A Momentous Occasion

Friday, April 22, 2005 marks the day of quite a momentous occasion. What would qualify as a momentous occasion for an avid Duke Blue Devils fan? A press conference announcing the departure of 3 UNC players of course!

UNC players Shawn May, Raymond Felton, and Marvin Williams all announced they were declaring for the NBA Draft, which has been the best news as of late in my book. They will join Rashad McCants to make up the nucleus of the 4-player UNC departure.

If 4 key Duke players left it would be a mutiny no matter how great they are, but nobody that has recently played for UNC has valued the good hard work of a FOUR YEAR degree nor have they honored their coach enough to stay all four years.

Let's take a look at the past 3 years of UNC basketball in realtion to player/coach relationships and the value players place (or the lack thereof) on their coach.

Matt Daughtery days:

McCants, May, and Felton were all three recruited by Matt Daughtery and were initially thought to be the best trio of UNC recruits in quite some time. They definitely had all the talent in the world and have up until today.

BUT, being the selfish players they are, they were unhappy that they didn't take over the world their freshman year and ended up moaning and groaning about their coach, Matt Daughtery. Reminds me of the days of little league basketball where kids cried because they didn't play the whole game. That really brought out the freshmen immaturity of all three (May, Felton, McCants). Eventually Daughtery was driven out under the pressure of these three 'boys' and their parents.

Also, while under Roy Williams for 2 seasons, UNC has flourished and become quite successful, at least for 1 season in which they won the National Championship.

Why do I think they didn't value Roy Williams and his legendary success as a coach in Division I NCAA Basketball?

BECAUSE, once they won the national championship these four players called it quits and want to move on to NBA "glory" because it will be another "challenge in life." These four UNC players felt as if their "days of college had come to an end."

In other words, they didn't value their coach nor UNC as an institution nor UNC heritage enough to stay and put another National Championship banner in the Dean Dome. Instead of staying one more measely year and making history as the best NCAA Basketball team ever, they want to move on to the NBA for a "new challenge."

"New challenge" is just coverup for "i want to bask in the millions of NBA dollars that couldn't wait another measely year.

THIS IS ALL FINE to me because I am a Duke fan. The loss of May, Felton, McCants, and Williams means the road is clear for another DUKE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP and another legacy achieved by legendary NCAA Men's Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski.

J.J. Redick, Shelden Williams, Shavlik Randolph, Sean Dockery, DeMarcus Nelson, David McClure, Patrick Davidson, Patrick Johnson, and inspiration leader Lee Melchionni are all returning as Duke's upper classmen.

This veteran nucleus of players plus Duke's 2005/2006 recruiting class of Greg Paulus, Josh McRoberts, Eric Boateng, Martynas Pocius, and Jamal Boykin will provide for quite a deep and talented team.

McRoberts, Boateng, and Paulus all competed in the McDonald's High School All-American game and showed why there were worthy of being recruited by Duke. McRoberts gathered up the MVP award for the McDonald's All-American game and Greg Paulus showed us why he is one of the top-ranked Point Guards in the country.

Here's to the 2005-2006 Duke team! Go grab another National Championship for Coach K!