Updates on the Duke Blue Devils and Wake Forest Deacons

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Devils Illustrated at Connor O'Neill underscore Di. He joins us on the Adam Gold show. It's not really a surprise, I'm sure, but I would imagine it has to be tied to the two returns, Caleb Foster and Tyrese Proctor, no? Yeah, they really, when you start looking at what next year's roster could look like, do you really think John Shire wants to play three guards in the starting lineup again?

No. So, you know, once the dominoes fell, I think it was a podcast Monday, you know, the reports already came out last week with Proctor coming back and then over the weekend, like somehow the YouTube for the podcast got teased and said that Caleb Foster was going to announce he was coming back. So the dominoes had already kind of fallen and the Jeremy Roach situation was kind of the last one. And, you know, the writing was on the wall there. And I went through the whole season that he was not going to want to come back for a fifth season in Durham and have to learn a whole new batch of freshmen all over again.

I mean, it's felt like he spent three years in college being the oldest guy on the roster because he kind of has. Yeah, he was put in a very difficult position. He's probably somebody that, given his druthers, would have rather finished at Duke, no? I think so. Honestly, I think given his druthers, he would rather be a professional basketball player.

Sure, okay. Yeah. I think he's I think he's going to pursue every avenue in terms of G League or overseas or being somebody being on the end of somebody's NBA roster. But, you know, if if he can make throw a number out there, 600 grand playing for somebody like Kentucky who's already been attached to him. I don't know how you can fault the kid for that.

Oh, no, I definitely do not fault him. And the fact that this year Duke did try to play three guards and next year they obviously would not play three guards because they have so many other wing options that and guys that absolutely have to play. It puts Duke now in a position of you've got two guards, but with the the exit also of Jalen Blake's, they don't have anybody that knows the system at guard in a backup role. How hard I know John Shire said a Connor O'Neill of Devil's Illustrated. We're pretending now at Connor O'Neill underscore di either way.

It works. He said that we did it in a different way this year. They didn't use the portal. Does John need to go into the portal for now to maybe even three different players?

I think two is is a certainty. I think you need a veteran guard who's going to come in and you're not going to have to rely on. To, you know, the point guards for Duke this year were Proctor and Foster, right?

The Roach did not. I see Jerry rightfully what as a point guard by some people in this like by you have not watched Duke in quite a while. If you think he's to point guard.

Yeah, I think John has to get a guard and I think John has to get. Adam Golan studio with my man coach Pete through to Capital Financial Advisory Group on your website. And I love the term financial termites because there are always things eating at your money that you can't see. So you don't want financial termites termites in the financial world are risk fees, unnecessary commissions. All the bad things that we see and we hear about on TV are happening many times inside your portfolio. You don't see so you need a financial exterminator. Well, for the next 10 of you a call will put together for you your very own total retirement plan at no cost.

Call triple 8 8 4 3 double 0 13 or text Adam to 600 700. Adam Gold is a paid spokesman investment advisory services offered by Capital Financial Advisory Group, North Carolina registered investment advisor. Somebody who can probably play the four because the feeling is Cooper flag is his natural position is small forward, right? And so he plays the three and common mall walk the 7 foot 2 South. I believe it's South Sudan import is from the NBA Africa Academy is going to play the five. And so they're looking for for some veteran experience inside. And of course, the four in modern basketball doesn't even play inside that much.

You just need to stretch the floor and maybe have one post up move in his arsenal. But but yeah, I think two is the certainty and I would not be surprised if all three scholarships get used on portal guys. Connor O'Neill is joining us here before we move on to whatever is coming in. Do you get the sense that we have we're going to have more outgoings? I don't think so. We've already got the the Procter and Foster news that really leaves the only two unless unless one of the signees.

Ask, ask out of their letter, right? You're really only looking at Sean Stewart and T.J. Power. And it kind of feels like Jeremy was going to be the last decision. It feels like, OK, they've got their for returning.

They've got their six incoming. Now, what do they do with the three open scholarships in the portal to play with? You know, Sean Stewart was a high school teammate of Cooper flags for a year at Mount Verde. Grant Hills is his mentor. Like he told me multiple times during the NCAA tournament how great it was to see Grant because he was in Brooklyn and in Dallas.

Right where Duke was. I mean, I just maybe in 11 months we're having a different conversation with how Sean sophomore year goes. OK, right now, I think he's locked into Duke and I kind of I look at T.J. Power and I think.

If he was going to leave, he would have done it by now. I think there's there's got to be some kind of understanding of where he fits into the rotation right now and what do I'm sure Duke is not sitting there telling him, well, we're going to we're going to have three open scholarships next year. Like they're going to use those scholarships. One of them or two of them are probably going to be used at a position where T.J. Power could be playing. So. That would that would lead me to believe that he's OK with that situation and he wants to stay at Duke and further developed.

Again, at least, you know, these are all now like 11 months conversations. Yeah, I mean, I feel like the same about Sean Stewart, like Mark Mitchell had to go because his position needs somebody who can, you know, stretch the floor even for all of his versatility defensively. Offensively, there's not the versatility. So somebody who's going to play that position needs to be able to step away from the basket and be a shooter, be a threat. I mean, in many ways, Sean Stewart's position is the same, even though they're not the same player. But he is a power forward and they've got other power forwards. Look, they've got recruits that probably won't play a ton either. You know, whether it's the kid from Africa or Patrick Ngongba, who I know I butchered the name, I apologize in advance.

But there are some other guys who are probably because they have still a lot of developing to do might have a hard time getting on the floor. I hope Sean Stewart plays. I hope he's not, you know, I won't say wasting another year at Duke, but they, you know, the potential is for it to be a year where he's a lightly used reserve again. Yeah, the one thing I see with Sean Stewart is the path forward, I think, is I think he can play the four and the five. I think Patrick Gongbo was dealing with a I'm not 100 percent sure.

So I'm going to say both. It was either a foot or a knee injury for most, if not all of us. So he's going to be a little further behind than a normal freshman would just play their senior year of high school. Right. And and I think Sean Stewart, even though you're going to look at, well, when Duke was great defensively last year, they had seven foot one Derek Lively playing center.

And when they, you know, when they were good defensively with Mark Williams protecting the rim, Mark Williams is seven one with a ridiculous wingspan on Stewart's only six nine. So I think that's his that's his path toward more playing time. It's not just that he's locked in at the fourth position.

Connor O'Neill is joining us here on the Adam Gold show. Last thing we know flag is they're going to run a lot of things through him. I've heard that he's going to be a lot of there's going to be a lot of point forward with him. Isaiah Evans is another guy that's probably going to be on the floor. What other recruits that are coming in do you think are, I guess, comfortable with our roster the way it's going to look? I I am so curious what Isaiah Evans game is going to translate to in college. He is a volume and streaky shooter and I say those things not not in a derogatory sense not knocking his game, but when he's in rhythm, I mean given the ball and get out of the way. But that can also lead to some empty possessions and some poor shot selection, right?

That is that is what accompanies that type of game. For the ones who work hard to ensure their crew can always go the extra mile and the ones who get in early so everyone can go home on time. There's Granger offering professional grade supplies backed by product experts so you can quickly and easily find what you need. Plus, you can count on access to a committed team ready to go the extra mile for you.

Call click Granger dot com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. Um, Han Nupol did not play the greatest competition up in Wisconsin, but he is a lights out shooter. And that's I spent the last couple years saying that I don't know if Jared McCain's really going to be a knockdown shooter wins last time somebody came to Duke with the reputation in high school of being a sniper three-point specialist and it actually played out that way. Well, Jared McCain proved that wrong in a hurry this year. Um, I think Tom Nupol can be that type of player and the one guy that we went through the last two years thinking, okay, he's he's a developmental piece of this class. He's he's not going to be where the other guys are is Darren Harris and Darren Harris might have had a better senior season than anybody not named Cooper flat.

Right. His team, his team, uh, St. St. Paul, the six where Jeremy Rhodes came from and where Trevor Keels came from, they finished runner up in the high school national championship, the Cooper flag and the undefeated Mount Bear team. So like I, you, you get into trouble when you start penciling in like four freshmen to be in your top five or six scores. Like I don't think that's ever going to be the recipe for it seemed to win a national championship again.

But this is the time of year where you look at it and it's like, well, as far as the teams that are portal shopping goes, Duke is in a pretty unique position because they do have freshmen that are coming in with a lot of height and that you think really highly of because you haven't seen their limitations through the prism of what they can do in college. Connor O'Neill, uh, appreciate your time, my friend. Uh, good to talk with you. We'll talk again very soon. We'll bring up Deacons Illustrated next time.

Sounds good. Thanks, Adam. Thanks, man.

Connor O'Neill, uh, at Connor O'Neill underscore DI. So now we've got clarity, at least on Jeremy Roach and all that, and we can move on to, uh, to other schools down the road. That takes you closer to your career goals. Take one or more classes. It's in your hands. Elevate your career with William Peace University's School of Professional Studies. Dive deeper at williampeace.info slash SPS. Your journey begins here.