In his annual summer press conference Tuesday, Mike Krzyzewski offered his first public comments about Duke’s three incoming freshmen, combo guard Elliot Williams and power forwards Olek Czyz and Miles Plumlee. The three will compete for time on a team that Krzyzewski said “should be the most talented as we’ve had in the last four years.”
- ELLIOT WILLIAMS, FIVE-STAR SHOOTING GUARD: “I don’t know who will make the most impact, but he’ll be a really good player. Very versatile. He’s mature. The school he went to (St. George’s in Collierville, Tenn.) was really a good prep for Duke. I don’t think he’ll have an adjustment people-wise or school-wise. I think he’s got a chance to help right away, although we’ll be deep on the perimeter, if we’re all healthy.”
- OLEK CZYZ, FOUR-STAR POWER FORWARD: “Olek is still learning the game, but he’s a tremendous athlete. I hope he ends up being as good as this guy, but he reminds me a lot of Danny Meagher (a 6-foot-7 power forward from 1981-1985). He’s just a really good athlete. Tough.”
- MILES PLUMLEE, FOUR-STAR POWER FORWARD: “Plumlee is 6-foot-10, he can run, he’s 230. He’s going to be a really good player and add depth to what we’re doing.
More on Krzyzewski’s comments to the public and to The Chronicle later today and throughout the next week.
But in the meantime, what do you think about the three freshmen? How will they affect Duke’s play next season? Offer your comments below.
—by Ben Cohen
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I believe Williams will be an excellent back up this coming year. He will give the wings a run for their money, but I believe he’ll end up as a back up with quality minutes. For Czyz and Plumlee I’m unsure, if Thomas and Zoubek are healthy and have improved there wont’ be many minutes. I can see Czyz and Plumlee practicing hard against Thomas and Zoubek, should be interesting.
Miles will fit in great at Duke. He comes from a great family. His dad played basketball somewhere in Tennessee I think, but I think it was D-1 NCAA, and his dad also played basketball for Athletes In Action and his mom was also a D-1 basketball player at Purdue. The whole Plumlee family is very nice. Duke Basketball is privileged to have them as a part of the family now. They were my neighbors before I moved post-college, and the Plumlees are the total package, and I mean by that, that they are not only GREAT ATHLETES, but great students and great people as well. I have been on cloud 111,111 (forget cloud 9 haha) since I heard Miles and Mason will play at Duke. Durham, North Carolina, is about to find out what Arden, North Carolina already knows. Plumlee rhymes with quality for a reason! These guys are the coolest!
GO DUKE AND THE PLUMLEES! YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME, BABY! (As my buddy Dickie V would say)
In the NCAA Championships Duke has won, they’ve always had a deadly shooter (3 pt.) like
Jason Williams, Bobby Hurley, Dunleavy, and the other great teams that didn’t go all the way had the same with Langdon, Redick. Right now, Paulus is
the best outside threat & most consistent. Taylor
King was deadly, but for whatever reason, didn’t
get much playing time. Nolan Smith is pretty streaky, & Singler is occassionally. But they truly
need that threat to pull the defense outside. No one, other than Paulus even seemed confident to
shoot the 3. I sooo hope one of the 3 incoming
Freshman can make that contribution. Paulus &
another deadly shooter….that’s excitement & Ws.
Paulus was the only one who wanted the ball when they had to score.
I believe for Duke to be a winning team thay will need to start Plumlee over Zoubek. Plumlee would help the team more by tournament time than Zoubek ever could.
Plumlee is a better player all around. Also, Duke will need to move Paulus into the shooting guard position and Nolan Smith to PG. Williams will need to start in some games early in season to build his confidence so he can contribute later in the year for the ACC tournament.
This Duke team will surprise many teams including UNC, if coach K brings his freshmen class along at the right speed.