Hostage Crisis

I couldn't give a damn about Bill Self and his program at Kansas but I'm really sick of these college coaches being held hostage by their players. Look at what just transpired. Brandon Rush kept putting off his decision until the last second. Yesterday, Kansas target Alex Legion, who played with Nolan Smith at Oak Hill, signed a letter of intent at Kentucky and one of the reasons he signed was because he couldn't wait to see if a scholarship would open up at Kansas or not. Today, Rush declares for the draft and now Kansas, who certainly isn't hurting for talented players, lost out on Legion. Something needs to be done to control this epidemic. It is severely hurting the college game and really handcuffing coaches. If you're going to declare early, why can't you do what Josh McRoberts did? McRoberts declared almost instantly after the season ended and I have to believe one of the reasons was Coach K told him he didn't care what the decision was as long as he did it quick so they could strengthen their case to get Patterson.

By the way, while we are on the subject, I think all Blue Devil fans needs to come to the realization that Patterson will not be coming to Duke next year. You have Billy Guillespe promising 16-20 shots a game and Billy Donovan is still in the mix and right now, Florida is the sexy pick. Plus, Patterson has developed a great relationship with another unsigned recruit, Jai Lucas and many believe Patterson will go where he goes. I get the same feeling...

With that said, I hope I am proved wrong but if he doesn't come, don't start feeling bad for Duke. I think from offensive and chemistry standpoints, they will much improved. McRoberts was Mr. Versatile for them but from what you read, no one was shedding any tears in that lockerroom when he decided to declare. Supposedly, he gave off the persona to the entire team that he was better than they were and the college game was beneath him.

Out of the following guys: Paulus, Sheyer, Singler, Henderson, would it surprise anyone if any of those guys scored over 15 points a game? It wouldn't surprise me. Like I've been saying, Duke is as talented as any team in the country at the 1-3 positions. If Singler and King are as advertised and Lance Thomas shows why Duke waited until minutes before the 1st game for his decision to go there, then they will be fine at the 4. To me, the season depends on the development of Brian Zoubek. If Zoubek adds some muscle, improves his footwork and defense, then Duke will be a top team. If he looks like he did for most of last year, you're looking at a platoon of Lance Thomas, Kyle Singler, and David McClure at the 5 position. Duke will get killed down low if that happens.