Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski vs. ESPN’s Doug Gottleib
College Basketball, ESPN, Race November 28th. 2009, 10:05am
Duke was struggling with Arizona State Wednesday, barely leading a weak Sun Devils team at halftime. This led ESPN’s Doug Gottlieb to make an observation that, at the time, seemed innocuous enough: Duke, which features five white players 6-foot-8 or taller, was “alarmingly unathletic.” After Duke thumped a much more athletic Connecticut team Friday, Coach K took a few shots at Gottlieb.
He should be an expert on alarmingly non-athletic. So I’ll have to take a look at that a little bit closer because it comes from an expert who actually knows what it feels like to be alarmingly non-athletic.
Actually, we’re pretty athletic; we’re just not as athletic as UConn. Singler is a really good athlete. Lance, Miles. Jon is not leaping tall buildings with a single bound but he’s a real good athlete. But I wouldn’t call us like this athletic team, but we’re not amazingly non-athletic. And I would rather not get into a discussion with Doug because I have respect of his stature and he should have his arguments with people of similar stature. That would be a good thing.
A bit defensive, huh? Coach K should have just laughed it off. Duke is alarmingly unathletic. It is a fact. Fortunately, it takes more than athleticism to win basketball games. Connecticut shot just 53 percent from the line and turned the ball over 16 times. Coach K scouted Connecticut well – it doesn’t have a reliable shooter other than Jerome Dyson, and as a team, went 0-for-4 from deep.
We’ll hold off on our assessment of Duke until February rolls around. The last few years Duke has started strong, only to fade shortly after Groundhog Day.
The BIAH Quotables: Duke vs. UConn (Ballin is a Habit)
30 Responses to “Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski vs. ESPN’s Doug Gottleib”
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November 28th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Gottleib also said “Duke makes the Hickory team from Hoosiers look diverse,” and that the black socks make them look even more unathletic.
November 28th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Desmond Howard speaks the truth.
November 28th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Huh? How can this be a fact? How can you measure this? You can’t It’s an opinion. Unless you are making the argument that all white people are unathletic. Are you?
November 28th, 2009 at 10:29 am
I wonder what would happen if Coach K pointed out that there were too many Jewish college basketball experts at ESPN.
/for devil’s advocate purposes only
//not my personal viewpoint
November 28th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Jesus fucking christ, this shit pisses me off. Mason Plumlee was the most athletic player on floor yesterday, and the ASU isn’t a weak team…maybe mediocre, but probably the Pac-10 best hope for a third NCAA team. Duke is not “alarmingly unathletic”…the Plumlees can jump out of the gym, Nolan Smith and Lance Thomas are pretty damn athletic, and Singler’s not bad himself.
Let’s just say it like it is…people see white players, and assume they’re unathletic. Did anyone see Mile’s block against ASU where he had to duck midair to avoid braining himself on the backboard? For fucks sake, even Treebeard ripped down 7 offensive rebounds last night. Last time I checked, rebounding was one of the indicators of athleticism…that and dunking.
But hey, keeping on propagating the myth…the best line yesterday came from Nolan Smith, “Yeah, when we get [Mason Plumlee}, we’ll be even more athletic than people don’t think we are.”
November 28th, 2009 at 10:32 am
The only objection I have is him calling Scheyer athletic. He’s a good player, but I’m more athletic than he is
November 28th, 2009 at 10:36 am
The Dukies have a decided schematic advantage during the first half of the season.
November 28th, 2009 at 10:36 am
I saw Scheyer get his shot blocked in the corner twice yesterday. Sorry, that’s unathletic, no matter how you spin it. You’ve got to be able to get your shot off at that level if you’re a starter on one of the elites. (I’ve never seen Andy Rautins or Jon Diebler get their jumper blocked).
November 28th, 2009 at 10:36 am
No you’re not. He’s not athletic when compared to most BCS caliber college basketball players, but he’s certainly more athletic than 99% of the general populace.
Of course, in TBL’s mind, he’s a D3 player at best.
November 28th, 2009 at 10:37 am
TBL, saw your tweets…OSU would get Stoops or Meyer before Notre Dame would.
November 28th, 2009 at 10:41 am
I gladly would take Scheyer at Illinois(where I thought me might go for a bit). I mean it’s not like his hs coach is Bruce Weber’s brother. Shit. The. Bed.
November 28th, 2009 at 10:42 am
I still can’t figure out how and why Doug Gottlieb got so far so fast.
/credit card thief
//he’s a dick
///actually, come to think of it, it’s because he’s a dick
November 28th, 2009 at 10:43 am
TBL, why haven’t you posted any pics of Tiger’s alleged GF?
November 28th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Gottlieb’s spent most of the past decade hating on Wisconsin too (my favorite was when he called a freshman Brian Butch who was dealing with mono at the time “the most overrated player in the Big Ten”) so I think he’s just a self-loathing white basketball player who despises his own kind
November 28th, 2009 at 10:51 am
He’s just an entertainer who has found a niche to make him relevant: pissing off white people by perpetuating stereotypes.
November 28th, 2009 at 10:53 am
duke was on tv 3-4 in the last two weeks. did you watch? they are unathletic. it doesn’t matter, though.
November 28th, 2009 at 10:54 am
big post with lots of pics coming at 1105. news keeps coming out every hour, story is awesome
November 28th, 2009 at 10:55 am
As opposed to all those other weeks……….
November 28th, 2009 at 10:55 am
TG – There is no way ASU gets an NCAA birth. No shot. None. yes, the pac10 is a joke, but no, ASU is not in the mix for an NCAA spot. Care to wager on it? email me if so.
November 28th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Gottleib also reminisces about his lame OSU career every 10-12 minutes on his radio show. Almost as much as his twin daughters. Shit gets annoying. I’ve listened to his show a lot (it’s not all that bad), and sometimes I think he just says shit like this to be cool. Not to up his ratings or stir the pot, but literally trying to be cool.
November 28th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Looked like the third best team in the Pac-10 so far. Seems like they have a shot at a bid, which is what I said…I didn’t say they’re a NCAA team (Pac-10 should be a 1 bid league).
November 28th, 2009 at 11:52 am
TG, you wrote this:
Washington and Cal and then … maybe WSU or Arizona
November 28th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Gottlieb reminds me of Cowherd light whenever I catch him filling in for other radio hosts. ESPN radio types seem to come in 2 flavors. The Gottlieb/Cowherd bombastic-polarizing-specious-reasoning phenotype and the Mike and Mike/Tirico bland company man style.
Couch K should know better and not let the ramblings of an ESPN blowhard get to him.
November 28th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
how did yesterday show they were unathletic? UCONN is suposed to be one of the most athletic teams in the country, thriving on steals and def rebounds leading into there great transition game. yet, duke completely shut down UCONNs transition game. It didnt exist because 1, scheyer didnt turn the ball over (hes much better since he moved to point) and 2, they out rebounded UCONN. Do you really think they were able to outrebound with “hustle.” sure it may have some effect, but it happened because thomas and plumlee are just as athletic as robinson and the other UCONN big men.
also, did you see sheyers rediculous layup where he couldnt see the basket. he was just trying to draw a foul, but the body control he had to even get it close definitely take superb athleticism. if it was d wade or kobe everyone would be up in arms over it, but scheyer got no love.
thirdly, Plumlee had a couple of plays where he was going to throw down a huge offensive rebound for a dunk, but he missed the ball. he was so far up in the air and threw it down so hard, i would think that takes some athletic ability.
so whose left thats unathletic? nolan smith is, just watch him. zoubek isnt, ill give you that. personally i think singler is, hes 6′8 and can bring the ball down the court, defintiely takes athleticism.
/end rant
//this stupid factless claims of “truth” piss me off
November 28th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
one more thing, you can make the claim duke isnt quick or fast, which they arent, but that isnt all athleticism is.
November 28th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Quick and Fast are part of athleticism. The Plumlee twins can jump like jack rabbits, but I am not sure either are going to be great players. Nolan Smith is a good, but not great, ACC athlete. Singler is an underrated athlete, but he is not going to blow anyone’s mind. Andre Smith is a pretty good D-1 athlete, and will most likely get better as he still needs to mature another year (only 17 isn’t he?). After that you have players like Lance Thomas, who is quick on his feet, but not bouncy. Followed by a Ryan Kelly, Zoubek, and Scheyer, who are known for being “slow footed”.
The unathletic label is being used for 5 reason.
#1- It is a half truth, they are not a very athletic team by any stretch, though alarmingly un-athletic is only appropriate if you were going to say in the context of a title contending team. I cannot think of a title team recently that was not more athletic than Duke.
#2- Two players that Duke lost early last year would be the two more athletic players on this team.
#3- Duke has reputation (please note that reputation is not me saying it is fact) of having “un-athletic” teams
#4- Duke does not have an athletic Perimeter, which is an issue for them because of their struggles recently in defending quick PG’s.
#5- White people.
November 28th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
well said Jumanji.
Also, as I’ve said before I’m not a Duke hater. I can’t stand Scheyer but think he’s a good player. He’s just not athletic. Haven’t seen enough of the Plumlees to make a determination. Also, Kyle Singler is my favorite non-KU player this year, and I think he’s plenty athletic. Athletic enough to be a good pro anyways.
November 28th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Jumanji, your point 5 is correct. I would add that in general (and without a ‘true’ pg) Duke seems to play at a slower pace. To the passive observer this would appear to be ‘un athletic’.
Scheyer is VERY athletic and coming out of high school is VO2 score was off the charts. ENDURANCE is an athletic ability. Very few players are capable of putting up the type of minutes he does. Vertical leap is not the only measure of athletic ability.
Paulus would probably be considered terribly un athletic as well, yet he goes right over to being a starting QB at a bcs a school. It comes back to color and style of play.
November 28th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Paulus is not athletic (on the elite level). He couldn’t create his own shot in college which all athletism and he is an average at best on ball defender. Playing quarterback in a drop back system does not require much if any athletism. There is a reason he didnt go to michigan.
If you were on a playground picking teams to flag football (quite frankly any sport no one has played before, ie ultimate freesbee) you are going to take a “John Wall” type of athlete over Ron Paulus everyday of the week. Especially if you have two better QB’s and Paulus has to play receiver and defensive back.
I am personally offended whenever someone mentions Tiger Woods as the best athlete in the world. Tiger Woods is 6 ft plus and never could dunk a basketball. So for me it is not a color issue. Tiger Woods in college wouldnt have been able to play football or basketball at Palo Alto High School much less Stanford.
November 28th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Scheyer’s negatives from ESPN insider :
•Not a great athlete
•Lacks real lateral quickness or leaping ability
•Struggles to create his own shot