With 8 new kids coming this year most would have expected some turnover (there are ONLY 5 starting jobs).  It did not hurt the program or the kids. Duq got to look at 8 new kids and when 2-4 of the decided to move on they could re-recruit and better stagger the class years.  KD had to expect this many transfers with 8 new kids.  They had to have been recruiting Miller for some time with the expectation Wade or Carry would leave or not make it ...both see themselves as big time players.  Do both Norman and K Hughes stay if Williams does not leave?? Would they have stayed if Lewis was still here??  I am sure the staff would like to balance out the class years to remain competitive every year so this could not have come as a surprise.

I think the big surprise for the coaching staff was they were unable to reach Williams.  They spotted the talent and hoped to harness it.  Williams will benefit from sitting a year and hopefully mature during that time.  You only get one mulligan...and this is his.  I think Duq will benefit because they will be more team oriented next year because of the growth of Carry, Hughes, Norman and others and ball movement and control will improve.  I was hoping Williams would play with more control and look to improve the players around him but it did not happen.   

Last edited by Dsnyder15 (4/11/2019 12:54 pm)

His first recruiting class at first glance would be a B. He was hired late in the recruiting year, and I would give him an A for Williams, B for Verhoeven and C for Kratholm. I know you said don’t consider the transfer, but you have to, because you have to know wether you are going to keep them and if they are going to fit your program. Williams was an outstanding prospect and fine player for DU but wound up not being his type of player and gets downgraded because of that and he is gone. Verhoeven was a nice defensive big and had the potential to get better offensively. Although you had to worry about him being from California and getting home sick which eventually happened and he is gone. Krathholm was a body we needed but just was not able to compete at this level. So I now downgrade this class to an incomplete or D since they can not help us moving forward.

This years class overall gets a C at this moment in time. Coaches get an F for Bizeau, Wade and Swingle. Do not know if these three could ever compete at the A 10 level because they are all projects and only time will tell if they mature into division 1 players and if they do it will not be at DU because we did not keep them anyway. Ellis is a project and I know this as I officiated his games on several occasions and compared to other division 1 players I officiated he is a little behind. But you can not teach length and I know him and he is from my old neighborhood, I am rooting like hell for him to succeed. So he gets no grade at this time. Carry definitely gets an A, but I think we got lucky with him because of his injuries that scared everyone off him. We were willing to take the chance and it was a great get for us. I give Norman a B because of his shooting, shot selection and attitude. Kelly and Rotroff get C’s because they showed potential and now they have to live up to it, despite their injuries. I would love to see how much each of these kids progress next year to upgrade this to a B hopefully.

Dukes2012 wrote:

Wildwood, I’m glad I never had you as a teacher! Tough grader! You make some good points, nonetheless.

I don't think his grades are tough. I think he's being generous. I would have given last year's class an A for Williams, a C for Verhoeven, and an F for Kratholm. This year he gets an A for Carry, incompletes for Norman, Kelly, and Rotroff, and failures for the ones that left. Of all the players who have left over the last decade, who did much at their next stop? TJ of course, and I Mike had a solid year at SMU, and I expect him to have a nice career there. The rest? Blah!
 

Here are my grades:
2017-2018 = C-
2018-2019 = B
My brief thoughts:
17-18 on the plus side:  EW really helped this team win 39 games, the most in a two year stretch since Ron Everhart. EW on the A10 All-Rookie team.  TV also assisted in getting the Dukes back to .500, starting 27 games and playing about 20 minutes per game as a freshman.
17-18 on the minus side:  There is nobody left from this class. KD could not get EW on the same page with him; that's a loss since we all know what kind of talent EW has. It was also a complete miss on Kratholm. A bit of an oddity on TV; he fit defensively into KD's system, but his skill set on the offensive end didn't match up with KD's system.

18-19 on the plus side:  You have 5 players that look as if they can heavily contribute to this team. If he holds out physically, Sin Carry looks to be a 4 year starter with an A10 All-Rookie team under his belt. Most project Norman Jr. as getting significant minutes and some project him possibly starting next year. If they both recover physically, both Rotroff and Kelly showed that they are A-10 players and will earn time on the court.  All reports on Ellis are saying the he will contribute especially on the defensive end.
18-19 on the minus side: To me, not much. Tarin Smith was projected to be the starter this year when Wade was signed as the backup PG. Tarin transferred and KD inked Carry, who put a stranglehold on the PG position, blocking out BW.  Biz was intriguing because of his height and shot; Dylan on his size and hands. It's not the first time that a big man didn't quite make it for various reasons; but I think it was worth the 1 year investment to check them out.