Comments on: Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski vs. ESPN’s Doug Gottleib

By: Marcus_Graham

Marcus_Graham — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:33:38 +0000

Scheyer’s negatives from ESPN insider :
•Not a great athlete
•Lacks real lateral quickness or leaping ability
•Struggles to create his own shot

By: Marcus_Graham

Marcus_Graham — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:30:40 +0000

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.

By: SM

SM — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 22:14:55 +0000

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.

By: Beadlemania

Beadlemania — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:46:56 +0000

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.

By: Jumanji13

Jumanji13 — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:35:17 +0000

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.

By: wbw6b6

wbw6b6 — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:10:46 +0000

one more thing, you can make the claim duke isnt quick or fast, which they arent, but that isnt all athleticism is.

By: wbw6b6

wbw6b6 — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:06:04 +0000

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

By: garmy

garmy — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:59:23 +0000

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.

By: TheBigLead

TheBigLead — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:52:02 +0000

TG, you wrote this:

ASU isn’t a weak team…maybe mediocre, but probably the Pac-10 best hope for a third NCAA team.

Washington and Cal and then … maybe WSU or Arizona

By: tallguy

tallguy — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:13:36 +0000

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.

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).