Interesting take on "elite" players and "elite" programs

[mr.MUskie]

From today's Daily Herald (Chicago suburban):

http://dailyherald.com/article/20110301/sports/703019744/

[Tugg Speedman]

From the article ...

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The findings were startling. The best I can tell is that only two Duke players have gone on to win an NBA title and only one played for Krzyzewski.

The first was Jeff Mullins with Golden State in 1975, before Krzyzewski’s time at Duke; the last was Danny Ferry with San Antonio in 2004, the only one since Coach K has been in Durham.

Mullins and Ferry weren’t even starters on their NBA championship teams.

Read more: http://dailyherald.com/article/20110301/sports/703019744/#ixzz1FSeJGeTE

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So Crean coached as many NBA champions as Coach K.  This statement should be with 25 posts

Seriously, is this because Duke players are vastly over-rated when going into the NBA and incapable of mattering? 

Or does Coach K get so much out of them in college that they cannot succeed at their Duke level in the NBA?

Similar things were noted about Knight coached players from IU ... the constantly disappointed int eh NBA.  In Knight's case it was believed that Knight maximized his players potential in college and they were not able to duplicate it at the next level.

[GGGG]

I would say that it is a combination of bad luck and the fact that they are overated coming out of college.  Bad luck in a sense you have some Duke players with decent NBA careers, but just haven't been able to get on a championship winning team.  Sheldon Williams would have had one if Boston would have hung on to beat the Lakers last year.

But also overated because no Duke player has really had the talent to lead a team to a title...with the exception of Grant Hill.  I mean, how many NBA all-stars have come out of Duke? 

[StillAWarrior]

Seriously, is this because Duke players are vastly over-rated when going into the NBA and incapable of mattering? 

Or does Coach K get so much out of them in college that they cannot succeed at their Duke level in the NBA?

Similar things were noted about Knight coached players from IU ... the constantly disappointed int eh NBA.  In Knight's case it was believed that Knight maximized his players potential in college and they were not able to duplicate it at the next level.

I've seen this at a lot of different levels of sports.  One of the local high schools here in town had an amazing run in football through the late 80s and 90s (eight championships), but I was often surprised how few of the players went on to major D-I programs (and fewer still really succeeded).  Given the school's dominance in the state, I always expected more players to get signed.  I think it was a case of kids being very well coached and playing outstanding team football -- sometimes outperforming their individual talents.

That said, wikipedia does show five players from the general time frame (late eighties to 2004) spending some time in the NFL.  Perhaps that's a lot for one school; I don't really know.

[Silkk the Shaka]

Seriously, is this because Duke players are vastly over-rated when going into the NBA and incapable of mattering? 

Or does Coach K get so much out of them in college that they cannot succeed at their Duke level in the NBA?

Coach K consistently has multiple 5 stars in the starting lineup as well as riding the pine.  Look at his current roster:

Kyrie Irving - #2 RSCI (Granted, he's injured)
Kyle Singler - #5 RSCI
Nolan Smith - #19 RSCI
Ryan Kelly - #14 RSCI
Mason Plumlee - #18 RSCI
Josh Hairston - #32 RSCI (#19 ESPN)

It doesn't take a genius to make deep tournament runs with that kind of talent on your team.  It's hard to argue he's "getting more out of them" than any other coach would.  The secret is 5 stars, and he's just getting more of them.

[boyonthedock]

If chicago wins this year, that number skyrockets with boozer, deng, and korver on the team

[Silkk the Shaka]

If chicago wins this year, that number skyrockets with boozer, deng, and korver on the team

Korver played for Creighton

[Tugg Speedman]

If chicago wins this year, that number skyrockets with boozer, deng, and korver on the team

And if Miami wins, Crean moves ahead of Coach K!(two championship for his players to one even though it's the same player twice)

[boyonthedock]

creightons numbers will skyrocket as well

[texaswarrior74]

Not really a surprise if you follow Duke at all.

K's style of play...post guys set screens and picks and dump out to guards for threes isn't conducive to the NBA game and his record for recruiting and more importantly developing 4s and 5s is far below average....even his best player last year, Scheyer went undrafted.

[Silkk the Shaka]

Not really a surprise if you follow Duke at all.

K's style of play...post guys set screens and picks and dump out to guards for threes isn't conducive to the NBA game and his record for recruiting and more importantly developing 4s and 5s is far below average....even his best player last year, Scheyer went undrafted.

To your point - Jon Scheyer was rated #28 RSCI, a 5 star by four of the major services, and also happened to be the lowest rated recruit in his incoming class (Gerald Henderson #10, Lance Thomas #20, Brian Zoubek #25).  Thomas and Zoubek were a 5 star 4/5 tandem that averaged about 5 points and 5 boards per game each over their careers.  Coach K isn't exactly weaving magic carpets out of hairballs spit up by alley cats here, people.  His teams are stocked with studs on a yearly basis, and a lot of his highly rated recruits don't ever reach their potential.

[Henry Sugar]

I think Mike Imrem's columns are garbage