Is Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski adjusting to the new ways of college basketball or compromising to them? Over the last two years, the school once known for tenured stars has switched over to one-and-dones and transfers. Last year, the change didn't work. Next season, Krzyzewski will have another shot with a roster of high profile recruits. In two years, he'll get to deploy his latest transfer, 6-foot-9 former Rice power forward Sean Obi.
Back when former Blue Devil Dahntay Jones went to the program from Rutgers, it was big news because Coach K rarely took transfers. He wouldn't take another significant one until Seth Curry (brother of Stephen) joined the team from Liberty University in 2009. Last year, K accepted the most high profile team-switcher in his career in Rodney Hood, who became the first transfer in the coach's era to leave for the NBA after his first season.
This past season, the 34-year Blue Devil head coach also welcomed maybe the highest profile recruit (Jabari Parker, also a future member of the NBA in 2014-15) in program history. For next season, he's got the #1, #4, #15, and #21 ranked recruits according to ESPN's top 100. Most likely, at least one will go pro and become a one-and-done.
It's not that Duke hasn't won a title since 2009-10; any coach would take one every five years. It's that they haven't advanced far in the tournament since then, the first year in which their best player was arguably a freshman (Kyrie Irving vs. senior Nolan Smith). The exception is last year, when they reached the Elite Eight, but that team was upper-class heavy (and freshman-phenom light) featuring seniors Seth Curry, Mason Plumlee, and Ryan Kelly.
If Obi didn't have to sit out next year, he would have been an important piece because only one of Duke's new recruits is sized to play power forward or center (number one man, Jahlil Okafor), also a weakness for them last season. (Hood and Parker were asked to frequently play above their stature last year.) Okafor and junior-to-be Amile Jefferson will likely start at four and five, while perhaps rising junior Marshall Plumlee will finally live up to the family name and contribute as a back-up. If not, the burden might fall to incoming freshman Justise Winslow (#15), who's 6-foot-6 and listed as a small forward.
Though some frown over too many transfers, they might actually help counteract the emptiness that sometimes follows with one year players. Because they have to sit out a year, transfers gain an extra season to develop individually and within the program. Big men like Obi might especially benefit. He's also a guy that likely won't leave for the pros in two years, meaning coach K has him under his tutelage for the next three.
