Yeah I’m totally over Kon now but I still need answers if and why that fool was in Richmond.
Basically if we catch any recruit in Richmond now, it seems like bad news, if a 757 kid is coming for a visit, his ass better take the 295 bypass
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YES TPAIN YES!!!
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I think it suggests that Guy and Jerome were rare talents and beat out Shayok and Thompson, and that Hall fit better the concept of what Tony wanted for that specific team. Terms like “not performing as the coach wanted” and “not a good fit” are a bit loaded, and ignore the context – that they got beat out by UVa legends. Shayok and Thompson have played in either the NBA or Euro League. Either of them would have been the best scoring guard/wing on 3 of the past 4 UVa teams (so, IMO, not really a fit issue or a pleasing the coach issue).
Point being - these things are situational. Shayok was bad at being a complementary backcourt piece, but Hall was great it. Hall would have been miscast as the alpha dawg scorer, but Shayok was pretty good at it. Thompson is a bit of a more interesting case, and probably somewhere in between.
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Shayok would have been the best player on either of our last 2 teams.
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KK family probably believe they are the next Plumlee’s.
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Oh, joy (and that kind of joy I don’t want coming in the morning).
I think the “bad fit” description is more than apt. I don’t believe that either Shayok or Thompson were comfortable in Coach Bennett’s schemes. I don’t think they liked playing in them, and because of that, I don’t believe they executed as well as Bennett wanted. Otherwise, why would he have fiddled with the roster so much that year? Additionally, it took until well after mid February (over three months) for him to insert Guy into the starting rotation, and of Jerome’s five starts, two were in place of Wilkins when he was out. I don’t think you can say that Jerome “beat out” anyone. If you look at the box scores, PT is wildly inconsistent for Shayok, Thompson, Guy, and Jerome throughout the year. And, while specific match-up issues might account for some of it, I think the staff struggled all year to find the right combinations. As far as Guy is concerned, I still believe that his eventual starting role was due to neither Shayok nor Thompson executing as Coach Bennett wanted, and that they wanted to be in different systems. The fact that Shayok thrived at ISU only reinforces that for me. But, I’ve been wrong before.
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Not saying you are wrong but is tough for me to understand how regular way college players are not confortable in a coache’s schemes or system. I get it if you wanna play man to man so you shun Cuse cause you know is all zone. But for me, players have to buy in to what the coach is doing when they choose that school
Edit: I do ubderstand players not thinking they are getting a fair shake from the coach, however
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My impression was that Shayok wanted more freedom to create on offense, and resented being pulled when he took shots out of the scheme’s context. But, that was just my impression.
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Ah got it. Makes sense. I was not real engaged when he played. Just watched our games for pleasure!
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I follow our recruiting battles vs. Duke with pleasure. Who said masochism was a vice anyway?
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This was also my impression during that time. Seemed like Shayok was a shot creator who took (and made) a lot of shots I thought were outside of the scheme. Missed a bunch too. That works in a lot of systems and for a lot of coaches, but it seemed incongruous with the game plan/scheme to me at the time.
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Those were mostly shots that coaches were scheming for him, knowing his strengths. At least that was always my impression at the time, and Kris Wright wrote a fair amount in his Double Bonus to back that up.
I mean- why are we nuts? Just because we love something so much that we want our team to do well?
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It’s okay to vent, moan and groan when we spent months anticipating, dreaming and analyzing a potential recruit. Don’t get fooled- you’d better believe that TB groaned about it as well- even if it wasn’t online; especially if Konfusion didn’t call him to let him know in advance.
So allow us the time to vent, just like Tony and then we will turn the page, just like Tony.
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Recap of Kon’s recruitment:
Kon: Tony, I know you have recruited me hard for two years and really really really really want me. And I can see myself playing here and I’m ready to commit, but I really see myself as 1(2?) and done and other programs agree and assured me early playing time. Given my ranking and early scouting reports, I think it’s reasonable that I play early and often and be given an opportunity. I will commit right now if you can assure me that I’ll play early.
Tony: I would literally do ANYTHING to get you BUT playing time here is earned not given, and I can’t guarantee anything.
Kon:
A FEW MOMENTS LATER…
“Kon Commits to Duke!”
Tony:
Duke: lol Kon’s gonna ride the bench all year.
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I think you’ve overlooked a major piece of that recruitment
“I’d do anything for Kon; but I won’t do that.”
As an aside, conventional wisdom says that Meatloaf’s “that” referred to the Dirty Sanchez, or so I read in the Urban Dictionary.
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Our Good Feet money ain’t big enough.