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TDD Podcast Episode 196: Talking College Basketball, ACC, and Duke practice with Jeff Goodman – 247Sports
Making his second appearance on TheDevilsDen.com Podcast, college basketball insider Jeff Goodman covered a number of topics relevant to head coach Jon Scheyer’s second season at the helm of the Duke program.
In the podcast’s 196th episode, Goodman and the hosts began the conversation discussing what is quickly becoming the unofficial go-to preseason publication for every college basketball fan, The Almanac. This year’s edition is a collaboration led by Goodman and including the teams from The Field of 68, Heat Check CBB, Three Man Weave and Verbal Commits which promises to be an exhaustive and comprehensive guide to the 2023-24 college basketball season.
As part of the discussion, Goodman offered his initial thoughts on the state of college basketball including his predictions for National Player of the Year and whether or not Duke deserves two players on preseason First Team All-American lists. And which of Tyrese Proctor and Kyle Filipowski he sees factoring into the national conversation more than the other.
Previously the podcast team sat down with Coach Scheyer and one of the topics discussed was how he navigates the Duke program on the recruiting trail and how the era of NIL and the NCAA Transfer Portal has meshed with the extra year of eligibility from the COVID season has factored in. In the conversation with Goodman, we get a more in-depth discussion about the overall impacts of that extra eligibility and how teams are adjusting their strategy for better and not.
Moving forward the group broke down the state of college basketball and how the product needs to come out punching by scheduling more big time games early in the season, something we’ve seen the Blue Devils look to do in recent marquee non-conference match-ups.
Once the calendar changes to 2024, however, it’ll be a full slate of games within the Atlantic Coast Conference which means facing new coaches at Syracuse and Notre Dame. Will those programs be able to compete and could they surprise much as Scheyer did last season? And what about arch-rival North Carolina? Will the Tar Heels be able to rebound to the form of their hot four week span from two years ago or is Hubert Davis the coach the nation has observed over the rest of his tenure?
After going through the league and looking at the various tiers of teams, Jeff offers his impressions of this year’s Blue Devils following his attendance at a recent practice in Durham. Which players stood out? Are there any freshmen who could crack Scheyer’s starting lineup? And what should Duke fans expect from senior guard Jeremy Roach and does his role change with the freshmen becoming sophomores?
The final topic of discussion centered around the ever-evolving recruiting trail where last season Goodman ranked Scheyer pretty low on the “best recruiters in college” list. After landing another Top-2 recruiting class, has that ranking change? Next up was a discussion of just how good Cooper Flagg is going to be for his one year of college basketball and what Jeff has seen from him during this summer and what coaches are saying about him on the trail.
Recruiting discussions closed out with a recap of the Flory Bidunga recruitment which saw the five star big man pick Kansas over Duke, Auburn, and Michigan before the group transitioned into an odd tangent centered around former North Carolina big man Tyler Hansbrough and Duke point guard Greg Paulus.
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