Elliot Williams transferring out of Duke

[TarHeelMan]

Wow... I was astounded at the level of hypersensitivity in the subsequent responses.

It is gonna be very interesting to see how this plays out. The issue isn't even athleticism; it's BODIES. Right now the guards are Scheyer and Smith... Scheyer ran some point last year, but that was in a bind. Unless dook can come up with some magic tricks before the season starts, teams are gonna be pressing dook the minute they walk into the gym.

[P2K]

Quote: Originally Posted by TarHeelMan

Wow... I was astounded at the level of hypersensitivity in the subsequent responses.

They're Duke fans. You know the drill, man.

Looks like yet another early out for the Depressed Devils next season. If there wasn't already a blueprint on how to beat Duke out there already, 'Nova sure did supply the instructional dvd after that huge squattage they did on K's team months ago.

Oh and good luck to Williams and his family.

[J0nnD0ugh]

dook has 2 returning guards, the bulk of their experience & talent is in the frontcourt, and they got a coach who thinks the post is a NYC newspaper.


Not good.

[PdiddyPop]

If a UNC player was going through the same I would refrain from making any type of swipe or any other thing besides just wishing his situation and family member well. Even if it was Hansbro and I hate him more than anyone I've ever seen in college basketball. Sometimes things are just bigger than basketball and this is one of those things. Does it hurt Duke sure it does, but at the same time life and family comes before a college basketball program. Even if it is something I'm diehard passionate about.

[CM Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by PdiddyPop

If a UNC player was going through the same I would refrain from making any type of swipe or any other thing besides just wishing his situation and family member well. Even if it was Hansbro and I hate him more than anyone I've ever seen in college basketball. Sometimes things are just bigger than basketball and this is one of those things. Does it hurt Duke sure it does, but at the same time life and family comes before a college basketball program. Even if it is something I'm diehard passionate about.

So now no one is allowed to speculate how the Duke basketball team will play without Williams, or comment on how the team played with him? C'mon.

Using your example, had Tyler Hansbrough left for family reasons during the middle of last year's offseason, everyone would be talking about all the ramifications of his decision with regard to him, UNC, the rest of the conference, and even the NCAA tournament. The critics of Hansbrough (myself included) would undoubtedly be out in full force in that topic as well, wishing him good riddance for a plethora of reasons, regardless of what reasons resulted in his departure.

The bottom line is that, regardless of the reasons, Duke will not have Elliott Williams on their basketball roster next season, which was not an expected happening. As such, it's a topic both worthy of discussion and despite the circumstances of the situation a fact that the press, the fans, and even the Duke basketball team will have to come to grips with.

Getting off the soapbox and back to the topic: the way I see it, Duke is going to have to play bigger and go to a bit more of a grinding, game-shortening style, as they simply don't have the depth on the perimeter that they are accustomed to. I'd fathom to guess their starting five will be Smith, Scheyer, Singler, Thomas, and Zoubek, which I think can be pretty good, but they certainly won't have the depth coming off the bench they did last year when it comes to perimeter players.

[fsquid]

I have to agree, there is some thin skin in this thread.

[PdiddyPop]

Its fine to discuss how Duke's rotation is gonna be, but what do we have with the first two posts? Duke's gonna be mid major athletic and a conspiracy theory (that me being close to the situation knows for sure was a rumor started on message boards) about E-Mail wanting to transfer.

K can be hard headed but be sure to see a lot of "Orange" being played this season. I'm not throwing in the towel, because like 2000 Duke was left for dead with just 3 players *Nate James, Chris Carawell, and Shane Battier* and a incoming frosh class. Don't get me wrong we don't have a Battier, Cwell, or a Jason Willams and Carlos Boozer walking through that door, but K does his best coaching jobs with teams nobody expects much out of. 2005 and 1991 being very good examples. 2005 Duke had no depth whatsoever and ended up ACC Champs, and a #1 seed that made the Sweet 16, and 91 was supposed to be a year away from being good at contending for both the ACC and NCAA titles and won the Reg Season, and NCAA Championship. Is it going to be easy no it's not. Is it impossible? Again no its not. Also I'm not predicting an FF berth or a NC at all for Duke. Sweet 16 was the goal IMO along with another ACC Tourney title and Reg Season Title. We can still achieve those as the ACC lost a lot in the draft. It won't be easy, but it's not set in stone that we can't win it either.

[TarHeelMan]

dood... please....

If you're this thin-skinned in the offseason, I hate to see what happens when the season starts. So what you're close to the situation, or you have first-hand knowledge of the situation. Good for you. I'm not, since you seem to be addressing my post in the "first two"... Rumors flew so much in midseason they were addressed on local radio here. People "close to the program" were being quoted and speculating that he might want to transfer.