22-year-old men who would have been in the NBA for two years given today's game. They would beat this Duke team by 30 points.

That’s about what they’re playing against. Gonzaga is so disciplined

brian wrote: ↑Wed Nov 21, 2018 6:00 pm I had to laugh at all of the media turds suggesting this Duke team would have beaten the 89-90 UNLV team and some other all-time great teams from the last half-century. That UNLV team was mostly 21/22-year-old men who would have been in the NBA for two years given today's game. They would beat this Duke team by 30 points.

The more laughable thing is people saying that Duke could beat the Cleveland Cavs. The Cavs are a terrible NBA team but vets like George Hill, Kyle Korver and Tristan Thompson have been through the wars of many playoff series over the years and would destroy Duke’s kids.

Joe K wrote: ↑Wed Nov 21, 2018 6:26 pm

brian wrote: ↑Wed Nov 21, 2018 6:00 pm I had to laugh at all of the media turds suggesting this Duke team would have beaten the 89-90 UNLV team and some other all-time great teams from the last half-century. That UNLV team was mostly 21/22-year-old men who would have been in the NBA for two years given today's game. They would beat this Duke team by 30 points.

The more laughable thing is people saying that Duke could beat the Cleveland Cavs. The Cavs are a terrible NBA team but vets like George Hill, Kyle Korver and Tristan Thompson have been through the wars of many playoff series over the years and would destroy Duke’s kids.

Yeah I saw that tweet storm. Laughable.

In a 48-minute game, if the Cavs really tried, they'd win by about 40 probably.

Terrible FT shooting by the Zags but even worse end game offense by Duke. That was like 5 straight possessions where Duke’s “play” was to drive directly at some 6’9” guy with long arms.

Virginia May beat them by 20. Zags totally went into prevent mode with about 10 minutes left. Play hard defense and they will struggle a bit like most freshman oriented teams. I seent it.

I'll MAYBE say one of those was the right call. Have they changed the rule?

I only saw one bad call there. Under the basket and on the sideline I thought he got there first and the other was pretty clearly a push off. Whats terrible is celebrating this like some sort of achievement.

Yeah, that was 4 flops and 1 charge. The rule hasn't changed, refs are just really easy to trick.

The push off on baseline was only one I felt he had any kind of right to a call. His feet were moving on every other one. The one just outside the lane is, in my opinion, a dangerous as hell play.