Anonymous
Years ago
Well the NCAA final is approaching and its between Duke and Wisconsin. Still amazed the highly fancied Kentucky got rolled. I'm tipping Duke but Wiscinsin are playing so good lately.
.
Years ago
will be huge. Frank, Jahlil & co - too close to pick a clear winner....... so many match ups
Curtley
Years ago
Frank Kaminski has to declare for draft this year. I'm guessing he'll be a fairly average NBA player and drafted late first round.
Luke
Years ago
I believe the game could go either way, it really comes down to who step ups on the big stage, I'm tipping the badgers to pull off the upset and the fairytale finish!
Curtley, Frank is a senior so was always done with college ball this year. Sam Dekker is a junior, and will have a choice to make about declaring for the draft or returning to Wisconsin, but Frank Kaminsky's decision is made.
If there's a game involving Duke, then 19 times out of 20 I'll be supporting the other team.
This one is no exception. Although unfortunately I expect Duke to piss it in.
Latrentis
Years ago
So why the hate for Duke anon? Quality program with arguably one of the best coaches of all time in Coach K. Unbelievable what he has accomplished this year with 3 freshman starting and only 8 scholarship players. Have a lot of respect for Wisconsin though who are playing out of their minds at present, certainly not the same team who lost to Duke earlier in the season.
Go watch the I hate Christian Lattener doco, or get some of the books written by UNC people which claims Duke causes cancer.
Duke is regarded by many as being a school for people from priveleged backgrounds so many people despise them for this. For what it's worth Kaminsky is tipped to be a mid first rounder. I like his game but not sure how well it will translate to Nba
Kaminsky will be good in the NBA in the right program and if he can improve his defence. He has a similar offensive skill set to Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitski but relies on running a lot of set plays to get open and likes the Wisconsin Swing offence. Teams like Atlanta, Golden State, Memphis, Boston, San Antonio, Utah, etc is where he would play well. In the open court and off the high screen and roll is where he struggles as is is no DeAndre Jordan or Tyson Chandler. Teams like La Clippers, Orlando, Sacramento, Cleveland, etc is where he would suck.
Defensively he is nowhere near where Tim Duncan was leaving college. He is an okay defensive player, but he isn't a rim protector and he isn't great showing on the screen in the pick and roll.
He should be a long term NBA starter of 3rd big in the NBA for a few years (probably similar to Ryan Anderson or Andrea Bargnani) but a longshot at being an All-Star.
But since this game is between 2 college teams and not on NBA potential of players I think Wisconsin wins this one. Sam Dekker has ice running through his veins at the moment and is the next Gordon Hayward. All the Badgers do is run great offensive sets to share the points and have good defensive schemes to throw teams out of their rhythm. Winslow and Okafor will be the best 2 pro's in the future, but in this game I think Wisconsin gets it.
Bear
Years ago
Should be a classic, they met earlier this season in cross conference play and Duke rolled them by 10 points.
Badgers have improved since then, while the Blue Devils have also got better they are a bit thin and if their bigs in particular get into foul trouble early I can see Wisconsin getting up.
Technically and athletically they are very different programs and I see it as blue collar v blue bloods, so my tip is Badgers by 3...
#972 Sam Dekker is the next Gordon Hayward in that he's about to be the next small forward to lose to Duke in the national title game! Hayward's ball handling and passing were ahead of Dekker's at the same age, but he is playing with a ton of confidence right now. Winslow is a great matchup for him and both teams will have some fun creating and exploiting mismatches.
Wisconsin by 10.
Experience to win. I think there's 4 seniors and 4 jrs on the team.
Dukes best players are all freshman. Jones, Allen, Winslow and okafor.
kaminsky to tcontroloky and decker/Hayes to shoot the lights out.
Atm
Mock draft has...
okafor at 2 to Minnesota.
Winslow at 5 to Orlando.
Decker at 12 to jazz.
Kaminsky at 17 to Milwaukee.
Jones at 22 to Dallas
Lol Kentucky..
Karl towns at 1 to Knicks.
Lyles at 7 to Denver.
Cauley-stein at 10 to Indiana.
Booker at 19 to Philadelphia.
Johnson at 41 to Boston.
An.harrison at 44 to Philadelphia.
Aa.harrison at 50 to Atlanta.
^ Sorry, Koenig is a sophomore and Quinn Cook is unquestionably one of Duke's 4 best players and a senior. Duke's best players were freshmen when they beat Wisconsin ON THE ROAD earlier in the season. And if you want to talk about experience, Coach K will be coaching his 9th championship game in pursuit of his 5th title, while Bo Ryan will be coaching his 1st in pursuit of his 1st.
Wisconsin going in as favourites and they might win it, but not by 10.
Bear
Years ago
Interestingly Kentucky has employed similar scouting and enrollment techniques to Duke, they are both very much one-and-done programs.
Wisconsin appears to be more traditional in its development over time approach, hence the abundance of Junior and Senior players, compared with the Freshmen of the other two mentioned.
What does this mean, well maybe nothing in the end if Duke wins, but since Wisconsin got over the unbeaten Wildcats and their so called super team, it will be better for the NCAA overall I believe if the Badgers program gets the win in this one.
Rules are rules, sure, and if they are good enough to go and get drafted into the NBA after one college year that's fine, but for a program to lose 80% of its players every year and just go and draft the best players again and keep losing them every year doesn't bode well with me, just my thoughts...
Dunkin' Dan
Years ago
Great game, by my god Dick Vitale's voice gets on my nerves ...
Understandably both teams are a little nervous, not as smooth as they are normally, but agree that it is a close and exciting game.
No free rides anon, can't see the refs influencing the game so far. Hope they don't at the end either!
Who is that no. 3 for Duke, what a flopper, driving in and throwing his head back like that, disgraceful!
Winslow and Okafour on 3 fouls each, Kaminski, Keonig and Dekker doing the biz, refs getting it right, go badgers.
Anon^^ should send a text to coach K, now before it is too late. :)
The way coaches go nuts at refs in the NCAA is amazing, if they did that stuff here they would be T'd up in a second!
No wonder they go nuts, soft call on Okafour and then a charge not called at the other end, sometimes I just wonder what they are watching?
Game is heating up, final minutes and anyone's!
LC
Years ago
Officials under just as much pressure as the players!
What a great game though! It has just about everyone so far...OT?
Got to hand it to Okafour on 4 fouls and gets it done when they needed it. Badgers had their chance, bad luck!
Blue Devil's deep pockets win the day over Green Bay.
MACDUB
Years ago
A sad day for College Basketball. A Wisconsin win would have been great for the sport. Few comments:
- Dick V's love and affection for Duke is ridicolous and was a stain on the broadcast; as was the stupid Spanish commentary in the background. Worst broadcast I have ever heard/watched.
- Wisconsin built a program over numerous years. They invested their time effort and resources. Kaminsky and the entire Badgers team is IMO, the ultimate college program. Congrats to Duke but once again sad to see "one and done" teams winning
- Refs made some massive mistakes. There's a clear photo circulating showing the Duke's player bending on the OOB call.
- NCAA need to look at achieving greater parity; there's simply no chance of a miracle team run anymore ala NC State with Valvano. The big programs are becoming too strong (McDonalds all-americans in abundance. They need to limit this and give smaller programs more of a chance). For a lot of programs out there at the moment, its all about generating money for the university.
- Credit to Duke for hanging tough and executing down the stretch nevertheless.
- Refs need tighter control on the game: coaches and players can argue and taunt refs with no punishment. There needs to be limits on the bench been able to jump up and down on a play..yes I understand the players are excited, but it is starting to look ridicolous. Player makes one shot and the bench erupts like they've won at life.
Interested Observer
Years ago
Having played and coached in the US (no where near the NCAA Div 1 championship game level) there are some real noticeable differences in the way refs handle games over there.
1) The refs are part of the 'entertainment' side of bball and like to make the big, dramatic call even if it is not the correct one.
2) It is common knowledge that the home team or more prominent players do get calls. (This is not just the away team moaning about refs...)
3) Refs are on more of a power trip than anything you will see in bball over here.
4) Veteran coaches can pretty much yell and scream as much as they want. (keeping in mind that the crowd for the championship game would make it almost impossible for the refs to hear anything the coaches yelled anyway.)
As for the parity between teams, it is a tough one to manage.
The recruitment process for colleges is a business in itself.
The major colleges have first picking of all the best high school players, then the mid majors get the next best and so on. Really is up to the coach to try and find a diamond in the rough who has been overlooked by the major colleges or pick up kids that haven't been getting the academic work done.
Restricting the number of highly ranked players that each college can recruit is easier said than done.
It may also have a negative affect on Aussie players. ie if the top players are evenly spread across the colleges then some of the spots at mid majors will be taken by highly ranked american players.
I think the one and done scenario will be a common thing for the next couple of years and then you may see more NBA teams looking at more experienced players and this will change the trend
Bear
Years ago
I agree that trends always change, lets hope the trend changes along with some common sense approaches by the NCAA...
Latrentis
Years ago
Don't think it is a sad day for college basketball as Duke are a great program and have now won 5 championships under 1 coach. Were a few calls that went against Duke, how about Kaminsky clearly grabbing Okafor with 2 arms?? Hats off to Wisconsin but don't think they played their best basketball today which is a shame. Allen and Tyus were unreal for Duke, and others stepped up when Okafor struggled.
I don't agree with the one and done rule but until the Ncaa decide to change it coaches will continue to recruit these guys.
MACDUB, your whole post is baffling to me. Well, almost. Dick V is one of the most annoying people in the universe. But other than that:
- Wisconsin built a program over numerous years. So did Duke. The fact that 4 of their players were freshmen doesn't change the effort that goes into that program year after year after year. I hope you were running around commending their player development when Mason Plumlee made the leap and looked like a leading candidate for NPOY at the start of his senior season.
- Refs made some massive mistakes. Yes they did. The OOB on Winslow's drive as well as the OOB that was reviewed, showed the ball coming off Winslow, and still went to Duke, are examples. But Okafor's third foul looked to be an almost entirely clean strip of Kaminsky and there were several examples at the other end of Kaminsky getting away with contact. CBB officiating doesn't have a great reputation, and has been far too questionable in close games throughout the tournament. But the mistakes don't only go one way.
- NCAA need to look at achieving greater parity. Ok. Except, didn't UConn win a national title last year as a 7-seed? Didn't Butler go to back-to-back national title games in 2010 and 2011? FGCU to the sweet 16? Didn't Wisconsin just beat a Kentucky team with 9 All-Americans despite only having one of their own? Weren't Virginia and Notre Dame two of the best teams in the country this year with rosters dominated by upperclassmen? The biggest issue with parity isn't playing talent, it's the ease with which top-tier mid-major coaches can leave their programs. Shaka Smart to Texas is what you should be worried about.
- Refs need tighter control on the game. I think bench reactions in the national title game aren't representative of bench reactions throughout the year, and that a crowd of 70,000 affects how players and coaches engage with officials and each other. Generally it would be nice to see less screaming coaches and less demonstrative players (at least towards officials), but I would hate to see that achieved by encouraging officials to have even more impact on games by T'ing people up all over the place.
Gutsy win for the blue devils. Thought Wisconsin was going to run away with it early in the second half.
Does anyone else think the mock draft is a little off?
Kaminsky at 18? he's top 10 imo. (Has the highest iq out of the bigs and the only one with legit mid/long range shooting(apart from towns), lacks athleticism only). Thought he beats out cauley stein in all other fields and a few other bigs ahead on the draft list.
philly no doubt will be after Russell. Already have Noel and embiid as a frontline.
Karl towns is a perfect fit for New York.
Okafor to Minnesota?. To take over from aging pekovic.
nice future for the wolves...
^fair bit of variation between mocks.
Hope Okafor ends up in Minnesota. They have a lot more pieces in place than NY, including a two-way franchise cornerstone. If he goes to NY he's going to be expected to carry a franchise and I don't think he can do that.
Russell would be a good fit in Philly but he's healthy and in America. They might try to trade down and pick up the kid from Murray State and another pick or slightly older asset?
AngusH
Years ago
I'm not sure about Kaminsky in the NBA. Stretch bigs will always have a place, but as far as his ceiling, he'd need to bulk up a ton, which would probably rob him of the deceptive speed that allows him to work his way to the basket.
He seems to me to be at his best when he's picking and popping, then driving to the basket if the defender bites on his pump fake. Most other times when he got the ball in the post against Kentucky and Duke he had some real awkward footwork I thought - the Kentucky game he looked on the verge of a travel about 4 times.
It's pretty much impossible to predict how a guy will adapt to the pro game and Kaminsky certainly could be a very good NBA player, but I'm not sure that there aren't 10 or 12 guys I'd take over him.
Thunder Jam
Years ago
It was an entertaining game for sure.Whilst hoping for the Badgers to win,I wasn't disappointed that Duke made that great comeback. Exceptional effort from Allen, it was a 5-8 minute burst that will be remembered forever by Duke fans.
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