Lol Whitehead was starting outside of injury and Flip is a modern day five or center although against stronger competition he did not do well. Just like you said he was a point forward and could direct the offense . Only thing I remember is every time he dribbled the ball in it was an automatic turnover but what do I know about basketball.
Transfer portal thread
- Thread starter pisgah101
- Start date
Seriously yes he was ! You must be Scheyer or on the staff then . So your telling me the number two kid came to Duke to come off the bench ? Please
I agree Whitehead probably would have started if he was healthy. I think Mitchell was better than advertised, and played good D.
Had Lively and Whitehead never been injured Dukes starting five was always perceived to be Roach , Proctor, Whitehead, Flip and Lively .
Mitchell was a good surprise and I think everyone saw that at CTC.
Young helped while Lively got better but Whitehead could never really get into shape .
It would have been hard to move Mitchell out of the starting lineup. I think he continues to be underrated. He was the glue guy. I would welcome him back with open arms next year. No recruit would beat him out unless their name is Zion, Jason or Paolo.
Mitchell reminded me of Battier his first few years. Would love to get him back.
My guess would be Proctor and Mitchell. I hope Flip stays but he is projected in the later first round. It would make sense for him to go; but I wouldn't complain if he returns.
Where is this info coming from? Or is this trolling?
Not so sure of that. Whom would he replace? Certainly not Proctor or Roach or Lively or Flip. Toss-up with Mitchell. Also, it could be that he was overrated. Never saw any flashes of brilliance. Not the best defensive player. Sad thing is that we will never know how good he could have been. OFC
Agreed. Mitchell's play confirmed his strarting value. Other than a few made 3's, Whitehead's done nothing to support that he would have been a lock starter sans injury.
OFC
I would take Mitchell and Proctor back and be thrilled. If I were Flip I wouldn't want to risk going through another season taking the physical abuse he took this year, with the refs looking the other way. It was a travesty.
Assuming we get Proctor and Mitchell back that would be a top 20 team, although still young. (I am assuming Roach goes; if he comes back we will have a decent amount of experience). If Flip comes back we should be the type of 1-2 seed team we are used to. If Flip goes we should go after a physical big in the portal. Unless Reeves makes a huge jump; but he may be a year away from being a rotation guy. If we only get Mitchell back we will be very young and will probably need 2 transfers. If no one comes back other than Young, Blakes, Schutt and Reeves we would have to score big in the transfer market imo.
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We have a long offseason to go before I’d feel comfortable protecting the ceiling of this team. But yes, if Flip returns: I’d feel good saying we will start out the season as a top 3 or top 5 team.
Without Flip, I hope we add a center via the transfer portal. Don’t think Reeves will be ready to be a contributor next season and Young is Young: he’s great at eating up minutes for the regular season, but certain matchups he just can’t be out on the floor.
Id like to bring in a veteran shooter via the portal too, can never have enough outside shooting. I’m willing to bet within the next week we lose a guy to the transfer portal: Schutt, Blakes, or Reeves. That’s the reality of todays game, and honestly only having 1 guy transfer a year is much better than what most programs are going through.
If Proctor or Roach come back it may squeeze out one of Blakes or Schutt. It's a numbers game, that would make them the 4th and 5th guard. If they are okay with that great; but I wouldn't blame them if they left. My guess is we keep one of the two; but it's just me guessing.
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Roach-1% he stays
Proctor-85-90% he stays
Schutt-95% he stays
Blakes-50/50 he transfers. I think Proctor returning pushes him out.
Whitehead-Gone
Lively-Gone
Mitchell-80-85% he stays.
Flip-75%; he stays.
Reeves-99% he stays
Borden-100% he stays
Spencer-100% he stays
Grandison-Graduates
Kale Catchings-Graduates
Max Johns-Graduates
We know Young is back. And we have 5 stellar guys coming in. And we're going hard after a 5 in the transfer portal apparently.
Proctor-85-90% he stays
Schutt-95% he stays
Blakes-50/50 he transfers. I think Proctor returning pushes him out.
Whitehead-Gone
Lively-Gone
Mitchell-80-85% he stays.
Flip-75%; he stays.
Reeves-99% he stays
Borden-100% he stays
Spencer-100% he stays
Grandison-Graduates
Kale Catchings-Graduates
Max Johns-Graduates
We know Young is back. And we have 5 stellar guys coming in. And we're going hard after a 5 in the transfer portal apparently.
75 % Flip stays? Wow you are an optimist. And I hope you're right. I'd put Roach at 20%. Proctor 60%. Mitchell 75% Flip 33% It is hard to imagine Proctor and Roach both staying, so one back would be good.
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So you’re saying Scheyer guaranteed him a starting spot?
I said he was a stretch/finesse 4. He’s not a traditional 5, that’s what you were arguing. That argument was killed a long time ago.
Like that argument, keep hanging onto this one. The season showed how much of a starter Whitehead was. Injury or not, Mark was more important to the team.
I am concerned Mitchell's injured status vs Tennessee pushes him out the door.
OFC
Spot on Shey. Whitehead was relegated to coming off the bench only because whatever happened to him, seemed to get in his head as well. He handled it well, or it looked that way to me. This isn’t a knock on Mitchell, who had a solid freshman season.
We would have been a different (maybe a lot better) team had Whitehead been healthy from the beginning.
Shoulda, coulda, woulda…
Oh I am very optimistic about our chances of bringing at least 2 of them back.
Mitchell . Mitchell wasn’t a perceived starter and I don’t remember one person on this board thanking so until after CTC. He was given the chance when Lively and Whitehead were out and who were you going to replace him with once Whitehead stayed injured ?
Mitchell got his start out of necessity then locked it in as the season progressed due to his defense .
Yeah I’m not even sure why this is even a discussion and it comes off as criticizing Mitchell which we aren’t. A healthy Whitehead is arguably one of the best players in the country. However, he got injured at the end of august. Awful timing from the standpoint of the fact we had a full roster all summer and the most talented guy goes down with a foot injury. Takes a while for him to get back- much of which he admitted. Then on top of it Lively gets hurt. Like we gotta use some common sense here.
Now Mitchell absolutely took advantage and was fantastic in his role and I’m ecstatic about that. He will play a huge role next year again!
It’s amazing that some still think recruiting services are 100% accurate. Healthy or not, Dariq is not one of the best players in the country. Let’s not get carried away. He’s talented but he has a weak handle, isn’t very fast (particularly lateral), and he’s not overly athletic. He needs more time to be considered one of the best in the country and I’m not convinced he ever would be. Moot point though as he’s one of those kids that smiles in front of the camera and is super polite, but he can’t wait to get off of campus fast enough to grab that check.
I Know he was injured a couple times but I did not see anywhere near a #2 recruit in Dariq. Maybe around top 10-15. Always seemed a step slow and didn't have that dog mentality. It just felt like he was at Duke just to pass time until as he said himself, "the next chapter"
Aren’t most of these kids ? It’s not their fault the NBA draft rules are what they are . You get good players like Paolo and Zion who loved the college experience but don’t ever think they were ever staying past a year from the moment their LOI was signed . It’s just sports and business that’s all .
Whitehead will do fine at NBA work outs and heading some body fat and getting his lower body stronger will help him .
Let’s be clear - I’m not blaming him for the draft rules. If they could go straight from HS, he would’ve gone. He’s talented but the hype (and his crew) have him being better today than he actually is. Happens a lot though so can’t really blame him.
Toughness was not a thing Whitehead was lacking. I think he showed plenty of toughness when he was on the floor. He mixed it up defensively. He dove for loose balls. So in my opinion that’s a false accusation. If you want to question his mental state after the injuries he was the first to admit that the injuries messed with his head and that’s unfortunate bc we never got to see his true confidence. That happens to many many athletes.
Guess I should have been clearer on what I think is a "dog mentality". Not his toughness out there but his drive to take over a game. Even in the games that he shot well, he never had that mentality where his mindset was to take over a game. He was extremely passive out there offensively. Like I said before, hope he proves be wrong but I just didn't see it yet while at Duke.
Got it that’s a fair critique. Wish he would have asserted himself more and I do think that’s where that mental hurdle that it took him so long to get over hurt his progression. He worked really hard to be a serviceable cog and established himself as a shooting specialist. Coming in before the injury he was going to be much more than that. But injuries are part of the game, bummer.
Lively is in the same boat. We find out that he has no real offensive game. So, highly over-rated in high school. OFC
It’s tough because Lively has a significant defensive strength that covers his offensive weakness. His presence defensively was awesome, I just wish he could’ve posted up some offensively.
Limited offensive skills at this time. I seriously doubt he's a finished product at this point.
Dariq’s injury/struggles allowed Mitchell to shine. We would not have seen nearly as confident of a Mitchell if he was coming off the bench all year IMO.
I thought Dariq played hard whenever he was out there. He has things you can’t teach, but of course he definitely needs to work on his ball handling.
Was he overrated as a recruit? Yes. Any top5 recruit that isn’t a starter would be seen as overrated.
Was he the reason for this Duke teams issues? Not at all. As said, Mitchell stepped up and filled the void. This gave Duke a new look. Dariq was one of the most explosive bench players in the country and was a bench weapon that Duke rarely ever has.
It just all got thrown out of whack for the Tennessee game due to the Mitchell injury.
I thought Dariq played hard whenever he was out there. He has things you can’t teach, but of course he definitely needs to work on his ball handling.
Was he overrated as a recruit? Yes. Any top5 recruit that isn’t a starter would be seen as overrated.
Was he the reason for this Duke teams issues? Not at all. As said, Mitchell stepped up and filled the void. This gave Duke a new look. Dariq was one of the most explosive bench players in the country and was a bench weapon that Duke rarely ever has.
It just all got thrown out of whack for the Tennessee game due to the Mitchell injury.
At this time is all that matters Duke wise. I wish him the best and have a hard time believing he can’t develop some sort of post game eventually, but this ain’t AA ball. We need players that score at Duke. That said, without his defense and rebounding we prob wouldn’t have won the ACC or swept unc so I’m trying to be glass half full
It was a pleasure watching Lively improve this year. He seems like a great guy as well. Whitehead never complained or pouted about the fact he was coming off the bench. That injury really set him back. Both of them should enter the draft. Even an old schooler like me acknowledges this. Whitehead did not look like a first rounder to me, but clearly the scouts think so.