Talk about two ships passing each other, UNC is heading to the Final Four with a 36-2 mark and the prohibitive favorite for NPOY in Tyler Hansbrough leading the way while Duke is heading who knows where.
Duke announced on Monday night that freshman Taylor King has decided to become the next Duke player to leave the program. King played in all 34 games and early in the season really lit things up from beyond the arc. Once ACC play commenced King largely disappeared and did not do much when he did enter the game. I suspected it was because he did not play great defense but given the fact he made a decision which means he will not be playing basketball on a college team for at least a year tends to confirm it.
The question I have is what in the name of Vic Bubas is happening at Duke? A player leaving the program whether it be a transfer or making an ill advised leap into the NBA Draft seems to be an annual occurence now. I can count on one hand the number of transfers or NBA defections from the doghouse during the Dean Smith years. If I wanted to count the number Duke has had in the past 20 years I'd need a ledger. Clearly something is amiss in Durham. Duke is losing the recruiting war with UNC and other schools. They have failed to develop any ACC caliber low post players since Shelden Williams graduated. Conventional wisdom says Duke will bounce back at some point but it does not appear to be coming in the near future.