We are really going to miss Amile

[TheDude1]

Holy cow. I think maybe people are not appreciating how much we are going to miss Amile. Honestly, if we could keep anyone on this team next year, I'd pick him. Such a stalwart defender, so vocal, so good down low. Damn. Gonna miss him a LOT.

 

[Laettner]

Really enjoyed watching Amile progress over past five years. Will always recall his incredible defense in national title game on Kaminsky.

 

[CrazyHeel]

As an opposing fan,. I'll give credit where credit is due. Jefferson is the most improved player over a career, perhaps, to have ever played in Durham..

 

[TheDude1]

As an opposing fan,. I'll give credit where credit is due. Jefferson is the most improved player over a career, perhaps, to have ever played in Durham..

While obviously people could disagree about specifics (Mason Plumlee, recently, made some pretty crazy strides!) the basic premise of the statement is sound.

 

[Swervin_Irvin_Duke]

Yea the defense next year will take a major blow, everyone has to get tougher mentally and work on their defensive footwork. Because of AAU young ballers do not value defense. If we do not get Bamba (which I doubt) it will be extremely hard to try and replicate half of what Amile gave us. Getting Tricky Tre would help though, he has good on ball defense.

 

[dukiejay]

As an opposing fan,. I'll give credit where credit is due. Jefferson is the most improved player over a career, perhaps, to have ever played in Durham..

Thanks.

Amile, for us, is a lot like Theo Pinson is to you guys. A lot of UNC fans mocked Duke fans last season when Amile went down because they only looked at his numbers. They thought we were saying he was the difference to us being really, really good and average. That wasn't the case....we just knew we were losing the backbone of our team, be that for his defense, leadership and charisma. Then this season many Duke fans said the same things about Pinson. The truth is, just because Amile and Pinson might not have the 'wow' factor where they score all the points and get all the headlines, they're two incredibly gifted individuals who their teammates rely on to lead and do that dirty work which championship-caliber teams need.

 

[TheDude1]

BTW, lost in the final game results were Amile's last game efforts... 14 points, 15 rebounds, and six blocks. That is some game.

 

[DukeRulesBasketball]

I started to miss Amile and Matt on senior day and the season wasn't even over yet! Ha! I REALLY REALLY miss them now.

 

[CrazyHeel]

Amile could put the ball in the basket when he was given the chance. With y'all's perimeter game he could have put up bigger numbers if he was used a little differently. Throw the ball in the post and let him work, draw a double team and kick to the perimeter for a three. K likes the pick and pop, so that's what he has to do. His footwork is really good though. Thornton leaving really hurt y'all too. Frank uped his game down the stretch and I thought the dookies were gonna make a big push in March. SC got pumped and played way over their head to beat y'all. But Amile can be proud of his accomplishments while being 10 miles from heaven. He came along way. Mason, I thought was gonna be really good by the time he left, Amile not so much. Congrats to him for all the hard work,. It paid off.