Duke's Roster

[BookofMormon]

I was in NYC a couple months back and someone saw my UK shirt and came up to talk UK football lol.

I do not find it a shocker that area of the country would be more duke, unc, whoever... just like the southeast will be more UK, tenn, bama, etc. It's just a wild take to see someone say UK fans are only in KY (not you, but op). We can only go off of our own experiences, but just about anywhere I've been in the country, I've found UK fans.

If we want to talk about seeing large fanbases outside of their campus/state area, I think IU might take the cake.

Indiana and Michigan have massive metro fanbases given their academics and massive alumni bases.

Was at the Indiana/Oregon FB game in Atlanta last year and it was 98% Indiana, Indiana home game.

I'm primarily speaking to the Northeast corridor, DC, Philly, NYC, Boston. You will see randoms wearing Duke gear, and I guarantee they are not Duke alum. Their gear has some Georgetown 80/90's going for it.

This entire convo got sidetracked by fan base size and someone saying Duke couldn't pack a Rupp sized arena. When the real question is how the F does Duke put that kind of talent on it's bench? Is is $$ or something else?

To answer this question.

 

[ScWildcat3]

Indiana and Michigan have massive metro fanbases given their academics and massive alumni bases.

Was at the Indiana/Oregon FB game in Atlanta last year and it was 98% Indiana, Indiana home game.

I'm primarily speaking to the Northeast corridor, DC, Philly, NYC, Boston. You will see randoms wearing Duke gear, and I guarantee they are not Duke alum. Their gear has some Georgetown 80/90's going for it.

This entire convo got sidetracked by fan base size and someone saying Duke couldn't pack a Rupp sized arena. When the real question is how the F does Duke put that kind of talent on it's bench? Is is $$ or something else?

To answer this question.

If the bench starts then who is on the bench? Because the bench is at best 25ish.

 

[WeWant9]

Indiana and Michigan have massive metro fanbases given their academics and massive alumni bases.

Was at the Indiana/Oregon FB game in Atlanta last year and it was 98% Indiana, Indiana home game.

I'm primarily speaking to the Northeast corridor, DC, Philly, NYC, Boston. You will see randoms wearing Duke gear, and I guarantee they are not Duke alum. Their gear has some Georgetown 80/90's going for it.

This entire convo got sidetracked by fan base size and someone saying Duke couldn't pack a Rupp sized arena. When the real question is how the F does Duke put that kind of talent on it's bench? Is is $$ or something else?

I always knew IU was a large fanbase, but they damn near took over the CFP with their fans.

Fair enough, and I agree that duke is a very popular team in that area of the country. I have met two duke fans in CO. One was my former boss, really cool guy and I never got how he got on the duke bandwagon. Another was a smug prick from North Dakota, guess they just went together.

I look at this current era of duke like I do UK from the early Cal days. Duke is the IT program, not saying best, but they are the most visible. They are grabbing the top talent, winning games, and putting those guys in the NBA. That leads to a lot of media coverage. UK guys got a boost in the draft and duke is in a similar position. I am sure the $ is pretty damn good, too, but we can't discredit the overall exposure they are getting right now. I do think Scheyer is going have to win a title here soon to keep that momentum, or else he will get similar negative recruiting like Cal did after 15.

 

[BookofMormon]

I always knew IU was a large fanbase, but they damn near took over the CFP with their fans.

Fair enough, and I agree that duke is a very popular team in that area of the country. I have met two duke fans in CO. One was my former boss, really cool guy and I never got how he got on the duke bandwagon. Another was a smug prick from North Dakota, guess they just went together.

I look at this current era of duke like I do UK from the early Cal days. Duke is the IT program, not saying best, but they are the most visible. They are grabbing the top talent, winning games, and putting those guys in the NBA. That leads to a lot of media coverage. UK guys got a boost in the draft and duke is in a similar position. I am sure the $ is pretty damn good, too, but we can't discredit the overall exposure they are getting right now. I do think Scheyer is going have to win a title here soon to keep that momentum, or else he will get similar negative recruiting like Cal did after 15.

Yup - agree with this. Between their Brotherhood, putting very visible kids like Flagg and Banchero in the draft, they are the one program right now that has the "it" appeal. JBB said it in a recent interview, when he chose Duke over UNC - that he would have FOMO by not going to Duke. NIL & PT is handicapping most programs from putting bigtime talent on their bench, but Duke can still pull it off because kids want to be part of that experience, for whatever reason.

Hurley can't pull that off - he's gotten creative with his bench

I am hoping Scheyer s#$ts the bed. The fact he's still pulling these classes after doing exactly that is what is startling. I was surprised not one kid transferred out when kids like Sarr and Ngongba decided to come back and Blackwell came in.

If the bench starts then who is on the bench? Because the bench is at best 25ish.

Starters

Foster
Blackwell
Sarr
JBB
Ngongba

Bench

Boozer
Rippey
Howard
Williams
Scharnowski

Bench is young. Starting roster is massive. JBB is going to be really young, but if he is the real deal and figures it out, that teams upside is high. He finally has some seniority with two seniors in the backcourt, Sarr a sophomore and Ngongba a junior.

Scheyer doesn't make minimum F4 this year, the doubters will start peaking their heads.

 

[ScWildcat3]

Yup - agree with this. Between their Brotherhood, putting very visible kids like Flagg and Banchero in the draft, they are the one program right now that has the "it" appeal. JBB said it in a recent interview, when he chose Duke over UNC - that he would have FOMO by not going to Duke. NIL & PT is handicapping most programs from putting bigtime talent on their bench, but Duke can still pull it off because kids want to be part of that experience, for whatever reason.

Hurley can't pull that off - he's gotten creative with his bench

I am hoping Scheyer s#$ts the bed. The fact he's still pulling these classes after doing exactly that is what is startling. I was surprised not one kid transferred out when kids like Sarr and Ngongba decided to come back and Blackwell came in.

Starters

Foster
Blackwell
Sarr
JBB
Ngongba

Bench

Boozer
Rippey
Howard
Williams
Scharnowski

Bench is young. Starting roster is massive. JBB is going to be really young, but if he is the real deal and figures it out, that teams upside is high. He finally has some seniority with two seniors in the backcourt, Sarr a sophomore and Ngongba a junior.

Scheyer doesn't make minimum F4 this year, the doubters will start peaking their heads.

No people are saying the bench would be ranked. Definitely wouldn’t but Duke is the “it” team so they hyping them.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

Duke has easily the largest fan base in the country - if you need proof, look at their socials. IG following is over 2mm - almost 4x that of UK. I am near MSG and when Duke plays there, there are hoards of fans coming out of the woodworks to go. Duke has fans out of North Carolina, UK does not have fans out of Kentucky. The only fans that would go watch UK are those that flew in from Kentucky.

Whether they are media created or not, the reality is that they are the ND of CBB. They were a program that was right place, right time at the apex of CBB's growth, with ESPN and Dick Vitale plumping them up. They were in 7 of 9 Final Four's in that time frame, so they earned it. Couple that with the B2B with Laettner/Hurley and you have the seed for what is Duke today.

Net net, they have a national fan base, not a local one.

They could easily fill a bigger stadium, and I mean easily. Don't disillusion yourself with bias by holding onto what you think are advantages.

LMFAO WHAT A JOKE!

 

[KyKevin]

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.

Some of us will enjoy this team, because it is Kentucky, and we are Kentucky fans. Jeepers man, let them at least fkn play, before you start running them into the ground. At least you think maybe there top 25 any how.

And this fan says you can shove the Duke bulls.hit, right up your Duke a.ss

 

[Neal Orac]

Yup - agree with this. Between their Brotherhood, putting very visible kids like Flagg and Banchero in the draft, they are the one program right now that has the "it" appeal. JBB said it in a recent interview, when he chose Duke over UNC - that he would have FOMO by not going to Duke. NIL & PT is handicapping most programs from putting bigtime talent on their bench, but Duke can still pull it off because kids want to be part of that experience, for whatever reason.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

Look at all the duke fans in this thread!

 

[GWillikers]

BBN knows better than Duke when it comes to talent. We did it first. We all know only 5 players can be on the court at one time. Save the on paper championships.

 

[GWillikers]

Look at all the duke fans in this thread!

Look at them headlights on your avatar.

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

^^^PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE WORTHLESS TROLL^^^

 

[ImHungry]

^^^PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE WORTHLESS TROLL^^^

You're the only one feeding me. Posters despise you more than a known troll. Sad.

 

[CRZ4UK]

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.

You are comparing the players. Not the coaches or programs. If Scheyer had come here replacing Calipari he would never have sniffed 3/4 of the players he had at Duke. Those players are not committing to Scheyer. They are committing to the brand, money and program.
Mitch killed every ounce of brand we had by fighting NIL tooth and nail. IMO Pope is a much better coach. We have not had Players that are good enough since NIL was adopted. Plain and simple. Those that don’t believe that are hiding their heads in the sand.
Pre NIL. Wall, Cousins, Davis ,MKG, Bam, SGA and other mega NBA stars.
Post NIL. Boston, TyTy , Edward’s, etc. All highly rated NBA busts.
We are losing because we lost our brand and blue blood advantage when Mitch slow walked NIL for 4 years. Dukes Program made corporate connections and hit the wealthy fanbase day 1.
They were committed to staying on top in the new environment. Our AD fought it, and lost.

 

[ScWildcat3]

You are comparing the players. Not the coaches or programs. If Scheyer had come here replacing Calipari he would never have sniffed 3/4 of the players he had at Duke. Those players are not committing to Scheyer. They are committing to the brand, money and program.
Mitch killed every ounce of brand we had by fighting NIL tooth and nail. IMO Pope is a much better coach. We have not had Players that are good enough since NIL was adopted. Plain and simple. Those that don’t believe that are hiding their heads in the sand.
Pre NIL. Wall, Cousins, Davis ,MKG, Bam, SGA and other mega NBA stars.
Post NIL. Boston, TyTy , Edward’s, etc. All highly rated NBA busts.
We are losing because we lost our brand and blue blood advantage when Mitch slow walked NIL for 4 years. Dukes Program made corporate connections and hit the wealthy fanbase day 1.
They were committed to staying on top in the new environment. Our AD fought it, and lost.

That’s what I’ve been saying too. Duke has been ahead of the NIL stuff and made all the right connections. Just the way it is. Cal was lazy and didn’t see the need for it and Mitch didn’t push it either. If 2010 Cal would’ve taken over when NIL was popping up then we would be what Duke is now.

 

[CRZ4UK]

That’s what I’ve been saying too. Duke has been ahead of the NIL stuff and made all the right connections. Just the way it is. Cal was lazy and didn’t see the need for it and Mitch didn’t push it either. If 2010 Cal would’ve taken over when NIL was popping up then we would be what Duke is now.

Calipari believed his reputation for putting guys in the league would carry him through without deep pockets. He was wrong just like Mitch was. Just look at Stoops as well.
NIL adopted 2021
Stoops records

Season	Overall	SEC	Bowl Game
2021	10-2	5–3	Won the Citrus Bowl
2022	7-6	3–5	Lost the Music City Bowl
2023	7-6	3–5	Lost the Gator Bowl
2024	4-8	1–7	No bowl
2025	57	2–6	No bowl

No coach could have succeeded under Mitch’s NIL stance. It’s why he was forced out. Barnhart wasn’t going anywhere. He was removed. He got to say he retired.

 

[UKFootball78]

Well u gotta realize we have alumni and that out of state support too, it's just that under pope he doesn't resonate with them. He doesn't embrace the nba and star power that uk should have

You gotta realize that nobody gives a crap about all your anti pope propaganda. GTFO, you are clearly trolling and keep making up things to promote your agenda.

 

[ScWildcat3]

Calipari believed his reputation for putting guys in the league would carry him through without deep pockets. He was wrong just like Mitch was. Just look at Stoops as well.
NIL adopted 2021
Stoops records

Season	Overall	SEC	Bowl Game
2021	10-2	5–3	Won the Citrus Bowl
2022	7-6	3–5	Lost the Music City Bowl
2023	7-6	3–5	Lost the Gator Bowl
2024	4-8	1–7	No bowl
2025	57	2–6	No bowl

No coach could have succeeded under Mitch’s NIL stance. It’s why he was forced out. Barnhart wasn’t going anywhere. He was removed. He got to say he retired.

That’s correct. Money more than ever and how much you can get put into your programs runs the show now.

 

[CRZ4UK]

That’s correct. Money more than ever and how much you can get put into your programs runs the show now.

Some poster said “ We can spend with anyone if we want to. “. I asked… Please tell me where you believe this money will come from. He replies our richest person here in Kentucky has 8 billion dollars.

There is no public evidence that Tamara Gustavson is a major donor to the University of Kentucky athletics program or the K Fund.

She and her family have made significant charitable gifts in Kentucky, but the largest publicly reported UK-related gift from the family has been:

• $5 million from the B. Wayne Hughes Sr. Family Fund to support cardiovascular innovation at the University of Kentucky’s medical programs—not athletic
• The internet isn’t that hard to use. Our richest family in Kentucky could not care less about sports unless its horses
• Do some research before you embarrass yourself.

 

[o_turkeywildturkey]

First of all, Duke is unquestionably the number 1 college basketball program in the country, plus they have plenty of money to pay players. The fact is, if Duke really wants a player, they almost always get them. As a UK fan, I hate to admit that. But it’s true.

 

[Beatle Bum]

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.

Dumb post ^^

 

[Beatle Bum]

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.

Thanks for the shoutout Andy. Please like this post so we know you are still alive.

 

[BookofMormon]

First of all, Duke is unquestionably the number 1 college basketball program in the country, plus they have plenty of money to pay players. The fact is, if Duke really wants a player, they almost always get them. As a UK fan, I hate to admit that. But it’s true.

Definitely the number one brand. They're clearly not the most winning program in the current. And yes, if Duke wants a player, they get them. Hurley realized that quick when he tried to pull Flagg from Duke, Flagg being in New England and his mom playing college hoops with Clingan's mom. Once they set eyes on you, they get you.

I'll be curious if they can steal Beckham Black. They have no where to put him, but you never know with them.

 

[BookofMormon]

It's interesting to take a look back on Coach K and see what the Duke brand was built on:

Here are his 80's McD AA. 7 out of 10 were white boys, along with Tommy Amaker types.

• 1982: Johnny Dawkins, Mark Alarie
• 1983: Tommy Amaker
• 1985: Danny Ferry
• 1986: Alaa Abdelnaby
• 1987: Greg Koubek
• 1988: Christian Laettner, Crawford Palmer
• 1989: Bobby Hurley, Billy McCaffrey

This is what the Duke brand was built on early, countered the Hoya paranoia. Somehow K was winning with a bunch of tall country club kids. Fascinating his best run was with this group, 7 F4's in 9 years and B2B titles. Very little NBA talent, very few athletes. 7/10 were goofy white guys, yet this was what the early Duke brand was built on. Crazy to think his best run was built on these guys, versus some of what he was getting later on.

90's were a bit of the same early, but you could see once he went into a drought after 94, things shifted. Bigger classes, profile shifting. He kept recruiting his goofy Duke profile through about 1995, but this was when the Duke image took off with ESPN and Dick Vitale. (15)

• 1990: Grant Hill
• 1991: Cherokee Parks
• 1992: Chris Collins, Jeff Capel
• 1993: Trajan Langdon
• 1995: Taymon Domzalski
• 1996: Nate James
• 1997: Elton Brand, Shane Battier, Chris Burgess
• 1998: Corey Maggette
• 1999: Carlos Boozer, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Jason Williams [1]

2000's generally similar. Lot's of McD AA, but so few high end profile and most classes 1-2 deep. (17)

• 2000: Chris Duhon
• 2001: Daniel Ewing
• 2002: J.J. Redick, Shavlik Randolph, Sean Dockery
• 2003: Luol Deng
• 2004: DeMarcus Nelson
• 2005: Josh McRoberts, Greg Paulus
• 2006: Gerald Henderson, Jon Scheyer, Lance Thomas
• 2007: Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith
• 2008: Elliot Williams
• 2009: Ryan Kelly, Mason Plumlee

Then in the 2010's on things really shifted - really big classes on average, 3-4 McD AA's deep, started pulling more of the NBA profile. It's like K said F it, bring em all in and see what sticks. Almost half his overall pull of McD AA's were 2011 on. He squeezed a title out in 2015 with the Okafor team. You could say he underachieved in this period. I'm not sure if it was because the brand became that big at this point, or K shifted philosophies, but things changed. Not sure he realized if he was to keep up with Calipari and UNC, he'd have to up his recruiting game. UNC and Roy finally started winning titles around this time (2005, 2009, 2017) and Cal was putting together monster rosters.

• 2010: Kyrie Irving
• 2011: Austin Rivers, Quinn Cook, Marshall Plumlee
• 2012: Rasheed Sulaimon, Amile Jefferson
• 2013: Jabari Parker, Matt Jones
• 2014: Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones, Justise Winslow, Grayson Allen
• 2015: Luke Kennard, Brandon Ingram, Chase Jeter
• 2016: Jayson Tatum, Frank Jackson, Marques Bolden
• 2017: Wendell Carter Jr., Trevon Duval, Gary Trent Jr.
• 2018: Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish, Tre Jones
• 2019: Vernon Carey Jr., Matthew Hurt, Wendell Moore Jr
• 2020: Jeremy Roach, DJ Steward, Mark Williams
• 2021: Paolo Banchero, AJ Griffin
• 2022: Dereck Lively II, Dariq Whitehead, Kyle Filipowski, Jaden Schutt, Mark Mitchel

Scheyer took over and has kept up with these monster classes. The Duke model has shifted significantly since the early days of Danny Ferry and Greg Koubek when it was Honkey U. Yet everyone of his 5 titles was full of Honkey's.

First two lead by Laettner and Hurley, and Koubek. Third included Dunleavy. 2010 was Scheyer, Singler, Plumlee, Zoubek. 2015 had Greyson Allen and another Plumlee.

Scheyer is scrapping that old cloak because he knows he's not a good enough coach to win with those goofballs.

 

[Major_Tom]

Our fans talk about Duke like Trump talks about Obama - rent free, envious, and secretly wishing we were that cool. It’s pathetic.