True. A 38 year old in his 4th season figuring out how to coach isn't all that far fetched though.
Duke's Roster
- Thread starter BookofMormon
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UK can outspend dUKe if they want. UK doesn’t have a money problem. UK has a Pope problem.
If Marky Mark can figure it out this year, get Moreno drafted up, feature Milan in a way that shows why you come, see Diallo/Wilkins up to NBA quality, and win, things can turn around quick.
Money is important, but to get the kid of kids you want, you also have to show you can highlight/develop them in ways that they can get to the league.
Hurley just sent a washed out Michigan center and an unathletic white guy into the first round. This is the kind of stuff Pope needs to start doing. He's not going to be winning with the best HS talent, leave that to Cal and Scheyer. Anyone with a big brand, $$ and a sales pitch could pull that. Why would a kid like Karaban go over Milan? Not even sure what Karaban's special skill is.
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It was the same with Zion Williamson
It was the same the year Zion W, RJ Barrett, and Cam Reddish were 1 2 and 3 out of that high school class, and failed to win a title. Lots of talent and good teams for any freshmen to dominate and win a title.
I wish this were true but no one can touch Duke in setting players up with money. No one.
Oh absolutely. That was even worse. I just didn't include it since were talking about scheyer and I thought that was a coach k fumble. I could be wrong because their whole operation does run together.
What facts do you have to back this up or you just going on vibes? I don't have facts to say that they do I just think it's a big unknown that leans a bit towards that they do have the fanbase because of the huge Amazon Prime deal. I'm not sure what Amazon based their decision on to give them such a big deal but I doubt they would do it if they thought it wasn't going to be worth it.
Well, Duke is the best, most important college basketball team of the March Madness era. Whine or complain about media favoritism or whatever, but it's true. And it's certainly not Kentucky.
Scheyer has already won 3 ACC tournament titles and 2 ACC regular season titles. How many seasons would it take Pope to do that in the SEC? Or better yet, decades? He's certainly not winning jack **** this year with f'n Zoom Diallo and gang.
Pope is a giant, goofy, weirdo who is a phony. His resume is laughable.
But I hope everyone enjoys our top 25ish team this year. I'm sure there will be some good moments ultimately outweighed by how laughably bad of a defensive team this will be. I anticipate plenty of more games where we're blown the f out like we were last year. Hopefully this time around we won't have as many self-inflicting fans who will try to again excuse it all away and blame the fans instead of Pope for the current state of the program.
Scheyer has already won 3 ACC tournament titles and 2 ACC regular season titles. How many seasons would it take Pope to do that in the SEC? Or better yet, decades? He's certainly not winning jack **** this year with f'n Zoom Diallo and gang.
Pope is a giant, goofy, weirdo who is a phony. His resume is laughable.
But I hope everyone enjoys our top 25ish team this year. I'm sure there will be some good moments ultimately outweighed by how laughably bad of a defensive team this will be. I anticipate plenty of more games where we're blown the f out like we were last year. Hopefully this time around we won't have as many self-inflicting fans who will try to again excuse it all away and blame the fans instead of Pope for the current state of the program.
lol. Duke has the most wealthy donors in the country. Judges and politicians galore. Corporate help., Nikes flagship.
How exactly can UK spend with Duke? Where will this money come from? Last I checked. We had the crafts.
Can you explain to us exactly where all this Kentucky money will come from ? Duke had an article put out that said 6-7 of their wealthiest donors had started a collective and had millions upon million on hand. Kentucky, spending with Duke is a fantasy my friend. They can probably outspend half the small market NBA teams.
You must be confusing fandom with cash. Most UK fans are broke Mountain people.
This is a true story….
My UL buddy got his corporate tickets on the 50 . I went with him to the Duke game . When we got to his seats an elderly Duke couple was sitting in them. He said…. These are my seats. The lady with a mink stole and diamonds everywhere said…. We have enough money to sit anywhere and we are sitting here. I kid you not…
It took till after half time for security to move them. She screamed….. This is an outrage…. Do you know who we are?????
My buddy said ya…. The people I just had removed from my seats.
Duke fans in a nutshell.
Your mistaking brand for fanbase. They have by far the biggest brand in the sport, sucks to say.
If you travel about the country much - how often do you see or talk to a duke fan? I travel often and cant say I ever have. You regularly see fans of other teams, college and pro, but not them. Now I'm sure they exist, but if they truly had that many fans as we're told, Id see them as often as I do UNC for example.
That leads me to ratings. Of course they get ratings because 1) they get shoved down our throats with primetime everything and maximum disney promotions and 2) people love watching their unlikable program lose.
Here's the thing though. I run into Duke fans pretty much anywhere I go, and I travel a fair amount myself.
Same method, opposite answers. That's usually a sign the method doesn't work. Yours isn't measuring their fanbase, it's measuring your travel and your conversations. Mine's doing the same thing in the other direction.
Which is why I was trying to find something better than vibes in the first place. There isn't a clean number out there, so it's unknown. I'm fine calling it that. I just asked what you had and got an anecdote and vibes, so let's both call it what it is. No one really knows how large their fanbase is.
Pope is 1-0 vs. Scheyer.
Head-to-head is the best way to measure, and Pope outcoached him. Scheyer's biggest accomplishments have been winning in a down ACC. Other than that, he's wasted more talent than any other coach.
Probably the dumbest thing I've seen on here in some time.
Anyone with a brain who isn't a drunk UK fan would take Scheyer over Pope. Dude has been coaching 4 years and already been to one Final Four and an additional Elite 8 (which would would have been another Final Four last year had they not lost on a last second 40' shot).
Meanwhile Pope is getting annihilated by his rival Tennessee in the Sweet 16, should've lost to Santa Clara in our opening tourney game last year without a ******** banked in half court shot, and then got completely wrecked by national powerhouse Iowa State in the round of 32. But in Pope's defense, he accomplished nothing coaching at BYU either lol.
F'n laughable comparison.
Lol ok. My visual data is anecdotal but honest. You aren't seeing Duke fans in the wild unless you're in the triangle.
UK, OSU, Texas, Michigan, UNC, and many others I see all over. Cant recall ever seeing Duke gear.
If you want hard stats, its tough but the best measure i could determine was overall merchandise sales. Amongst colleges, Duke is #22 in overall merchandise sales. By contrast, UK is anywhere from 3-10, depending on the source.
I could really GAF less about dUKes roster or anyone elses for that matter.
I hate to say it, but in the northeast Duke fans far surpass Kentucky fans in numbers. Honestly Kentucky is barely represented up this way.
Wonder how Duke fans would react if their coach came out this summer and said Trent Noah is standing out.
This is mainly for ol Bum trying to act like nothing should have been said when Pope told us that.
This is mainly for ol Bum trying to act like nothing should have been said when Pope told us that.
That’s nothing new. It’s been that way for a very long time. East Rutherford NJ is something of a second home base for Duke as well.
I haven't read the whole thread so maybe I should before I ask this...but why would UK fans outnumber Duke fans in the North East?
That's like saying UK fans outnumber Louisville fans in Lexington. Not exactly the same I get that but northeast is Dukes region correct?
Duke is based in Durham, NC but East Rutherford NJ is like a second home to them and has been for decades. I really don’t know the “why”. Maybe I knew at one point and forgot but it’s been talked about before during Kentucky games. I think it was mentioned in the 2002 season IIRC.
Edit: Correct it was the 2002 season I became aware of this. The game was a non-con game so it occurred in 2001, but was the 2002 season.
One word, Nike. Cal screwed the pooch with the top 5* talent when he shunned Phil Knight's Nike invitational tournament PK started sending them all to Duke.
Not according to @bigblueinsanity (the real), the poster who turned this thread in this weird direction. That dude seems to think Duke’s fan base doesn’t really exist, why it’s just an illusion concocted by the media! LOL
But, in reality, yes, you’re right. Duke is very popular in the Northeast. Especially in New York and New Jersey, an area that’s become almost regarded as Duke’s second home because it has SO many fans in the NY/NJ region.
That's a strawman. They're the biggest brand by far in the sport. They're fanbase is way smaller than media lets on.
It isn't a weird direction because the conversation was about the roster. Nowadays money matters instead of fanbases and they're untouchable on money.
The Duke fanbase is mostly alumni and rich out of state kids and bandwagons. UK's fanbase is mostly Kentuckians who were born into it.
You serious?
"UK does not have fans out of Kentucky. The only fans that would go watch UK are those that flew in from Kentucky."
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I think Howard has the biggest upside of any freshmen in the class.
And you are absolutely correct, this Duke team is insanely deep. Hopefully with that much talent and only so many minutes they'll be some animosity or chemistry issues. Unfortunately, I think Florida is the only really competition bc their core 6-7 returnees.
I would also include alumni in the UK fanbase for sure. Its just a different level of fandom too. Look how we travel, UK specific sports bars around the country etc.
UK can. The money is there. UK doesn’t do it. But not because they can’t.
I’m sorry to use this politically incorrect term but I mean it. Are you mentally reatarded?
The vast majority is in the horse industry. I saw an interview with that Barstool guy at Saratoga. He said “I have a lot of money compared to most people. Compared to horse people I’m poor”.
Then we have one donor worth over $8 billion. She is also in the horse industry too.
The money is there. And willing spenders. And Pope hasn’t lost the majority of them. He has lost some.
No one wants to get in a spending battle with UK basketball. And over the last 10-15 years Saudi money has flowed into Lexington, Paris, Versailles, etc like water over a dam. That’s not going directly to UK but it’s going to people that do donate to UK.