A look ahead at Duke for next season

Posted On: April 9, 2009 By: Cliff Comments: (more)

Hey everyone, well it’s been a while since I have blogged and figured I’d start looking forward to next season. We have plenty of questions that will be answered soon that will utltimately decide what kind of team Duke will be next season. The biggest question is whether Gerald Henderson will stay at Duke or elect to go to the NBA Draft. Another big question is if Coack K can land John Wall’s committment.

As for Henderson, I’ve read quite a few reports that he is strongly considering going to the NBA and hiring an agent. I’ve even heard that he will be hiring the same agent that North Carolina and his former high school teammate Wayne Ellington hires. Gerald will probably be a top 10 draft pick and we can’t really be upset if he chooses to go to the NBA. Of course, I’d rather have him back at Duke next season but his stock is very high right now and he has millions sitting in front of him.

As for the John Wall recruitment, it looks like it will be coming down to three teams. Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky. Will Wall follow John Calipari to Kentucky or elect to stay home and attend North Carolina or Duke? This is the type of player that could make Duke a final four team rather than a sweet sixteen of elite eight team. The coaching staff needs to do everything they can do to land Wall and keep him away from Carolina. I’m not sure which way Wall will go, but let’s all hope he chooses Duke Blue!

The Blue Devils will be welcoming incoming freshman Ryan Kelly and Mason Plumlee to the roster for next season. Kelly is a 6′9 power forward while Plumlee is 6′10 and also plays power forward. Both players weigh around 205 lbs so they aren’t the beast downlow that the team really needs to battle on the blocks. I’m not sure what to expect from either player in their freshman year so we will have to see how they develope and if they are able to put any weight on during the Summer.

When it comes down to it, I think next year’s team will be very similar to this year. Hopefully we can land Wall and he can be the speedy guard the team has been missing since Jay Williams and the team can be a final four team. At worse we are looking at another sweet sixteen team I am thinking.

No matter what, keep checking back here at JustDuke as we will have updates throughout the offseason about recruiting and the offseason!

Category: Duke Basketball

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2 Responses to “A look ahead at Duke for next season”

Loren Says:
April 16th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
an FYI for everyone — we will be auctioning off TWO Autographed Duke basketballs during our Earth Jam Fashion Show at Aveda Institute on Tuesday, April 21, at 7:30pm. Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing tickets to our event! 919.960.4769 x 3.
quincy butler Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
i know the blue devils will be alright i love duke an Coach K he is a very good Coach an my team will be alright i have been a duke guy since i can remember all i can think is duke your #1 fan