WTF? Now Taylor King is transferring?

Not that it’s a huge deal on the court, but why in the hell is Taylor King leaving Duke?

What, he’s too tall for our system or something? This makes no sense at all. What the fuck is going on in Durham? It seems like every single year a high profile player leaves. I know, I know, he must be too soft for this spotlight. Or here’s another, he’s too much of a prima donna. Seriously? If all these cats are bums with no work ethic and no heart who don’t fit into the Duke system, then why are we recruiting them in the first place?

Forget starting to be embarrassing, the state of Duke Basketball right now is NOT good and yes, some elements of it are downright terrible. Why can’t we land someone above 6-8? Why are players leaving the program every single year? Why are we losing in the first and second rounds of the NCAAs with a squad that features 8 McDonald’s All-Americans? Why do we recruit Jon Scheyer (and I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with Jon Scheyer) every single year. Honestly, there were 5 Jon Scheyer like players on our team to start this season, I’d prefer just one or maybe two. Not 5. Jesus.

(remember these guys?)

Fellas, PLEASE!  I implore you to add Grant Hill, Jason Williams or somebody with a fresh perspective to that coaching staff who can land competitive recruits that fit our system and want to be there competing at the highest level.  Things haven’t been right with our team since JJ and Shelden bounced. Things haven’t been dominant since Jason Williams, Duhon, Boozer, Battier and Dunleavy were balling. Let’s not kid ourselves, things are NOT ok with Duke Basketball right now.

Let’s stop fooling ourselves with talk about it just being a down time.  Look at our recruits and then look at Carolina’s recruits.  I feel like the USSR right before the fall of communism.  The handwriting is on the wall and it aint pretty.  Worst of all, a big part of the problem is that people don’t want admit that we do in fact have a problem.  It’s time to retool, change our ways and right the ship. This aint George W. Bush in Iraq, it’s Duke Basketball. We’re better than this.

New blood, fresh ideas and a new approach must be sought to make the necessary improvements. Coach K’s image is in the shatter. Homey, start doing national interviews. Start doing sideline interviews. This corporate model aint getting it done. We should be IN the final four THIS year with a freshly loaded handgun waiting at home. Elliot Williams is nice, but you can’t stop there. It should be a class full of players including Greg Monroe, Elliot and a pure point guard. Finally, isn’t it time for those assistants to get out there and make it on their own anyway. I can answer that. YES IT IS. Help. (Rant over)

– Lake

Wisconsin travels to Duke for a slaughter

So I waited for that meaningless game between Tech and IU to end. Clearly that joint was all over except for the crying with 5 minutes to go. Predictably, ESPN still didn’t switch to the Duke game. So they tune in and immediately I feel that old school Duke energy coming through the television. It’s kind of indescribable. It’s a carnal, want to destroy the enemy kind of mentality. I guess that’s what 4 years of Wojo starting at PG will do to a man. Anyway, the crowd had it, the players had it and well, I had it. After Paulus’ second three in that little mini run we had early, I was literally standing in front of my 62 inch screen looking like this.

Wow, it’s just great to see Duke really dig into Wisconsin’s collective cheese loving arses. The first half was a ho-asis of scoring and did I or did I not tell you people about my boy from Cali Taylor “I’m the” Kang?

King was unconscious from three. I mean homey went out onto the floor with a set of brass balls, shooting when he pleased and literally making it rain on them hoes. It was JJ Redick-esque son and I loved it.

He J’d the Badgers with the set shot 3. He J’d them with the fall away. He picked two balls up off the ground and immediately deposited them in the mouth of the damn thing. I mean, have you ever seen a ball leave a player’s hand and reach the basket so quickly? His joint takes like .5 seconds to get up there. You just can’t keep that kind of scoring production on the bench. Coach K obviously read this blog and now King is getting more minutes. That’s cool, let’s just keep it up, but hey, don’t take away Henderson’s minutes either.

We need that cat for his assortment of blocks, dunks, timely 3 balls, mean mugs and rebounds.. Ha.. Now I see why he made Hansbrough red all over. By the way, is Balco T off the canvas yet? Carolina fans acted like Hendo shot the man or something. Stop being a bunch of crying bitches, it’s college basketball, it’s the ACC, it aint intramurals. If yall don’t like it, go play intramurals brother….go play intramurals. Stop all your crying, pull you skirt up and just play ball. Bunch of hicks.. LOL. At any rate, at times during the game G had me on the edge of my seat silently yelling “FINISH HIM” like the Cobra Kai sensai.

End of the day, Duke whooped up on the Badgers.  Per usual, the Big 10 sucks and this ACC – Big 10 Challenge, at 10-0, is getting comical.

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VISITORS: Wisconsin 5-1
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
01 Marcus Landry        f  3-9    1-1    0-1    3  3  6   0   7  2  3  0  1  25
32 Brian Butch          f  5-12   0-4    1-2    1  4  5   4  11  0  2  0  0  20
34 Greg Stiemsma        c  0-1    0-0    0-0    0  2  2   2   0  0  1  0  0   8
03 Trevon Hughes        g  4-13   1-4    3-6    1  3  4   2  12  3  3  0  2  26
45 Joe Krabbenhoft      g  2-7    0-2    0-0    1  4  5   2   4  0  1  1  2  36
12 Jason Bohannon          2-2    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   1   4  1  1  0  0  19
14 Tanner Bronson          0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  1  0  0   1
15 Brett Valentyn          0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
22 Michael Flowers         3-9    0-2    2-2    3  2  5   4   8  3  2  0  0  32
24 Tim Jarmusz             0-1    0-0    0-0    1  0  1   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
30 Jon Leuer               5-11   1-1    1-2    2  4  6   0  12  1  1  0  1  19
43 Kevin Gullikson         0-0    0-0    0-0    1  1  2   2   0  1  2  0  0  11
52 Keaton Nankivil         0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  1  0  0   1
   TEAM                                         4  1  5
   Totals                 24-65   3-14   7-13  17 25 42  17  58 11 18  1  6 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-33 30.3%   2nd Half: 14-32 43.8%   Game: 36.9%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-9  22.2%   2nd Half:  1-5  20.0%   Game: 21.4%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-6  50.0%   2nd Half:  4-7  57.1%   Game: 53.8%    1

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HOME TEAM: Duke 7-0
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
12 Kyle Singler         f  4-7    2-4    3-4    3  3  6   4  13  1  3  0  1  31
42 Lance Thomas         f  0-1    0-0    0-0    1  0  1   4   0  0  2  0  1  13
03 Greg Paulus          g  6-13   4-7    2-2    1  1  2   3  18  1  1  0  2  28
15 Gerald Henderson     g  3-8    0-0    5-6    2  4  6   0  11  1  1  1  0  22
21 DeMarcus Nelson      g  3-11   0-2    3-4    1  6  7   1   9  7  2  2  3  34
02 Nolan Smith             3-4    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   3   6  1  3  0  1  15
14 David McClure           0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
20 Taylor King             5-10   5-9    0-1    0  5  5   2  15  0  0  1  2  20
30 Jon Scheyer             2-7    0-2    6-6    3  6  9   0  10  2  1  0  0  28
41 Jordan Davidson         0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
55 Brian Zoubek            0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  1  1  1  0   7
   TEAM                                         1  3  4
   Totals                 26-61  11-24  19-23  12 28 40  18  82 14 14  5 10 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-33 42.4%   2nd Half: 12-28 42.9%   Game: 42.6%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  9-16 56.3%   2nd Half:  2-8  25.0%   Game: 45.8%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 11-13 84.6%   2nd Half:  8-10 80.0%   Game: 82.6%   2,1

Anyway, Duke and Wisconsin had never met before and now the cheese heads know what Duke Basketball is all about. And don’t think I didn’t take note the presence of former Duke recruit Brian Butch. You diss Duke for Wisconsin? I don’t get it player.. Oh well.

Go Duke.

– Lake

Should Taylor King get more time?

I read that every single Duke game would be televised this year but I guess not since that Eastern Kentucky v. Duke game was nowhere to be found last night. At any rate, I was happy to peep the box score and see that Taylor King went out there and got his a little bit as Duke smashed Eastern Kentucky 78-43.

HOME TEAM: Duke 6-0
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
12 Kyle Singler         f  2-4    0-1    3-4    1  4  5   1   7  1  1  2  0  20
42 Lance Thomas         f  2-2    0-0    3-6    2  3  5   2   7  1  3  0  0  19
03 Greg Paulus          g  1-2    1-1    0-0    0  1  1   3   3  2  3  0  2  19
15 Gerald Henderson     g  4-8    1-3    1-2    1  2  3   1  10  4  5  0  0  17
21 DeMarcus Nelson      g  5-9    1-4    1-2    1  3  4   1  12  0  1  1  2  30
02 Nolan Smith             0-2    0-2    1-2    0  0  0   1   1  2  1  0  2  20
05 Martynas Pocius         0-2    0-1    0-0    2  0  2   0   0  1  0  0  0   3
14 David McClure           0-0    0-0    0-2    1  1  2   0   0  1  0  0  0   7
20 Taylor King             9-14   6-11   3-4    0  3  3   1  27  2  0  0  3  21
30 Jon Scheyer             2-3    2-3    3-3    0  1  1   0   9  3  2  0  1  29
41 Jordan Davidson         0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  0  0  0   3
55 Brian Zoubek            1-1    0-0    0-1    0  0  0   4   2  0  4  0  1  12
   TEAM                                         2  1  3
   Totals                 26-47  11-26  15-26  10 19 29  15  78 17 20  3 11 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-23 52.2%   2nd Half: 14-24 58.3%   Game: 55.3%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  6-15 40.0%   2nd Half:  5-11 45.5%   Game: 42.3%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  4-8  50.0%   2nd Half: 11-18 61.1%   Game: 57.7%   4,1

He lead all scorers with 27 points coming off the bench in 21 minutes of play going 9-14 from the field and 6-11 from 3. Again, the one thing I love about this dude is that if he’s on the floor, he’s shooting.

There’s no uncertainty or worrying about taking too many shots. This cat knows he’s out there to shoot the rock and shoot it he does. JJ Redick had the same mentality and you just got to love it on this kid, especially since he’s a solid 6 foot 7 inches tall. Clearly we’re loaded at the wing, so this isn’t the best squad for TK to show what he can do and there are definitely some questions about his defense and athleticism, but I like it when, at a minimum, a player scores the ball when he’s supposed to.

I grow tired of these cats who need to get hot to make things happen out there. Taylor stays hot and gives Duke something a bit different than the rest of our wing players. So I ask you, should Taylor get more burn this year once the competition picks up? I think he should at least be given a chance. This dude has big impact ability with that three ball. I also like that ‘special skill’ flow since at times our offense looks a bit lacking in the know your roles department. I’ll tell you this, if he does get some more tick, he’s going to have to upgrade his pimp gear…

That black on black crime isn’t working and those fisher price, my first dress shoes kicks he’s rocking, terrible. Somebody get this dude some hush money and a magic shoe kit or something! Ha Just playing (sort of)… at least I didn’t talk about that kinte cloth, Maryland Terp alternate jersey looking tie piece. It may not be a raspbery beret, but it’s definitely the kind you find at a second hand store. Out.

Go Duke.

– Lake